Media Coverage of Interest Groups and Political Actors: A Literature Review

Miquel Ansemil miguelansemil@gmail.com PhD student University of Barcelona The role of interest groups and political actors in the policy making process has been extensively analysed by existing research. However, we know little about its ability to use the mass media as political tool, to make their views heard in the policy process. This paper conducts, as a preliminary step in the development of a PhD on media coverage of EU related stories, an extensive literature review on the topic. We focus on two main questions: 1) the theoretical perspectives employed by existing research; and 2) the research design that scholars use to study media coverage of interest groups and political actors. This includes consideration of the dependent and independent variables used by existing research, as well as methodological concerns related to the operationalization of variables. To do so we develop an original dataset departing from the analysis of already published research on the topic in academic journals and books, and the identification of the most frequently cited bibliographic references. In this manner, we will have a complete perspective on how research has been conducted in order to identify the gaps that must lead future research on the topic.