Medialization of political decision making?
Abstract: This study’s aim has been to investigate how media’s reporting may correlate with political decision making based on a theory of medialization of political decision makers. This theory implies a raised level of media consciousness and adjustment to media’s news values among political decision makers in a setting where institutionalized advisory arrangements are no longer exclusive. The study treats the case of Bjørn Lomborg who became a controversial intellectual after his book “The Skeptical Environmentalist” was published in 2001, claiming that the environmental state of the world is actually improving. Despite the substantial criticism Lomborg received among environmentalists and scientific magazines, he was employed by the Danish government in 2002. By conducting a qualitative content analysis on Denmark’s largest newspapers two months before Lomborg’s employment, the aim is to investigate whether media’s reporting of Lomborg may be plausibly connected to his acquired position as what is prominent in mass media may also influence political decision makers. The results show that firstly, the reporting of him has been rather balanced and secondly, the majority of the negative depictions are provided by the public through debate articles and are therefore not produced by the actual journalists. Different aspects of a plausible connection to Lomborg’s employment are discussed depending on how one sees media’s portrayals of him, suggesting further research in the subject.
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