“The sound of salience”: a tridimensional perspective on issue salience formation

Despite extensive research, the concept of issue salience remains fragmented across public opinion, party competition, and media studies. This article addresses this gap by proposing a triadic framework that integrates citizens, parties, and media within a single model of interaction. Salience is defined as an attribute of issues – a measure of their relative importance within systems of collective attention – and explained as the outcome of reciprocal processes of supply, demand, and mediation. The framework bridges disciplinary approaches and clarifies how salience circulates through feedback loops connecting the three spheres. By reconceptualizing salience as a dynamic and relational mechanism, the paper contributes to a deeper understanding of how democracies construct, contest, and sustain collective attention in hybrid information environments.