This unusual volume seeks to accomplish three related goals:

* to assess the extent and limits of media power in election campaigns

* to extend the concept of media agenda-setting to include the contributions of powerful news sources in the process of election agenda formation

* to evaluate the impact of national system variables (differences in political and media systems) on the balance of party and media forces in the formation of campaign agendas

In the process, it searches for ways of measuring the discretionary power of the media in electoral politics, testing this in terms of the relative ability of journalists and politicians to shape election campaign agendas.