Issue advocacy groups and media Running head: ISSUE ADVOCACY GROUPS AND MEDIA Choosing the Right Media for Mobilization: Understanding Issue Advocacy Groups’ Media Choice Strategies

Issue advocacy groups play a central role in today’s political system, but their media and communication use has seldom been examined to date. Grounded in the uses and gratifications approach and the niche theory, this study surveyed media and communication technology usage of 209 issue advocacy groups in the United State. The findings suggest that a variety of media are used for citizen mobilization purposes and, in particular, new communication technologies such as email and websites are more widely used and competitively superior to traditional media such as television and radio advertising. 2 Issue advocacy groups and media Issue advocacy groups and media: Communicating for political mobilization The study of issue advocacy groups such as Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), public or private pressure groups, and labor unions is one of the core research areas of the social sciences including political science, economics, and social movement. The operations of issue advocacy groups in contemporary society are relatively well-documented in social science research as many studies have dealt with the role of issue advocacy groups in politics (e.g., Cigler & Loomis, 1998; Salisbury, 1984; Schlozman & Tierney, 1986; Truman, 1951; Walker, 1991) and their collective behaviors (e.g., Moe; 1980; Olson, 1965). These studies address questions on how issue advocacy groups came into being, how and why the groups expand, whom they represent, and what tactics are employed to influence policy-making. Doing so, they typically focus on how the legal, financial, and organizational factors determine the origins and maintenance