The Media and Policy Decisions Affecting Animals

The media exert influence in public affairs by setting the political agenda and by playing up or marginalizing issues and candidates. Media coverage offers both risks and opportunities for special interest groups. While the media can provide endorsement and credibility, mass communication can also ignore an issue, present only superficial coverage, or exaggerate extreme positions. The effect of special interest group coverage is determined to some degree by whether the group's goals are seen as being consistent with the mainstream. Examples are given of federal and state public policy decisions where the concerns of animal advocates were acted upon because they were perceived as being representative of the public at large. This is the second paper in a series on the role of mass media in animal protection. The previous article (Jones 1996) described the history of media coverage of animal protection issues.