Finlands Akademi
Finansieringsbeslut
Sökande / Kontakt person	Vesa, Juho A
Organisation	Helsingfors universitet
Projektets titel	Transparency of Lobbying and Political Influence in the News Media
Beslutnr	309934
Beslutsdatum	13.06.2017
Finansierings period	01.09.2017 - 22.09.2020
Finansiering	244 054

Beskrivning av projektet

Though the transparency of lobbying and political influence is an important issue in democracy, there is no lobby registry in Finland which would make lobbying transparent. But does the news media make lobbying visible? How accurate information do the media give of the activities and goals of lobbyists? I study this by analyzing in an innovative way (1) surveys of civil servants involved in lawmaking, political actors’ of the climate policy network and interest groups, (2) relevant media content, and (3) interviews of journalists. First I investigate through surveys what kind of role, goals and influence different interest groups have in lawmaking processes, policy networks, and political systems (Finland, Denmark, the UK). Then I compare, how accurately the news media depict the interest groups’ role, goals, and influence. With the same datasets, I also study to what extent different interest groups are able to control the presentation of their goals and activities in the news media.