Russial, JohnWurster, Paul2014-09-292014-09-292014-09-29https://hdl.handle.net/1794/18415This study explores the extent to which news media agendas relate to each other in a microblogging environment, how the Obama administration's agenda relates to them in this realm, and how these agendas align with the public's list of top policy issues in the real world. A content analysis of more than 4,600 tweets from six accounts in 2013 were ranked and compared to a list of 20 public policy priorities. Findings support previous research that found a significant relationship among traditional media agendas in print. Measures of association between news media and administration agendas show some consistency and some discrepancy. This study did not find as significant a correlation between news media and administration agendas and the public's list of top priorities. These findings suggest a substantial disconnect in Twitter between news coverage and federal-level political leadership focus in relation to the issues that matter most to citizens of the United States.en-USAll Rights Reserved.Agenda-settingMass mediaMicrobloggingPoliticsPublic policyTwitterElectronic Thesis or Dissertation