Appealing to the public or protecting the interests of members? How interest groups frame their policy demands in the news media

In response to the mediatization of politics, appearing in the news media is increasingly crucial for interest groups who seek political influence. A number of studies have documented that media strategies are a central part of the strategic repertoire of interest groups. Recent studies have also analyzed the degree to which groups are in fact successful with appearing in the media and identified significant biases in patterns of interest group media access. Also, variation in interest group appearances has been demonstrated with regard to the policy area in question, the political leaning of newspapers and across countries with different media systems. This paper builds on the existing literature, but focuses on how interest groups frame their policy demands. While this aspect has rarely been addressed in the interest group literature we know from other parts of the literature that the framing of policy demands and news stories significantly affect their effect on public opinion and political decision makers. Also, scholars have pointed out that interest groups increasingly point to the benefits for society at large rather than to group members. Specifically, the paper addresses the extent to which groups portray their demands as intended to further the interests of group members or appeal to benefits to the public at large. In addition it examines the type of public benefits appealed to. The analysis draws on a dataset registering interest group appearances in the news media in Denmark and the UK. It includes 3,266 group appearances in two major UK newspapers and 3,672 appearances in two comparable Danish newspapers. This research design allows comparisons across countries, newspapers of different political leaning as well as between different types of interest groups.