Abstract
Although corruption portrayals within the news media have become a regularly analysed topic in Organisation and Management Studies, the construction of scandals within the online realm is still under-researched. Organisational scholars call for studies to analyse corruption in online media due to the highly participatory sense- making processes that distinguish this context from traditional press. Analysing scandalisation online is important because interactions in this realm define and curb corruption.This thesis responds to these points by exploring the co-production of corruption scandals within online news articles as occurring through narrative developments and hyperlink relations. To address the processual and participatory aspects of online corruption scandalisation, it engages with the theories of Gabriel Tarde. Particularly, the Tardean lens allows this thesis to analyse articles with their embedded hyperlinks as sense-making crossroads of information flows that accumulate into the rhythmical meanderings of scandal narratives.
Empirically, the thesis focuses on the Hungarian organisational and political Elios scandal. It investigates the articles of the news outlets of Origo and Index, and their hyperlinks. Thematic analysis is used for studying the textual data, and argumentation analysis for the hyperlink interactions.
This results in the identification of three narrative-construction periods: (1) scandalisation, (2) anti-scandalisation and moderation, and (3) counter- scandalisation. The thesis shows that hyperlinks play an important role in these meaning constructions. On the one hand, hyperlinks represent online sense-making channels, leading to reliable and relevant sources. However, through the avoidance of hyperlinking opposing arguments, these contribute to one-sided, meaning- constructions. Furthermore, the thesis demonstrates how the corruption scandal is gradually diverted and replaced with the sensationalist counter-scandalising Soros- narrative that provokes social currents, such as Antisemitism. Overall, this thesis contributes to the literature on corruption within the media by illustrating how hyperlinks and gradual narrative-developments are strategically used to shape the meaning-constructions around scandals.
| Date of Award | 3 Oct 2023 |
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| Original language | English |
| Awarding Institution |
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| Supervisor | Deborah Wilson (Supervisor), Edwina Zhu (Supervisor) & Robin P Klimecki (Supervisor) |