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SES 2.1a: Session 2.1a - Public sector, organization and lobbying
Time:
Thursday, 21/Sept/2023:
10:30am - 11:30am
Session Chair: Scott Davidson
Location:Hollar, room n. 14, Smetanovo nábřeží 6
Presentations
Salient Issues of the COVID-19 pandemic: Media lobbying strategies of Finnish trade associations
Markus Tapani Mykkänen1, Chiara Valentini2
1University of Jyväskylä, Finland; 2Jyväskylä University School of Business and Economics, Finland
Structured Abstract
Purpose: This study investigates the use of indirect/outside lobbying strategies by three Finnish trade associations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically it aims at finding out what issues were advocated by Finnish trade associations in news media and what media lobbying strategies were used the most.
Design/methodology/approach: A content analysis approach is used to examine how trade associations have lobbied in the public media arena. Data was collected in early 2023 and comprises over two years of news articles published in the Finnish four largest news media and covering the Finnish trade associations in focus in this study.
Findings: The results will show what issues were the most advocated by the Finnish trade associations and what media lobbying strategies were used respectively during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results will offer insights on the trade associations’ lobbying role during a critical situation.
Research limitations/implications: The study will offer theoretical and managerial reflections for advancing our knowledge of public affairs roles in society during critical situations.
Practical implications: The study contributes to research on lobbying and public affairs in the context of critical situations.
Originality/value: This study is one of the first studies examining the perspective of trade unions in media lobbying strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results update our knowledge and understanding of the methods and challenges of outside lobbying during a prolonged crisis.
The Information Oligopoly of Big Tech: How Journalists and Public Affairs Practitioners Perceive Their Role Towards Big Tech’s Accountability
Alexandra Schwinges1, Irina Lock2, Toni G.L.A. van der Meer1, Rens Vliegenthart3
1Amsterdam School of Communication Research, Netherlands, The; 2Institute of Communication Science, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany; 3Strategic Communication Group, Wageningen University and Research (WUR), Wageningen, Netherlands
Purpose: Given the expanding role of Big Tech in society and their inextricable link to news media, concerns about the role of media in holding corporate power to account have been raised. This study explores the relationship between the media and Big Tech corporations in building the agenda on Big Tech’s accountability from a perceptual lens.
Design: Based on semi-structured interviews with journalists (n=15) and corporate public affairs practitioners from Big Tech (n=15), we identify professional role perceptions and their perceived relationship.
Findings: Both actor groups distance themselves from the responsibility to hold Big Tech accountable and understand a mere facilitative role towards legislative accountability. In midst of a “techlash”, journalists show a strong public service orientation as watchdogs, and reformulate their normative mandate to monitor corporate power in accordance with the ideals of detachment and balance. Public affairs practitioners perceive a strong mandate for Big Tech to participate in public discourse, but avoid public accountability. The interaction of both actor groups is shaped by a defensive corporate positioning towards the media, and is limited to the supranational European space, where the negotiation of Big Tech’s accountability is pushed behind closed doors. While both actor groups emphasize a strong societal position of the media, technological complexities leave public affairs practitioners sovereign of information and leave journalists in a subservient position relative to Big Tech.
Originality: We uniquely approach both actor groups in tandem and discuss implications for the factual and normative role of both actor groups in our digital democracies.
What Makes a Legitimate Public Sector Organization? Insights from a Representative Survey
Irina Lock1, Sandra Jacobs2
1Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany; 2Amsterdam School of Communication Research (ASCoR)
Purpose: Legitimacy and reputation are crucial resources for public sector organizations (PSOs), particularly in times of mediatization and polarization. News and social media serve as platforms for the construction of both concepts and inform the public about organizations and their attributes. Although ample studies focus on public evaluations of for-profit organizations, little is known of the factors that explain reputation and legitimacy of PSOs in the eyes of citizens, and to what extent personal and media-related factors play a role.
Design/methodology: In this study, we therefore assess the antecedents of public sector reputation and legitimacy by means of a cross-sectional survey among a representative sample of Dutch citizens (N = 1,267) and analyze the results in a structural equation model.
Findings: Our preliminary findings indicate that trust in the organization is an important predictor of the organization’s reputation, and, to a lesser extent, media-related factors. Most strikingly, we found a strong positive relationship between trust and reputation, and reputation on legitimacy (rather than the other way around).
Contribution/originality: The study shows what factors influence the legitimacy of a PSO; importantly, it establishes that reputation judgments precede legitimacy perceptions of organizations. This has important implications for public relations practice: The preliminary findings suggest that trying to establish high levels of trust in the organization could partly replace the often-scrutinized practices of public sector reputation management.
