Attribute Agenda Setting on Twitter: Comparative Analysis of Imran Khan & Narendra Modi Speeches at UNGA

Abstract

Attribute Agenda Setting has played a major role in political communication. Audience use of social media specifically twitter is playing a critical role in specifying attributes of an issue or an individual. This study caters to the gap of empirical research which investigates the underlying individual use of twitter that contribute to highlighting specific attributes and types of issues associated with political leaders through tweets and hashtags. Imran Khan and Narendra Modi speeches at UNGA 2019 session were taken up by twitter users. Imran Khan and Narendra Modi were attributed through hashtags. Building on existing literature review and Attribute Agenda Setting theory scholarship, this research investigated sample of N=1000 tweets based on certain frequent hashtags related to both political leaders. Cross-tabulation among types of attributes and issues revealed that Imran Khan has been attributed more as a peacemaker, Islamist, Global Outlook, Leadership, Decisive, Good Guy, Responsible, Honest and Good Statesmanship. Narendra Modi has been attributed more as a Peacemaker, Hindutva, Decisive, Leadership and Good Statesmanship. While attribution for unfavorable attributes is not that much significant for both leaders. Relationship among attributes of both leaders showed that Imran Khan is found to be dominant for attributes including Peacemaker, Islamist, Global Outlook, Honest and Good Statesmanship. Narendra Modi is found to be dominant for attributes including Hindutva, Leadership and Decisive. Issues highly associated with Imran Khan’s related hashtags were included political issues, international relation and global peace and conflict issues. Narendra Modi is more associated with political and international relations. Relationship among types of issues showed that Narendra Modi has been associated more with Political ix Issues, Socio-Cultural Issues, Economic Issues While Imran khan has been mentioned more for talking about Global Peace and Conflict Issues and Environmental Issues. Imran Khan emerged as a Global Leader with more favorable coverage as compared to Narendra Modi. It is recommended that more hashtags and tweets should be included in research sample for getting more representative results.