Industry vs. Government: Leveraging Media Coverage in Corporate Political Activity

Abstract

This article investigates how an industry leveraged media coverage to publicly oppose governmental policy. Based on a frame analysis of the political contest between the mining industry and the Australian government over a proposed tax on resource corporations, we show how the industry aligned their position with mass media to (a) make the policy contest salient, (b) frame their position in the contest as legitimate, and (c) construct negative representations of the policy as dominant. The analysis reveals how the industry’s corporate political activities leveraged media coverage to align disparate frames into a consistent message against the policy in the public sphere. This contributes to the literature on corporate political activity by explaining the process of alignment with mass media frames to legitimize corporate positions on salient issues. Second, we contribute to the framing literature by demonstrating the process of frame alignment between non-collaborative actors. Finally, we contribute to the broader discussion on corporations’ role in society by showing how corporate campaigns can leverage the media to facilitate the favourable settlement of contentious issues. These contributions highlight the pitfalls of corporate political influence without necessary democratic standards.

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“…Yritykset eivät ole yksinomaan kritiikin kohteena, vaan voivat aktiivisesti pyrkiä vaikuttamaan tapahtuman kehystämiseen (Etter, Ravasi ja Colleoni 2019, 31;Murray ja Nyberg 2021). Tyypillisesti eri toimijat pyrkivät vaikuttamaan yleiseen mielipiteeseen esimerkiksi vastuuttamalla tiettyjä toimijoita (Mena ym.…”

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“…2018Illia ym. 2022) ja toimii myös tilana, jossa yritykset ja muut toimijat pyrkivät kehystämään tapahtuneen tavoitteidensa mukaisesti (Murray ja Nyberg 2021). Myös sosiaalisen median yleisöjen ja vaikuttajien tiedetään vaikuttavan niin yleisöjen kuin toimittajienkin käsityksiin esimerkiksi siitä, mitkä aiheet ja arvot nähdään yhteiskunnallisesti merkittäviksi (Schultz, Castello ja Morsing 2013).…”

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