The DC factor? Advocacy groups in the news

Abstract

This study examines dynamics among organized interests’ characteristics, the organizations’ strategic activities, and news coverage of organizations’ activities by incorporating theoretical perspectives from group politics and journalism. To examine the relationship among groups’ characteristics, strategic efforts, and news coverage (visibility and prominence), the study combines three large data sets: group profile data (208 US organizations based on the Internal Revenue Service data collected by the National Center for Charitable Statistics), telephone interviews with groups’ executive members (208 randomly sampled organizations nationwide), and content coding of newspaper articles that covered the same organizations (548 newspaper articles). Findings from this study show that the ‘DC factor’, that is, being located in Washington, DC, is consistently a significant factor in explaining the presence of groups in newspapers, even after controlling for group resources, including total revenue. The implications of the findings are discussed.

The advocacy continuum: Towards a theory of advocacy in journalism

“…Geographic location can also play a big role in the visibility of an advocacy group in the news. Results of a study recently published in this journal by Kim and McCluskey (2015) found that advocacy groups based in the US capital of Washington D.C. had a much higher presence in the news than those in outlying areas. Their study found thatjournalists do not merely latch onto organizational resources as important, but instead weigh ‘availability’, ‘national importance’, ‘national impact on policy discussions’, ‘nationally important and interesting events’, and ‘political legitimacy’ in assessing newsworthiness.…”

“…(Kim and McCluskey, 2015: 805) The two researchers also noted that the strategy adopted by the advocacy group to garner media interest will have an impact on its success. Events, like a public rally, are likely to be more successful in receiving media attention than issues, and groups using colourful and persuasive language are also likely to attract more coverage (Kim and McCluskey, 2015). Other source factors include the level of trust between reporter and source and the rules of engagement agreed upon by the reporter and source (Davis, 2009;Fisher, 2014;Mancini, 1993;Van Dalen et al, 2011).…”

“…Their study found thatjournalists do not merely latch onto organizational resources as important, but instead weigh ‘availability’, ‘national importance’, ‘national impact on policy discussions’, ‘nationally important and interesting events’, and ‘political legitimacy’ in assessing newsworthiness. (Kim and McCluskey, 2015: 805)…”

Modelling Quoting in Newswriting: A Framework for Studies on the Production of News

“…Naturally, journalists are not the only ones active here; advocacy groups especially do their best to be involved in news items, and in a positive light (e.g. Kim and McCluskey 2015), for example by producing and offering materials, such as press releases, for media to exploit (e.g. Jacobs 1999).…”

17. Journalism and Geography

“…For instance, The Washington Post, one of the most-prized US newsrooms of Watergate fame that was depicted in All The President's Men (1976), in 2015 its digs and moved to Washington, DC's K Street, known as the city's bastion of political lobbying and advocacy. The Post's connection to power circles in Washington, DC, have remained strong after the move, in part because of the city's socio-geographic identity -the "DC factor", as Kim and McCluskey (2014) call it -a setting that provides journalists with ready access to world leaders, decision-makers, and insiders in ways that form (and inform) news agendas of the locally-based press that then spread across wide geographies.…”