From Policy Interest to Media Attention: a Policy Issue Perspective on How Interest Groups Pass the Media Gates

Interest group media access is crucial for the survival and political success of interest groups as well as for public debate and opinion formation. Some studies have taken a very specific approach focusing on the media access of groups in regard to particular issues. Others have analyzed groups’ overall media access. However, to understand the dynamics affecting the ability of groups to pass the media gates, we need to know on which issue areas interest group seek media access and to what extent they succeed in gaining access in relation to those areas. Therefore, in this paper we address the question of interest group media access by comparing the issue-portfolio groups report to work on with their media appearances in the same issue areas. The analyses compare interest groups in pluralist Britain with corporatist Denmark. We use national surveys to identify the policy domains that groups are actively involved in and newspaper articles to map the amount of attention groups attract within those areas.