Many studies have analyzed media effects on politicians and politics. Yet studies that analyze how the media influence legislative processes are rare. In what way and to what extent does media attention matter for lawmaking? Media attention may have consequences for the duration of legislative processes. It may also affect the content of and support for bills by paying attention to an issue and/or framing it in a particular way. To explore this I adopt a case study approach and conduct theory-building process tracing, by combining chronologically conducted content analyses and semi-structured interviews. As a most likely case of mediatization, I study the process that led to the legal regulation of (semi-)public officials’ remuneration in the Netherlands as from January 2013. Based on this first case study I develop a tentative outline of an empirically grounded theory that aims to explain both when, why and how media influence lawmaking.
