Interest group framing in Denmark and the UK: membership representation or public appeal?

ABSTRACT

Appearing in the news media is crucial for interest groups. When making a media presence, groups carefully frame their messages to push political processes in their preferred direction and to maintain organisational support. This article provides a cross-country comparison of the frames used by interest groups appearing in the news media. The article addresses the extent to which groups portray their demands as intended to further the interests of group members or other societal groups or to appeal to benefits to the economy or to the public at large. The analysis uses a dataset registering interest group appearances in the news media in Denmark and the UK. It includes 1,958 group appearances in two major UK newspapers and 3,284 appearances in two comparable Danish newspapers. Differences in frame use are demonstrated across the two countries; between different policy areas as well as between different types of interest groups.

KEYWORDS:

• Framing
• interest groups
• news media
• public interest

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Research Council of Norway’s “Welfare, Working Life and Migration (VAM)” programme, grant number 236690.

Notes on contributors

Anne Skorkjær Binderkrantz

Anne Skorkjær Binderkrantz is professor in political science at Aarhus University.