Intermedia agenda-setting analysis through big data: The cases of Finland, Sweden, and Türkiye

This doctoral dissertation explores intermedia agenda-setting dynamics between traditional media and social media through big data analysis. The central research question is whether a reciprocal agenda-setting relationship exists between mainstream news outlets and social platforms within the same country. Focusing on Finland, Sweden, and Türkiye during the NATO accession discussions in May 2022, the study systematically collected news articles from three leading online newspapers in each country and geographically filtered posts from X (Twitter). Using Python-based tools, both datasets were processed and analyzed through content analysis, cross-lagged correlation, and Rozelle-Campbell baseline alignment. The findings reveal that Türkiye exhibited a two-way agenda transfer between media types, while in Sweden and Finland, social media occasionally influenced traditional media. These results suggest that social media now acts as an active agenda-shaper, rather than merely reflecting the news cycle. By testing agenda-setting theory in a multi-country context and combining qualitative and quantitative techniques, this study offers methodological and theoretical contributions to the field of communication. It also demonstrates how real-time social media content can affect and even lead traditional media narratives during critical international events. The interdisciplinary approach-bridging computational tools with communication theory-provides a novel framework for analyzing media interactions in the digital public sphere. Ultimately, the research enhances understanding of how digital platforms function not only as communication channels but as agenda-setting agents across diverse media ecosystems.