@article{894d08da73f5415dbef1e84f81c4ecfe,
title = "Blessing or curse for advocacy? How news media attention helps advocacy groups to achieve their policy goals",
abstract = "This article asks whether and under what circumstances a presence in news media debates helps advocacy groups to achieve their policy goals in European Union (EU) legislative politics. Common wisdom holds that lobbyists eschew the public spotlight and prefer to influence policymaking from behind the scenes. This perception contrasts with the literature on media and interest groups, which typically conceives of media attention as a crucial commodity for interest groups to influence policy decisions. This article unites these seemingly contrasting stances by arguing that media attention can be both a blessing and a curse for advocacy. The central argument posited is that media attention may improve or reduce advocacy groups' chances of preference attainment depending on how advocacy groups frame their message in the news. The analyses draw from interviews with more than 200 policy practitioners and content analysis of 3,557 media statements connected to a sample of 125 EU policy proposals. The findings demonstrate that an advocacy group's media presence may improve preference attainment, but only when the advocacy group manages to frame its objectives in the news as aligned with the public interest.",
keywords = "interest groups, media and politics, European Union politics, framing, POLITICAL PUBLIC-RELATIONS, COVERAGE, EU, STRATEGIES, SUCCESS, LOBBYISTS, SUPPORT, PARTIES, ACCESS, SPHERE",
author = "{De Bruycker}, Iskander",
note = "Funding Information: The work presented in this article was made possible by a postdoctoral research grant [Nº. 12N1417N] from the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) to Dr. Iskander De Bruycker. The data collection was funded by research project grants from the European Science Foundation [10-ECRP-008] and the Research Foundation Flanders [GA 171-11N]. Funding Information: The work presented in this article was made possible by a postdoctoral research grant [Nº. 12N1417N] from the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) to Dr. Iskander De Bruycker. The data collection was funded by research project grants from the European Science Foundation [10-ECRP-008] and the Research Foundation Flanders [GA 171-11N]. I am grateful to Andreas D{\"u}r, Anne Rasmussen, Jan Beyers, the PolCom editorial team and the three anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestions. Earlier versions of this manuscript were presented at the APSA Annual Meeting, San Francisco, 2017; the EUSA International Biennial Conference, Miami, 2017 and the QMSS Seminar, Amsterdam, 2017. I am thankful to the participants of these conferences for their constructive criticism. Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to all my colleagues within the larger INTEREURO project (www.intereuro.eu), and to the many lobbyists and European Commission officials who participated in the interviews. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2018, Copyright {\textcopyright} 2018 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.",
year = "2019",
month = jan,
day = "2",
doi = "10.1080/10584609.2018.1493007",
language = "English",
volume = "36",
pages = "103--126",
journal = "Political Communication",
issn = "1058-4609",
publisher = "Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group",
number = "1",
}