Third level agenda setting research:Network of media and public opinion in health news special

The traditional agenda-setting approach, which argues that the significance level of the issues in the media affects the significance level of public opinion on these issues, has been tested and proven in many different regions of the world with many different research. In the second level agenda-setting research, the role of the media in determining the significance level of attitudes was questioned. In the third level agenda-setting research that has been brought into the agenda in recent years, the role of the media in testing the people's thoughts (networks) or thoughts about the events is being tested. In this research the third phase of agenda-setting effect of the media is tested in health news in Turkey. In this context the question of whether the media has effects on the public opinion on the obesity, cancer, diabetes, hypertension and HIV / AIDS issues has been sought by this research conducted in Aydın. For the media agenda network, the 13 most national newspapers with the highest circulation in the country and five local newspapers published in Aydın were examined. For mapping the public agenda, a mind mapping questionnaire was applied on a sample of 400 people in Aydın. According to the findings of the research, a meaningful relationship was found between the national newspapers agenda network and the public agenda network. In local newspapers, the level of relationship was not as high as national newspapers. This situation has been interpreted as the more national newspapers with more circulation have more effects in determining the public agenda. As a result, the third level agenda-setting hypothesis has been confirmed.