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Political Scandal: Power and Visibility in the Media Age
Abstract
List of Illustrations. Preface. Acknowledgements. Introduction. 1. What is Scandal?. 2. The Rise of Mediated Scandal. 3. Scandal as a Mediated Event. 4. The Nature of Political Scandal. 5. Sex Scandals in the Political Field. 6. Financial Scandals in the Political Field. 7. Power Scandals. 8. The Consequences of Scandal. Conclusion. Notes. Index.
... Breaking a taboo can be the small flame which lights up the great fire of a scandal, but this small flame can just as well go out again, its existence remaining largely unnoticed by the public. To speak of an actual scandal 'public criticism and a serious threat of reputation are required' (Ekström & Johansson, 2019, p. 184; see also Thompson, 2000). Scandals are 'revealed transgressions that cause the outrage of a public' (Haller, 2013, p. 45). ...
... Scandals are 'revealed transgressions that cause the outrage of a public' (Haller, 2013, p. 45). Thompson (2000) ascribes five characteristics to political scandals: (1) they involve the transgression of norms or moral codes; (2) they revolve around a revealed transgression that had been kept in secrecy; (3) the transgression offends or arouses individuals that hear about it; (4) those individuals publicly denounce the transgression; ...
... 13-14). Thompson (2000) distinguishes between three types of political scandals: sex scandals, financial scandals, and power scandals (pp. 120-122). ...
The breaking of speech taboos by populist radical right (PRR) parties and the resulting talk scandals have received considerable attention, with provocative statements being seen as playing a central role in generating media attention and in shifting the boundaries of what is sayable. In Germany, breaches of taboos by the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) have caused public outrage, with some claiming that the AfD follows a deliberate provocation strategy. This study examines the reactions to the AfD's breaches of taboos as they play out in mainstream media. Focusing on reactions to five of the AfD's most controversial statements, the study analyses 340 articles from the daily quality newspapers Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Süddeutsche Zeitung and Die Welt. The analysis zooms in on identifying (1) reactions to the taboo-breaking statements and how the boundaries of the respective taboos are being negotiated by the AfD and its critics, and (2) reflexive discourse on the role of breaches of taboos in the AfD's political strategy and on the role of the media in responding to them.
... Le scandale se caractérise donc par le plus haut degré de clarté de l'imputation d'une faute unanimement reconnue comme une menace pour la cohésion sociale (de Dampierre, 1954). Ce qui le distingue ainsi de l'affaire, évolution possible du scandale se caractérisant par le retournement de l'accusation scandaleuse en direction de l'accusateur (de Blic & Lemieux, 2005), ou encore de la rumeur localisée comme un conflit de voisinage, qui n'est pas portée à la connaissance du plus grand nombre (Thompson, 2000). Une accusation scandaleuse porte ensuite sur un événement. ...
... D'abord, parce que pour qu'un scandale se constitue dans l'espace public, il y a besoin d'une verbalisation suffisamment puissante pour mobiliser l'attention collective et susciter une communauté d'accusation. Le processus de formation d'un scandale est donc lié à des « actes de langage » (Dosquet & Petit, 2013, p. 154;Thompson, 2000), souvent sous la forme textuelle. Il s'agit donc moins de s'appuyer sur les processus verbaux pour comprendre la sélection de modalités d'action, que d'étudier comment les acteurs engagés produisent des éléments discursifs pour provoquer des actions adverses ou pour y réagir (Rennes, 2011) Ensuite, comme nous l'avons dit précédemment, un scandale se fonde et s'élabore sur la base d'un événement. ...
Critiquer est probablement ce qui nous rend le plus humains, dans la mesure cela nous permet d’expérimenter la réalité sous un autre rapport que celui de l’évidence et de la nécessité. Plus que jamais les organisations participent à l’extension du domaine de la critique, caractéristique centrale de la période moderne. Critiquer est devenu un trait constitutif de toute organisation, toujours tissée d’imprévus, d’incertitudes, et de disputes. La critique y apparaît à tantôt menaçante pour leur survie, tantôt nécessaire à leur transformation. Par ailleurs, les organisations peuvent elles-mêmes constituer de puissants instruments critiques de la réalité. Pourtant, on sait encore mal comment les acteurs dans de tels contextes s’extirpent de leur réalité quotidienne pour formuler des critiques. Nous proposons donc dans cette recherche d’étudier la question suivante : comment des critiques émergent, se développent et produisent des transformations dans ou à travers des organisations ?
... Within sociology and media studies, there has been much interest in political scandals (e.g., Adut, 2008;Allern & von Sikorski, 2018;Entman, 2012;Kepplinger, 2018;Thompson, 2000) and political protest (e.g., Jasper, 2008;Jasper et al., 2018). As political communication, including protest, increasingly takes place online, new forms of blame firestorms have emerged-'digital outcries' generated by self-organized or individual activists on social media (Johnen et al., 2018). ...
... The blame targeted at political leaders and institutions often revolves around four broad kinds of issues that invite negative public judgment. First, moral transgressions, such as corruption, abuse of power, and inappropriate behavior, have been typical themes of widely publicized blame firestormspolitical scandals-in modern democracies (Thompson, 2000). Officeholders' immoral behavior that may spark a scandal ranges from (more or less) legal to illegal actions and may take place both in the private and in the public realms (Entman, 2012). ...
Modern politics is permeated by blame games—symbolic struggles over the blameworthiness or otherwise of various social actors. In this article, we develop a framework for identifying different strategies of blaming that protesters use on social media to criticize and delegitimize governments and political leaders. We draw on the systemic functional linguistic theory of Appraisal to distinguish between blame attributions based on negative judgments of the target’s (1) capacity, such as references to their incompetence and policy failures; (2) veracity, questioning their truthfulness or honesty via references to deceitful character or dishonest acts and utterances; (3) propriety, questioning their moral standing by references to, for instance, corruption; and (4) tenacity, suggesting that the politicians are not dependable due to, for example, dithering. We add to this a further threefold distinction based on whether blaming is focused on the target’s (1) bad character, (2) bad behavior, or (3) negative outcomes that the target either caused or did not prevent from happening. To illustrate the approach, we analyze a corpus of replies by Twitter users to tweets by British government ministers about two highly contentious issues, Covid-19 and Brexit, in 2020–2021. We suggest that the methodology outlined here could provide a useful avenue for systematically revealing and comparing a variety of realizations of blaming in large datasets of online conflict talk, thereby providing a more fine-grained understanding of the practices of protest and delegitimation in modern politics.
... Although there is currently no generally accepted typology of how to classify scandals, a common understanding in the related research is that scandals are the result of real or alleged misconduct, i.e., a normative violation that is invoked by the transgression of the line separating legal and legitimate from illegal and illegitimate (Tarrow, 1994;Adut, 2008;Thompson, 2013). Regardless of whether scandals are based on true or false allegations, a defining element of a scandal is a social reaction of outrage, anger, or surprise that occurs or spreads at the moment an allegation is publicized (Thompson, 2013). ...
... Although there is currently no generally accepted typology of how to classify scandals, a common understanding in the related research is that scandals are the result of real or alleged misconduct, i.e., a normative violation that is invoked by the transgression of the line separating legal and legitimate from illegal and illegitimate (Tarrow, 1994;Adut, 2008;Thompson, 2013). Regardless of whether scandals are based on true or false allegations, a defining element of a scandal is a social reaction of outrage, anger, or surprise that occurs or spreads at the moment an allegation is publicized (Thompson, 2013). While misconduct always depicts the start of a scandal, not every transgression of societal rules necessarily turns into a scandal, as some amount of media attention is needed to transform misconduct into a scandal. ...
This cumulative dissertation contains three empirical essays on the effects of tax policies on different economic agents, namely, individuals, firms, and governments, in three distinct areas of taxation widely overlooked by prior empirical research. Specifically, the first essay studies firms’ responses to threshold-dependent tax enforcement policies. The second essay studies tax competition between local governments and profit shifting by firms to domestic tax havens. Finally, the third essay examines the effects of scandals on organizational affiliation and competition in a setting where organizations levy taxes on their members.
... Political scandals have become a regular part of contemporary elections and electoral campaigns (Kumlin and Esaiasson 2011;von Sikorski et al. 2020), as news media have increasingly reported about political malpractices worldwide (Allern et al. 2012). The publicization of a political scandal is inherent to its definition (Thompson 2000;Allern and Sikorski 2018): indeed, political scandals can be considered 'as real or conjectured norm violations of political actors or institutions that voters living in these different municipalities. This enables us to observe the effect of real scandal cases, across multiple local contexts. ...
... We used 'Go Press Academic' as the main source of media coverage. Relying on Thompson (2000) and Allern and Sikorski (2018), we consider the publicization of a political scandal as inherent to its definition. In order to take into account the framing of norm violations as scandalous by news media, we used the name of the municipality and the term 'scandal' as search terms, sometimes supplemented with 'mayor' or 'alderman' in order not to miss any scandals. ...
Scandals that hit political institutions and their actors are likely to contribute to lowering political trust. However, few studies examine the accuracy of such relationship at the local level. This article aims to contribute to the field by assessing the impact of local scandals on trust in local government and the mayor in the context of a federal state, Belgium. The research relies on an original dataset that includes a selection of municipalities that were hit by a scandal and of municipalities that were not in the running-up of the 2018 local elections. Our findings suggest the existence of a 'scandal effect' on voters' trust in local government and mayor. First, trust in local institutions appears significantly lower in municipalities that were hit by a scandal. Second, the effect of scandals at the individual level appears to be reinforced by voters' perception of trustworthiness of local politicians: scandals more significantly affect trust in local government among voters who evaluate negatively local politicians.
... The interpretive framework in the ZIMDEF scandal cannot be understood outside the careful use of sources for the stories that were churned out during the short period in which the issue took centre stage in The Herald. Thompson (2000) says there are five characteristics that transform corruption into a scandal. These are (1) violation of values or norms, which is what Moyo and his deputy allegedly did; (2) publicity, that is, the alleged transgression or act of corruption must be put in the public spotlight, not remain within the involved parties; (3) the act must induce shock when people learn about it (The Herald clearly worked to create this shock in various groups); (4) reaction to the scandal in the form of sources willing to offer criticism; and finally (5) the alleged transgression must threaten the reputation of the politician involved: in the ZIMDEF scandal, Jonathan Moyo's career as a politician and his ability to be kingmaker for the G40 faction were on the line. ...
... The first, second, third and fifth characteristics have been dealt in much of the article. For the fourth characteristic, Thompson (2000) explains that media mobilise reactions from sources, as part of creating hype against the transgressor. In the ZIMDEF scandal The Herald carefully chose sources which had the effect of achieving three objectives. ...
Political scandals are rarely the focus of major academic research in Zimbabwe where tight control of the dominant state media by the ruling party ensures that scandals involving senior government officials are suppressed. Informed by Altheide and Snow’s media logic and Thompson’s concept of mediated political scandals, this article uses framing analysis to examine The Herald’s logic behind exposing the ZIMDEF scandal involving former Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Jonathan Moyo. We therefore view the scandal as a political power scandal within ZANU-PF as two main factions, the Lacoste faction led by then Vice-President and now President Emmerson Mnangagwa and the G40 faction fronted by the then Minister of Higher Education Jonathan Moyo, who fought a nail-biting contest over the succession of long-time ruler Mugabe as his reign entered the twilight. The article argues that the scandal evolved like a choreographed sting operation, in which the objective was not to expose public corruption, but to neutralise a formidable political foe as the race to succeed former president Robert Mugabe intensified.
... The "Ibiza affair" (as it is still called by the Austrian public and media) shows all ingredients of a classic mediated political scandal (Thompson, 2000;Ekström and Johansson, 2008;Zulli, 2020): it was revealed by traditional media and it brought to light the (intended) misuse of political power by a then major representative of one of the three big Austrian parliamentary parties. In a certain sense, the affair was also an instance of a "talk scandal" (Ekström and Johansson, 2008) as the two politicians were lured into their scandalous behavior and secretly filmed by their two hosts.4 ...
... In modern societies, front-stage politics (Wodak, 2011;Gruber, 2015;Gruber, 2018) is densely intertwined with the media system and many political events are structurally co-shaped by media logic (Zulli, 2020). A particular case in point are political scandals which depend on their coverage in the media (Thompson, 2000). Thompson distinguishes five stages of a scandal: It starts with (1) the transgression of norms in a back-stage context, which (2) is made known and (3) causes offence to some who (4) make it public (i.e. ...
In this article, former Austrian vice-chancellor’s H.C. Strache’s resignation speech and its media coverage in Austria, Germany, and the German speaking part of Switzerland are investigated. Strache resigned after the publication of a secretly recorded meeting with an alleged Russian oligarch during which he (and his closest political collaborator) discussed illegal ways of party funding. The analysis shows that Strache applies justifications (presenting him as victim of a plot) as well as excuses (presenting his demeanor as the normal behavior of a drunken male) in his resignation speech. These seemingly contradictory framing strategies, however, are shown to fit both into the right-wing populist rhetoric repertoire. Analysis of the media coverage of the speech shows country specific differences although media in all three countries did not adopt Strache’s framing strategies. The article also discusses the merits of integrating different data sources and methods in contrastive socio-pragmatic research.
... Thompsons poäng är att skandalen i första hand är en kamp om symbolisk makt där valutan är förtroende. Politik är en förtroendebransch och det spelar då ingen roll vad du levererar om du gör andra saker (privat) som naggar förtroendet i kanten (Thompson, 2000). Det är grundkursen i att klara sig politiskt. ...
... Forskning om politiska skandaler, som är en typ av kris, har många gånger visat att vad som börjat som en typ av kris kan sluta i en helt annan sorts kris. Det är kanske inte så många som minns att den famösa Clinton-Lewinskyskandalen på 1990-talet i USA inte började som en sexskandal mellan en president och en praktikant utan hade sina rötter i en markaffär i Arkansas (Thompson, 2000). Kriser rör upp och skapar oreda, och vad som då virvlar upp vet man aldrig. ...
... In the contrary, Dimova [12] argues that the political opposition is a new player on the public criticism map. Therefore, the opposition remains the chief whistle blower and the main mechanism for expressing societal grievances. ...
... Dimova [12] in Addendum argues that "media criticism of the government enhances transparency and enables the flow of information". But most cases, journalists seem to give report from the government's point of view than public opinion outside the government. ...
Criticism is one form of participation in governance that is mostly frowned at and often routinely ignored by political leaders. This mentality displays it insignificant as it seems not to enhance good governance. The case in point is the Nigerian government. However, the position of this paper is that the touchstone of good governance for any society starts from allowing and listening to criticisms, and in turn learning from them. It is of the view that praises alone are not sufficient to actualize good governance; that criticism is a valuable source of information for decision making; and that dictatorship of governance cannot testify good governance because it does not allow criticisms from the governed. This work therefore, discusses how criticism may be valid in boosting good governance in our society.
... The act of doing this is generally called investigative journalism and is distinct from apparently similar work done by police, lawyers, auditors and regulatory bodies in that it is not limited as to target, not legally founded and usually earns money for media publishers. (de Burgh 2008a, 10) The investigations have the potential of tarnishing the reputation and moral status of the organizations and individuals investigated (Wigorts-Yngvesson 2008; Carson 2020), and may even escalate into "media scandals", in which several media actors in concurrence, and for a longer period focus on a certain alleged misconduct (Allern and Pollack 2012;Thompson 2000). ...
This article analyses how objects of investigative journalism challenge journalistic authority and knowledge production from the textual space of their own platforms. Drawing on theories of image repair discourse, legal defense strategies, and socio-moral meaning making, a thematic analysis is used to research how the defenses criticize the investigations, what type of dialogical socio-moral meaning making they initiate, and what challenges that meaning-making poses to journalism. The article identifies three positions vis-à-vis the accusations: disclaiming, mitigating, and character boosting. The positions represent journalism respectively as either malevolent adversary, legitimate censor, or associate moral champion, and the stances criticize investigations for being either wrongful, exaggerated, or a distortion of character. The defenses challenge investigative journalism to substantiate accusations, justify methods, renegotiate guilt, acknowledge the validity of excuses and justification, and give credit for alleged moral qualities. The study ends with a discussion on the importance for journalism to engage seriously with defenses to uphold its role as a just and fair institution of accountability, and as a relevant actor in the construction of societal moral.
... Nevertheless, it might happen that because of unethical behaviors, defective products, frauds or even graver crimes, the image of family business is conflated with unintended messages that, if publicized, may lead to scandals. As disgraceful or discreditable occurrences, scandals can compromise the reputation of perpetrators (Marcus & Goodman, 1991), since the transgression elicits reaction in terms of struggles over symbolic power that when publicized put reputation and trust at stake (Thompson, 2013). ...
Family firms often adopt brand strategies based on their family status to convey messages of ethics and integrity to their external stakeholders. Research has highlighted the positive influence that family-based brands exert on corporate reputation and related organizational outcomes, yet they may become a liability in circumstances of scandals. In this study, we disentangle the complex landscape of scandals in family firms by conceptually developing a typology corroborated with illustrative cases. Moreover, we explore the consequential effects of scandals on family-based brands and possible redressive strategies implemented in the aftermath of scandals outbreaks. While previous work has mainly seen family-based branding as an edge, our study examines its drawbacks under circumstances of scandals and offers a springboard to further develop this line of inquiry.
... Scandal, as defined by Blic and Lemieux (2005), also presupposes public knowledge of the transgression of the norm. The media play an important role in this regard, as channels for spreading information to the public (Thompson, 2000). However, recent decades have seen the appearance of another important actor: the whistleblower. ...
Organizational transgressions cause recurring scandals. Often disclosed by whistleblowers, they generate public outrage and force organizations to respond. Recent studies have tried to answer the question: “What happens after a transgression becomes publicly known?” They highlight organizational responses marked by recognition of the transgression, penance and reintegration of the organization. However, that research only deals with transgressions involving illegal organizational practices. This article broadens the field of study to include legal but unethical organizational practices. It is based on the case study of a recent scandal: LuxLeaks (2010–2018). This scandal concerns tax avoidance practices that were advised by the international audit and consulting firm PwC to hundreds of companies and made public by whistleblowers. The case data result from cross-comparisons of several organizational (PwC) and governmental (Luxembourg) communication documents as well as parliamentary, judicial and press documents. The article’s results highlight a legalistic organizational response that is so far under-explored in the literature. This response is marked by a rhetoric of denial, reformism and self-victimization and by judicial retaliation against the whistleblowers. It reveals the paradoxes of “legalization” in contemporary organizations, and its role in the perpetuation of unethical corporate practices.
... Unlike the objectivist perspective positing that scandals result mainly from the severity of the transgressions, we adopt a constructivist framework, in the sense that scandals and their consequences are socially constructed, notably driven by media and other powerful groups (e.g., peers, research institutions, politicians) (Thompson, 2000;Entman, 2012;Baugut, 2017). Norm violations constitute a fundamental and necessary but not sufficient condition for scandal eruption. ...
We posit that, once scandals become unavoidable, they can be considered for transformation into opportunities for research institutions, scientific communities and science regulators to implement in-depth changes and policies they would otherwise oppose. Research institutions and scientific communities can take advantage of scandals by participating proactively in constructing their consequences. We develop four mechanisms by which scandals can be used to bring positive change in research institutions and scientific communities. These are nullifying the high-status protection of almost untouchable researchers, ‘resetting’ the system that was conducive to scandals, changing the reference point upon which the entity is judged to emphasize progress and offering a learning opportunity to involved parties.
... Uncivil campaigning is considered to undermine democratic civility by contributing to a toxic political atmosphere and impairing public discourse (Chen, 2017;Flores et al., 2021). Deceitful campaign techniques are regarded to violate the principle of political integrity because they constitute an abuse of political power to achieve unethical or disproportionate goals (Grant, 1999;Thompson, 2000). Previous research demonstrated that uncivil campaigning and deceitful campaign techniques tend to have more negative than positive implications for democratic quality (Walter, 2021). ...
Uncivil campaigning and deceitful campaign techniques are increasingly relevant phenomena in politics. However, it remains unclear how they share an underlying component and how partisanship can influence their associations with democratic outcomes. We introduce the concept of dirty campaigning, which is situated at the intersection of research on negative campaigning and political scandals. Dirty campaigning involves violations of social norms and liberal-democratic values between elite political actors in terms of style and practices, such as uncivil campaigning and deceitful campaign techniques. In a two-wave panel study ( N = 634) during the 2021 German federal election campaign, we investigate the associations of perceived dirty campaigning by the least and most favorite party with distrust in politicians, trust in democracy, attitudes toward dirty campaigning regulation, as well as perceived harmful consequences of dirty campaigning for democracy. We find that perceived dirty campaigning by the least favorite party increases perceptions of harmful consequences of dirty campaigning for democracy over time. In contrast, perceived dirty campaigning by the most favorite party decreases perceptions of harmful consequences of dirty campaigning for democracy as well as attitudes toward dirty campaigning regulation over time. Perceptions of harmful consequences of dirty campaigning for democracy increase distrust in politicians over time and vice versa. Our findings suggest that the outcomes of dirty campaigning can depend on partisanship and can have important implications for the quality of democracy.
... Estos últimos son cada vez más visibles, tanto en su forma real como inventada, si bien la opacidad es mayor en relación a los macrodelitos reales que respecto a los meso y los microdelitos. La visibilidad de la corrupción, tal como indiqué, sucede principalmente a partir del filtrado de información veraz y de fake-news, que pueden o no convertirse en escándalos público-mediáticos (Thompson, 2000). La creciente visibilidad de la corrupción real, así como la mayor publicitación de la corrupción inventada, se asocia a la expansión de los nuevos y viejos dispositivos de comunicación social (Torres, 2021b). ...
En este escrito analizo la agencia del Estado neoliberal tomando
como caso de estudio las políticas de salvataje y apoyo económico
implementadas en Chile durante el primer año de la pandemia (marzo
de 2020-marzo de 2021). Mi objetivo es identificar las continuidades y
discontinuidades de la política económica durante la pandemia y rastrear las potenciales reproducciones y mutaciones del neoliberalismo en Chile. En el capítulo argumento que el intervencionismo estatal opera en continuidad con la agenda neoliberal que ha caracterizado la economía política chilena desde el 2000. Si bien hay un aumento en el gasto público e innovación en algunos instrumentos del gasto, el tamaño de este se mantiene atado a la regla fiscal del 2001. Los instrumentos del gasto directo (bonos) son contingentes a la pandemia y a la vez son focalizados. La agenda neoliberal continúa siendo eficaz para atenuar el recrudecimiento del desempleo, la baja de ingresos y las desigualdades, pero no contribuye a un cambio en la economía política del país, pese a las presiones políticas generadas por el estallido
social y el proceso constituyente.
... This function naturally belongs to the public service role given to the media in Western democracies. They have a duty 'to keep a watchful eye' on powerholders, which because of the news competition between media culminate in blame games and political scandals (Gleason 1990, 61-62;Thompson 2000;Preston 2009). The most patronising decisions made by the government towards the citizens occurred in April 2020 when it rejected giving a clear mask recommendation, although representatives of the media persistently pointed out the international example set in several other countries. ...
During the corona pandemic, politicians have been forced to make urgent decisions under pressure while balancing between challenging options: protecting citizens' health or causing major social and economic difficulties through security measures. Part of the dilemma has been whether the chosen security measures are oversized, causing fundamental economic and social problems, or not sufficient enough, thus putting people's lives at risk. In illustrating our discussion with actions taken by press conferences (PCs) of the Finnish government, we discuss how nonknowing has governed political decision-making in the corona crisis and how tackling the pandemic has required politicians and experts to develop a capability of dealing with the epistemic conditions of nonknowledge. When information about the virus was constantly updated, the epistemic states of 'not-yet-known' or 'partly-known' substantially affect the rhythms in which political decisions are made in managing the spread of COVID-19. We suggest that Prime Minister Marin and her cabinet developed a policy of epistemic humility where the legitimation of decision is not based on scientific knowledge but rather on the temporality of nonknowing. The crisis created a favourable momentum for addressing issues of nonknowing in politics, which are easily kept outside of the public attention.
... These new forms of visibility and their vast expansion across social networks mark a space of new fragility for politics (Thompson, 2000(Thompson, , 2020. In this context, public opinion surveys reveal declining levels of political trust on a global scale. ...
Spanish politicians have attempted to respond to the growing concern about declining trust in representative institutions through ethical self-regulation and meta-regulation instruments. This article focuses on a study of Parliament and the six major political parties with parliamentary representation. It attempts to explain the reasons for adopting these new regulations and proceeds with an in-depth analysis of the existing rules, oversight, and enforcement methods in Parliament and within party organizations. As a result of European pressure, Spanish Parliament has developed a new code of ethics, but it has not strengthened internal procedures and mechanisms to bring them into compliance with the standing rules. Furthermore, political parties have developed an entire set of basic compliance measures influenced by the law on the criminal liability of legal persons. In both cases, oversight and enforcement are exceedingly weak. None of these measures has improved confidence in politicians in Spain. Two lessons can be learned. First is that without politicians’ commitment, ethical reforms do not work. Secondly, today’s new technologies, linked to a social network society, make window-dressing deception more difficult.
... Lideranças populistas de direita, como Trump, Salvini e Bolsonaro, conseguiram projeção dos meios de comunicação tradicionais. Suas declarações polêmicas, garantem audiência para a política do espetáculo, valorizam o escândalo político (Thompson, 2013), contribuindo para o questionamento da prática política e da legitimidade das instituições públicas (Guazina, 2021). ...
As plataformas digitais têm se configurado como terreno fértil para a propagação de discursos populistas e de desinformação. Neste contexto, o artigo tem como objetivo realizar um estudo da comunicação no Twitter de Jair Bolsonaro, Presidente do Brasil, durante a pandemia da Covid-19. Nesse período, o presidente brasileiro se posicionou contra as medidas de isolamento social e fez a defesa de medicamentos sem eficácia para o tratamento da Covid-19, o que gerou dificuldades para o combate da epidemia no país. Visando estudar as estratégias de comunicação adotadas por Bolsonaro durante o período inicial da pandemia, o estudo realizou uma análise em dois níveis: (i) análise de tópicos de todas as publicações no período; e (ii) análise de conteúdo das 100 mensagens mais retuitadas. Os resultados indicam que a estratégia de comunicação populista, evocando emoções de raiva e com porcentagem relevante de desinformação, produz os conteúdos que são mais compartilhados por seus seguidores.
... Friedman (2011) has argued that the media tends to avoid reporting on the underlying causes and motivations that drive protests in South Africa and how they relate to a broader disillusionment with the socio-economic dispensation in the country. Writing on scandal, renowned media scholar J.B. Thompson (2000) argues that media representation is not an occurrence on the surface of political life, but is "linked to and symptomatic of some of the most important structural features of modern societies". Similarly, critics have observed that when it comes to recent phenomena, such as the rise of a political outsider like Donald Trump, we need to focus less on the personal and more on the social issues that have enabled him (Heer 2017). ...
Relating the phenomenon to the South African context, this article investigates current debates about fake news -especially American (US) insights that covered the rise of Donald Trump. In taking this route, the article provides an exploratory overview of current debates on fake news and the variations that have emerged in South Africa. The article does not aim to provide a detailed content analysis of fake or spoof websites. Rather, the aim is to draw from insights that have emerged from the international debates, and use what is relevant to understand a very specific set of socio-political circumstances. Within this framework, and in the aftermath of misinformation scandals such as the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the ANC War Room and the Bell-Pottinger smear campaign, the question that is asked is what implications the current debates on fake news have for South Africa. How do we understand these insights in the context of histories of conflict and high inequality? The article concludes that the prominence of fake news could serve to demonstrate mainstream media's service to a particular ideological position at the expense of others in transitional societies with multiple viewpoints.
... Труды М. Кастельса [1], П. Бергера и Т. Лукмана [2], Дж. Томпсона [3], Г. Рейнгольда [4], Е. В. Бродовской [5] определяют механизмы и способы влияния сетевого пространства на политическую повестку в офлайн-среде. Цифровому менеджменту политических акторов в сетевом пространстве посвящены работы Е. В. Бродовской [6,7], Д. В. Чижова [8] и др. ...
The article is devoted to identifying the features of digital management of opposition (protest) and pro-government producers of relevant content (political actors and media agents) who actively participated in the protest wave in the Republic of Belarus in 2020–2021. Certain similarities of communication and political culture allow us to say that unconventional forces can use the applied algorithms to destabilize the situation in the Russian Federation. Using a hybrid technique, including discourse analysis and automated social media analysis, the authors studied the digital management of content producers, the contextual discourse field, and the features of communication strategy in a network environment for broadcasting the generated discourses.
... To date, research on political scandals has usually addressed corruption or sex scandals uncovered by journalists or political opponents against the will of the scandalized (e.g., Thompson 2000;von Sikorski 2018). Likewise, deliberate provocations made by right-wing populists seem to set the same mechanisms in motion. ...
The rise of right-wing populist parties in Western democracies is often attributed to populists’ ability to instrumentalize news media by making deliberate provocations (e.g., verbal attacks on migrants or politicians from other parties) that generate media coverage and public awareness. To explain the success of populists’ deliberate provocations, we drew from research on populism and scandal theory to develop a theoretical framework that we tested in two studies examining the rise of German right-wing populist party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) between January 2015 and December 2018. In Study 1, an input–output analysis of 17 deliberate provocations by AfD politicians in German news media revealed much more coverage about their attacks on migrants than about their attacks on political elites, although all were covered in predominantly scandalizing ways. Next, Study 2, involving media database research and an analysis of Google Trends data, showed that the provocations had increased overall media coverage about the AfD and influenced public awareness of the party
Financial regulation is often adopted in the wake of scandals and crises. Yet political science has little to say about the political effects of corporate scandals. We break that silence, asking whether exposure to news coverage of bank scandals changes the preferences of voters for financial regulation. Drawing from the literatures on media influence and public opinion, we argue that news coverage of bank scandals should increase voters’ appetite for regulation. We test our hypothesis with data from six countries, using original nationally representative panel surveys with embedded experiments (total N = 27,673). Our pooled and country‐specific analyses largely support our expectation that exposure to news coverage of scandals increases regulatory preferences. We reproduce this finding in a separate survey wave, using different scandals than in our original analysis. These results contribute to studies on media influence on public opinion, the political significance of scandals, and the political economy of regulation.
Taking into account that some of the media systems in Chile present high degrees of concentration of ownership and low ideological pluralism, this research shows how the most important print media and news Web portals framed the six main corruption scandals in Chile between 2015 and 2019. Among other conclusions, a higher presence of the morality frame in online media was observed after analyzing news pieces for the five generic frames (attribution of responsibilities, conflict, human interest, economic consequences, and morality) and conducting quantitative content analysis using base study indicators. In applying the method of generic frames to the Chilean media regarding the coverage of corruption scandals in recent years, the validity of this research in other political and media contexts can be corroborated, in addition to its importance in establishing which are the frames promoted by the media, and their differences, in an issue as relevant to democracy and society as corruption.
The recent global experiences of new collaborations, participatory, and liberal governance systems are increasingly demanding a systematic reconfiguration of public expenditure and management (PEM) systems, processes, and praxis. At the moment, there is no consensus regarding the importance, scope, and implications of these prevailing PEM reforms. The New Public Governance (NPG) is widely believed to be the latest development in providing a conceptual pillar and theoretical foundation to explore this transformative nature of PEM. This paper presents NPG as a theoretical construct; and interrogates its value in exploring the nature and context of emerging PEM issues. Revelations of the study point to the growing adoption of the NPG in both theory and practice, albeit with mixed results. Evidence aground reveals that while NPG has been widely applied in exploring the current and growing complex PEM issues, it is not the solution to fully comprehend the emerging government expenditure management issues. An evident knowledge gap calls for a de-mystification of this new theoretical construct and explores its empirical value in studying contemporary fiscal reforms. Consequently, the paper advances the argument that a hybrid theoretical construct can be more effective in providing a solid theoretical base for exploring the extant global complex PEM challenges. The thesis of a hybrid governance theory is anchored on, among others, citizen participation, innovation, inter-organizational linkages, and mutual trust to address the current public administration and governance challenges.
Niklas Luhmann has considered the concept of crisis as a negative self-description of modern society. However, in different argumentative contexts, he uses the concept to refer to operative processes in and between partial systems that were not further developed, such as interruption of systemic relations, crisis threshold, and rapid transitions. Drawing on theoretical analyses and empirical research, I argue that the theory of critical transitions developed in ecosystem research offers a conceptual horizon from which to obtain insights to understand and explain sudden changes in modern society. To this extent, I propose a mechanism of critical transitions in meaning-based social systems and discuss its components in light of the related literature. I conclude that, while preserving the concept of crisis as a negative self-description, that of critical transition is more adequate to address the factual, temporal, and social operations producing sudden shifts in complex social systems.
How and to what extent do defense actors use publicity in trials of protesters in contemporary Russia? Why do they fight over strategic uses of publicity if “everything is decided in advance”? Drawing on original ethnographic research, this article finds, first, that publicity accompanies legal resistance to politicized prosecutions and is inventively used by the defense. Second, mobilization of publicity creates opportunities for the defense to bargain with and keep the prosecution in check. Third, the relationship between publicity and legal resistance in repressive settings is ambiguous. Some human rights lawyers embrace publicity and others avoid it. I argue that this divergence should be interpreted in relation to lawyers' embeddedness in different professional ecologies. At the same time, lawyers' publicity strategies are altered by the interactional dimension of the trial. The latter manifests itself on two levels: at the micro‐level of a courtroom and in the public sphere where different publics engage in debates that interfere with lawyers' defense strategies. This paper has broader implications for the analysis of defensive legal mobilization in dual legal systems beyond the Russian case.
A key intermediary between courts and the public are the journalists who monitor the actions of justices and report their decisions, pronouncements, and proclivities. Justices and Journalists: The Global Perspective is the first volume of its kind - a comparative analysis of the relationship between supreme courts and the press who cover them. Understanding this relationship is critical in a digital media age when government transparency is increasingly demanded by the public and judicial actions are the subject of press and public scrutiny. Richard Davis and David Taras take a comparative look at how justices in countries around the world relate to the media, the interactive points between the courts and the press, the roles of television and the digital media, and the future of the relationship.
Krisen und Skandale können einerseits als Ausnahmesituationen der Mediengesellschaft betrachtet werden; andererseits treten sie prozessual wiederkehrend auf und beeinflussen sich wechselseitig: Krisen können Skandale hervorbringen und umgekehrt. In den vernetzten Öffentlichkeiten des Internet haben sie an Virulenz und Permanenz gewonnen. Ihr Verlauf und ihre Relevanz für die politische Kommunikation lassen sich in dem funktionalen Phasenmodell der Skandaluhr abbilden. Seiner Latenzphase mit Publikation der Schlüsselereignisse folgen die Aufschwungphase mit Kontextualisierung und die Etablierungsphase mit Bewertung der Vorwürfe auf der Klimax, bevor sich die Medienöffentlichkeit in den Abschwung- und Rehabilitationsphasen regeneriert. Das Zusammenspiel von Boulevard- und Nachrichtenmedien hat dabei großen Einfluss auf den Verlauf von Krisen und Skandalen. Sie kommunizieren mit moralischen Kollektiven aus den Bereichen Religion und Ideologie, Privatheit, Öffentlichkeit, Politik und Recht. Zunehmend artikulieren auch populistische Politikerinnen und Politiker bewusst politische Tabubrüche, um durch in den Intermediären potenzierte Krisen und Skandale mediale Aufmerksamkeit zu generieren.
Несмотря на значительное число проработанных в современной политической науке концепций “стабильности”, это проблемное поле, критически важное для прикладных исследований современного государственного и политического управления, характеризуется, по мнению автора, дефицитом внимания к усовершенствованным инструментам, связанным с оценкой гражданами конгруэнтности государственного управления их представлениям о необходимом формате функционирования последнего. Ключевой задачей настоящей работы является восполнение данного пробела. Исследование политической стабильности, понимаемой как легитимное состояние политического режима, при котором статусные акторы в рамках имеющихся устойчивых институтов способны инициировать и эффективно реализовывать действия, необходимые для адаптивных изменений, требует внимания не только к формально-нормативной стороне деятельности основных институтов и к параметрам технической (экономической) эффективности, но и к моменту восприятия населением современных ему институтов, механизмов и структур. Под конгруэнтностью в рамках статьи понимается состояние согласованности и взаимной приемлемости институциональных установлений и доминирующих образцов политической культуры. Обсуждаются главные проблемы рассмотрения каждой из двух представленных составляющих (включая дискуссии, посвященные интерпретации как “институтов”, так и “политической культуры”). Подчеркивается, что, несмотря на давно присутствующие в науке концепции, связанные с рассмотрением конгруэнтности и неконгруэнтности, существует лишь небольшое число прикладных техник, применимых к реальным государственным системам. Некоторые из подходов, в теории посвященных изучению общественного доверия и вовлеченности, используются политиками в собственных репутационных и рейтинговых интересах. В заключение приводятся возможные инструменты измерения конгруэнтности – социологический (1), количественный (2) и третий подход, концентрирующийся на исследовании отношения к отдельным институтам, воспринимаемым в качестве ключевых.
After focusing on the emergence of new mediators, we are now going to investigate more closely the visibility dynamics that emerges from that. Among the main discourses of the actors we interviewed on the use of social media during the 2013 protests in Brazil, one of them emphasized that this use had given voice to a number of new actors that could now publish and disseminate their own version of the facts. This emergence of new voices would create a bigger kaleidoscope of voices talking about the protests. But how does that really work? In this chapter we investigate that dynamic through the analysis of retweet and hyperlink practices.
Brands are turning to social media for the marketing of their products. With the rise of social media marketing came the emergence of influencers, key opinion leaders with social media followings. As influencer marketing continues to be employed by brands, their concern of being implicated in an influencer scandal grows. This study investigates the impact of scandal on social media sentiment related to the influencer and a brand they endorse. A sentiment analysis was conducted using comments made on Instagram posts of the influencer and brand shortly before and after the scandal. Results show an increase in the strength and positivity of sentiment towards the influencer post-scandal. Results also indicate that comment sentiment towards the brand post-scandal is not significantly different from pre-scandal.
The recent global experiences of new collaborations, participatory, and liberal governance systems are increasingly demanding a systematic reconfiguration of public expenditure and management (PEM) systems, processes, and praxis. At the moment, there is no consensus regarding the importance, scope, and implications of these prevailing PEM reforms. The New Public Governance (NPG) is widely believed to be the latest development in providing a conceptual pillar and theoretical foundation to explore this transformative nature of PEM. This paper presents NPG as a theoretical construct; and interrogates its value in exploring the nature and context of emerging PEM issues. Revelations of the study point to the growing adoption of the NPG in both theory and practice, albeit with mixed results. Evidence aground reveals that while NPG has been widely applied in exploring the current and growing complex PEM issues, it is not the solution to fully comprehend the emerging government expenditure management issues. An evident knowledge gap calls for a de-mystification of this new theoretical construct and explores its empirical value in studying contemporary fiscal reforms. Consequently, the paper advances the argument that a hybrid theoretical construct can be more effective in providing a solid theoretical base for exploring the extant global complex PEM challenges. The thesis of a hybrid governance theory is anchored on, among others, citizen participation, innovation, inter-organizational linkages, and mutual trust to address the current public administration and governance challenges.
This paper discusses why despite the appalling way in which Mexican government managed the health crisis due to COVID-19, the levels of popularity of President Lopez Obrador where practically unaffected. The paper argues that his morning conferences, popularly known as mañaneras, serve as an instrument to frame the debate agenda of public affairs. The paper does so by analyzing some of the communicational elements of the morning conferences, to show that the real message the President transmits is symbolic and is central to his popularity. We show that the framing of public debate has made it extremely mediatized and oversimplified.
The article presents the study of the features of the protest and pro-government network audience involved in the Belarusian protest agenda in 2020–2021. The relevance of this topic is due to the similarity of the economic, social, and cultural space of the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation, which gives grounds to assume the interaction of unconventional Russian political actors with similar groups in our country. The research methodology is hybrid in nature and consists of cognitive mapping, automated social media analysis and in-depth interviews. The article presents the results obtained during the implementation of the developed methodology. As a prospect for this study, it should be noted the development of tools and a scheme for forming a sample population for conducting a mass survey to determine the ratio of the identified motivations and patterns of behaviour among supporters of protest and government.
Civil society organizations in England have faced an increasingly turbulent policy context in recent years. This chapter situates this scenario in relation to the legacy of legal structures, shifting ideological currents and a rapidly evolving discursive environment, as governments have changed over the past two decades. Drawing on evidence from charities operating in social policy fields, it shows how a striking gap has opened up and widened between the supportive rhetorical claims emanating from governments and the reality of delivering services and supporting disadvantaged groups on the ground. An emphasis is placed on how funding inadequacies, shortfalls in volunteering capacity, and the emergence of an increasingly intolerant policy climate fueled by both government and parts of the media have placed severe limitations on the ability of these organizations to collectively reach their potential.KeywordsSocial policyThird sectorCivil societyVolunteeringFundingPolicy climate
Die Literaturgeschichte ist eine Geschichte von Konflikten. Darüber, was Literatur ist, was sie sein sollte und vor allem, was sie darf oder nicht, gab es zu allen Zeiten erbitterte Streitigkeiten. Wenn diese Konflikte zu einem medialen Ereignis eskalieren, spricht man von einem Literaturskandal, von einem Normbruch, der öffentlichkeitswirksame Empörung erzeugt.
The Cold War between the East and West during the period 1945-1991 was a rivalry where the world’s doom constantly emerged as a possible result. The Cold War was global and included northern European countries like Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway in different ways. Historians are still discussing how Cold War history should be understood in these countries, but they have rarely been concerned about mass media and communications. Meanwhile, many media scholars have neglected the theme entirely. In this book, these two areas of knowledge are combined in new research on the Nordic mass media, and its significance during the Cold War.
A number of controversial topics are covered. Nineteen Nordic scholars sheds new light on Nordic print media in all four countries, but also write about radio and the television broadcasting. Extending the traditional Cold War research on media and communication to include sport, magazines for men, political cartoons, and films, the book lays the foundation for Cold War studies to become an integrated interdisciplinary field of knowledge, and a more central part of the Nordic media research than before - with countless opportunities for exciting new research, with high relevance to world conflicts in our own time.
Henrik G. Bastiansen is Professor at Faculty of Media and Journalism, Volda University College, Norway.
Rolf Werenskjold is Professor at Faculty of Media and Journalism, Volda University College, Norway.
A partir do reconhecimento do papel crucial dos veículos de comunicação pública para a democracia, este trabalho observa a cobertura jornalística da Agência Brasil (ABr/EBC) sobre os presidenciáveis Jair Bolsonaro e Fernando Haddad durante o segundo turno das eleições de 2018. Foi realizada uma análise temática de 297 conteúdos para identificar se a agência de notícias cumpriu os seus objetivos previstos em lei, como a promoção do debate público acerca de assuntos relevantes, a contribuição para a formação da consciência crítica e o fomento à participação social e à construção da cidadania. Dentre os resultados, destaca-se uma prática jornalística em regra protocolar, com limitada pluralidade temática, regional e de fontes e centrada em abordagens de assuntos factuais e polêmicos em detrimento das pautas sobre minorias sociais, plataformas políticas ou que valorizassem a democracia, a cidadania e os direitos humanos.
The purpose of the project was to understand the role of regional media in southeast Sweden. The regional press have had a strong presence and has been part of the regional life since 1841.
The print media has for long had a significant influence in society as a fourth estate. The daily press has long been engaged in critical analysis of social phenomena and authority and acted to help increase community involvement. Even on the basis of this strong position the regional press face a number of challenges such as increased convergence and maintain storage numbers, selling advertising space and maintain their distribution areas.
The project addressed the emerging issue of what role and value regional media has in our modern media society. How do the media connect with the local population? How does journalism ensure and promote diversity in the media presentation and prevents discontinuity in the global media age?REGPRESS is funded through a partnership between the Barometern Foundation, Linnaeus University and Fojo Media Institute (FOJO).
The project started in 2015 and completed in october 2017.
This chapter delves into the ambiguities of the expression of online hate speech and seeks to understand the challenges it raises for researchers. It discusses cyberhate against migrants in its multiple dimensions, i.e. as a manifestation of the affective publics of the Internet, crystallising the social and political dimensions of a representation crisis constructed as a public problem. Cyberhate in the context of migrations towards Europe builds upon the divide “us/them”, “them” alternatively designating migrants as a group, or those who allegedly support them, i.e. politicians, media, scientists and other designated elites. Hate speech draws on representations and shared meanings, community building and otherness and profits from the ecosystem of the Internet.KeywordsRepresentation crisisPublic problemAffective publicsControversiesVisibilityTruth
Scandal occupies a prominent place as an issue in politics, serving to shape both an understanding of the political establishment in the United States, and more specific understandings of the legacy and reputation of individual political figures. In this chapter Busby addresses contemporary understanding of scandal politics and what its impact is on American politics. An additional focus is given to understandings of scandal management and damage control and how those involved in scandal seek to deflect and minimize damage to their personal standing. Attention is also given to those who are instrumental to the unfolding of a scandal narrative, including the role of the spouse in shaping understandings of the actions of the alleged wrongdoer.
La caricature peut en effet s’inscrire dans deux registres différents, celui, affectif, du proche et celui, critique, de la dégradation. Dans le cas de la figuration des personnages publics, la dégradation joue une fonction politique, liée à la critique du pouvoir. L’analyse de la conférence de presse durant laquelle Luz présente Mahomet en couverture est l’occasion de revenir sur cette tension entre critique et attachement, et permet d’aborder l’emprise problématique que peut exercer la dénonciation du « blasphème » sur la structuration pluraliste d’un espace public.
Günümüzde geleneksel ve yeni medya teknolojileri, siyasetin en belirleyici unsurlarıdır. Kitle iletişim araçları, seçim zamanlarında siyasi aktörler arasında müsabakaya dönüşen süreci önemli şekilde etkilemekle kalmaz, normal dönemlerde de, siyasete ve kurumlara olan güvenin tesis edilmesi amacıyla egemen siyasi aktörlerce sıklıkla kullanılır. Fakat özellikle kitlesel öz iletişimin (yeni medya) gelişmesiyle, siyasetin seyri değişmiş ve çok sayıda insan politik alana doğrudan etkileşim yoluyla dâhil olabilme imkânı bulmuştur. Yeni medyanın etkileşim mevziisini genişletmesi, siyasi aktörlerin her türlü eylemlerinin yeni iletişimin odağı haline gelmesini sağlamıştır. Tüm bunlarla beraber, tarihi bakımından oldukça eskilere dayanan ve çoğu zaman siyasette belirleyici olan "skandal" kavramının da önemi gittikçe artmıştır. Bu çalışmanın konusu, ağ toplumunda skandal siyasetinin işlevi ve sonuçları ile ilgilidir. Konu ile ilgili devasa bir literatür olduğu için örneklem daha çok, Türkiye'de yakın dönemde internet üzerinden dolaşıma sokulan skandallar ve sonuçları ile sınırlandırılmıştır. Bu kapsamda, eski CHP genel başkanı Deniz Baykal ve MHP'li bazı politikacıları hedef alan kaset skandallarına yer verilmiştir.
In 2019, Germany’s governing political parties were challenged by two cases of scandalous criticism in the online environment. In the first case, 1 week before the European Parliament elections in May 2019, the YouTuber Rezo posted a provocative online video titled The Destruction of the CDU. In the video, Rezo provided a polemic but fact-based account of the alleged failures and shortcomings of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and other German parties. The video was an open recommendation to not vote for CDU and, a few days later, was backed by approximately 90 other YouTubers. In the second case, in August 2019, the comedian Jan Böhmermann surprised the public by launching his campaign #neustart19. On his TV show, Böhmermann announced his plan to apply for the chairmanship of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and continued his campaign with a series of videos on social media in which he criticized recent and former SPD’s leaders for practicing politics directed against their voter’s interest.
In April 2019, one of the most high-profile scandals in Russian media history took place. The most striking point is that the scandal was triggered not by political or economic events but by the results of a famous Russian TV talent show. We argue that being non-political thematically, it was political in its nature. This chapter examines how public concern about the dishonesty of the voting procedure for determining the winner rises to the status of a full-blown scandal. To detect the public’s reaction, we use emoji network analysis, Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA), and collocation analysis of users’ comments on social media. Focusing on the dynamics between different media in the scandal’s deployment, we use process tracing. The main finding of the analysis is that perceiving “The Voice Kids” as evidence of equality and fair play, Russian TV viewers passive in their manner demonstrated solidarity in the struggle with corruption and voting fraud.
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any references for this publication.