The Impact of 280 Characters: An Analysis of Trump’s Tweets and Television News Through the Lens of Agenda Building

Abstract

Twitter impacts what is covered by journalists, which affects what viewers think is important. This article explores the association between Trump’s tweets and cable and network television news coverage through the theoretical framework of agenda building. During a 3-week period in January 2020, a content analysis of story topics and publication times of Fox News, CNN, ABC, and NBC (N = 1,436) was conducted in conjunction with Trump’s tweets (N = 277). The findings showed a strong correlation between Fox News and @realDonaldTrump’s tweets and a moderate correlation with CNN. About half of Trump’s tweets reflected Fox News stories, hosts, or guests. More than 40% of news stories mentioned Trump, while his tweets were in stories at least 10% of the time. The results showed that Trump and Fox News had a strong influence over agenda building in the United States’ television news landscape.