Media and Bureaucratic Reputation: Exploring Media Biases in the Coverage of Public Agencies

Boon, Jan; Salomonsen, Heidi Houlberg; Verhoest, Koen; Pedersen, Mette Østergaard

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-76672-0_9

Cited by 12 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…The media assumes a key role as the most important source of information for citizens regarding government performance (Arnold 2004). In reputational terms, the media provides: channels through which regulatory agencies signal their reputation uniqueness to their manifold audiences and observe the subsequent feedback from these and/or other audiences; informal forums for political accountability (Bovens 2007); and ‘audiences in their own right and [the] institutional intermediaries used by other audiences—and the agencies themselves—to make sense of agency performance’ (Boon et al 2019a, p. 173). The media also activates (and deactivates) accountability forums and induces (and suppresses) formal accountability processes (Jacobs and Schillemans 2016).…”

Section: Countering Reputational Risks In a Saturated Media Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Political executives prioritize between different reputation‐protection mechanisms employed by the agencies they control (Maor 2007). And the media prioritizes between agencies of interest, and between reputational dimensions of organizations with a positive/negative reputational history (Boon et al 2019a).…”

Section: Countering Reputational Risks In a Saturated Media Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Various criticisms are levelled at strategic communication as a form of reputation management. Boon et al (2019a), for example, articulate two problematic aspects in bureaucratic reputation theory into a coherent critique. First is the premise of rationality, which is often assumed to be part of the prioritization process undertaken by agencies among the expectations of multiple, and potentially conflicting, audiences regarding different components of their reputations.…”

Section: Critiques Of Strategic Communicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Combining these two problematic aspects enables the authors to articulate the argument according to which the aforementioned process, referred to as ‘prioritizing’ (Maor 2015), may be driven to some extent by the distinctive logic of the media rather than by agencies' assessments of the relative strength of different dimensions of their reputation that are subject to threats, or by the nature of their task. This criticism draws on the burgeoning literature concerning media logic (e.g., Altheide 2004), raising the possibility that the way the media works might interfere with the reputation signals agencies seek to communicate (Boon et al 2019a; Boon et al 2019b). In other words, a long‐term journalistic slant (e.g., Fox News) and regulatee‐sponsored communication (e.g., FDA‐bashing) can have effects that are significant enough to sway audiences' expectations, and perhaps even regulation outcomes.…”

Section: Critiques Of Strategic Communicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…), and procedural (does the agency follow accepted rules and norms?). Scholars have claimed that the ways in which regulatory agencies prioritize multiple (and potentially conflicting) expectations among audiences regarding different dimensions of their reputations may be driven to a certain extent by the distinctive logic of the media (Boon et al 2019a, p. 172). This critique somewhat challenges the claim that prioritization is guided either by agencies' assessment of the relative threat to one or more of the aforementioned dimensions of its reputation, or by the nature of their task (e.g., Maor et al 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Strategic communication by regulatory agencies as a form of reputation management: A strategic agenda

Maor

2020

Public Administration

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This article develops a strategic agenda concerning regulatory agencies' strategic communication in light of the reputation literature. It highlights the main strands in this literature, presents the fundamental findings discovered so far, responds to the critiques that have recently surfaced, and offers guidance about where scholarship on strategic communication might most profitably head. The critiques discussed here centre on two aspects: (i) the claim that an agency's communication choices are to some extent driven by the distinctive logic of the media rather than by reputational concerns, and (ii) the argument that strategic communication provides only short‐term solutions to emerging threats and is therefore overemphasized in the literature. Future agendas include, for example, the selection of audience segmentation strategies, and the management of competing and even contradictory communication for segmented audiences when agencies enjoy exclusive jurisdiction, as opposed to cases in which other agencies share the same stage.

show abstract

Section: Countering Reputational Risks In a Saturated Media Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Countering Reputational Risks In a Saturated Media Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Critiques Of Strategic Communicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Critiques Of Strategic Communicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Strategic communication by regulatory agencies as a form of reputation management: A strategic agenda

Maor

2020

Public Administration

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(Non-)Stereotypical representations of older people in Swedish authority-managed social media

2020

Ageing and Society

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Social media facilitates the sharing of ideas, thoughts and information about older people and later life through online networks and communities in contemporary society. Social media content about older people has become important for understanding media representations of older people, but it has not been sufficiently studied. Recent studies suggest that older people are predominantly represented as a disempowered, vulnerable and homogeneous group on social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter. Because local authorities in many countries have begun using Facebook to reach out to and interact with citizens, they are seen as a significant producer of media content about older people and later life. The purpose of this study is to examine the ways in which Swedish local authorities have visually portrayed older people in their use of Facebook compared with other age groups. This research performed a visual content analysis of 1,000 Facebook posts posted by 33 Swedish local authorities, employing ten analytical aspects to describe and interpret the signs, activities and contexts associated with older people and other age groups (infants, children, adolescents and adults). The study found that the representations of older people on the Facebook pages of local authorities appeared to be not very diverse; specifically, older people (including those in residential care homes) were mainly portrayed as remaining socially engaged and moderately physically capable. This media representation destabilised the prevalent negative stereotypes of older people as being out of touch and dependent; however, it collided with the reality of older individuals with care needs. Additionally, this study argues that older people are represented as inferior to the young in terms of physical and technological competence, based on the connotations of the signs. Given that local authorities have progressively incorporated social media into their daily work, it is expected that this study will contribute to a greater understanding of the ways in which local authorities produce (non-)stereotypical representations of older people on social media.

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From accountability victim to accountability entrepreneur: testing reputation-informed explanations of voluntary accountability among European Union agencies

de Boer,

Leidorf-Tidå

2023

Journal of European Public Policy

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Media and Bureaucratic Reputation: Exploring Media Biases in the Coverage of Public Agencies

Cited by 12 publications

References 31 publications

Strategic communication by regulatory agencies as a form of reputation management: A strategic agenda

Strategic communication by regulatory agencies as a form of reputation management: A strategic agenda

(Non-)Stereotypical representations of older people in Swedish authority-managed social media

From accountability victim to accountability entrepreneur: testing reputation-informed explanations of voluntary accountability among European Union agencies

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