Policy window and news media lobbying - crisis narratives of Finnish business associations during a public health crisis

Media lobbying has become a central strategy through which interest groups seek to influence policymaking by shaping public discourse. Although prior research highlights the relevance of timing, media space, and narratives, these dimensions are typically examined in isolation. This study advances a communication perspective on lobbying by analyzing how time, space, and narrative interact across the policy cycle. Focusing on Finnish business associations during a prolonged crisis, the study examines variations in media visibility across policy stages, media outlets, and narrative levels. Drawing on a mixed methods analysis of news coverage in quality newspapers and tabloids, the findings show that media lobbying effects vary across policy stages, with heightened visibility during key policy windows and the implementation stages. Business associations strategically deploy macro and micro-narratives—most notably economic, renewal, and blame focused narratives—to align their interests with broader societal concerns in temporally sensitive ways. The study contributes to interest group and lobbying theory by demonstrating that media lobbying effectiveness cannot be reduced to organizational resources alone, but depends on actors’ capacity to strategically mobilize time, media space, and narrative. By integrating narrative theory with policy process perspectives, the article conceptualizes communication as a constitutive mechanism of influence across shifting policy contexts.