Replication Data for: No escape from the media gates? How public support and issue salience shape interest groups’ media prominence. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly.

This study adopts an issue-specific approach to explain interest groups’ media prominence. Contrary to the classic presumption that groups confronted with public opposition invariably manage to escape the public spotlight, the results—through a news content analysis of 196 positions expressed by 68 Belgian groups on 56 issues—show that on salient issues, some groups defending unpopular positions gain substantial prominence. One of the reasons is that media prominence is not only used for pressuring policymakers but that, especially for salient issues, groups get pulled into the news to counteract adversaries and secure ties with their organizational constituencies