This book discusses the public opinion process with a focus on the role that the news media play in shaping public opinion. Although heavily influenced by the agenda-setting perspective -- the view that the news media define the important issues of the day and determine how these issues are presented -- the authors neither support nor refute this claim. They present instead a variety of contemporary scholarship integrated into a coherent picture of public opinion for a general audience.

"...has surprising insight and clarity...highly recommended for all journalism, mass communication and public opinion collections."—CHOICE"...provides an insightful general orientation to modern theory and research into public opinion processes....The authors have packed a lot of useful information into this compact book....will serve very well as a text for advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students in communication, political science and related fields....is at home on the scholar's bookshelf."—Jornalism Quarterly