Project Background
This project examined how a conflict-oriented, tabloid and dramatic news logic influences public welfare policies and administrative practices. News stories related to health and welfare are often emotional and critical. Online journalism, social media and 24/7 news cycles have intensified media pressure, demanding instant responses from affected stakeholders and propelling the development of sophisticated media strategies within public organizations.
Project Approach
In spite of the prominent role of the media in the debates over public welfare, the knowledge, both within media studies and in political science, is sparse regarding how the media affect the internal processes in ministries and agencies. Addressing this knowledge gap the project asked:
- How does media coverage influence the allocation of public welfare resources?
- How is the interplay between political leadership and public administration affected by a news logic?
- How should government respond to media pressure on welfare issues and how can media-related practices improve?
- How are fundamental values (fairness, solidarity and equality) of the welfare state challenged by the media and how can these processes be theorized?
The project contributed to the international research front by linking mediatization theory with theories on changes in public administration and welfare policies. Through the combination of qualitative ethnographic methods with extensive survey studies, the MIPS project contributed to a broader and deeper understanding of what is at stake should the public service increasingly adapt their structures and processes to media pressure.
Publications
In this report (Norwegian) the main results of the project are summed up