Project description
Uncovering the dynamics of scandal in European journalism
This is a time defined by digital platforms and political pressures. Though not easy, journalism still finds a way to ensure transparency and public accountability. Inevitably, scandals will always feature prominently as topics of discussion within our democracies. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the SCEUM project explores the process through which scandals are created, reported and amplified across European media ecosystems. This involves comparing national differences in order to understand what kind of misconduct turns into scandals and how such reports evolve and develop, while considering the factors affecting journalists’ decision-making process.
Objective
Journalism in many societies is challenged by the market power of digital intermediaries and political propaganda. However, news media still manage to capture fragmented audience attention and set the agenda when reporting scandals. Therefore, scandals are an enduring phenomenon in contemporary public discourse, with profound consequences for democracy (Burkhardt, 2018).
This project focuses on mediatised scandalisation processes as a critical subject of comparative research. Scandals reveal dynamics within journalism and offer insights into the political system, as developments in one field often have direct consequences for the other or originate from one another (Mancini, 2020, p. 391). Research by Hanusch and Hanitzsch (2019) shows that journalists in some media systems support political authorities, posing challenges to independence and objectivity when reporting norm transgressions by elites. However, given the right environment, journalists emphasise investigative rigour and scepticism. Thus, media systems and journalists' roles and norms crucially shape the reporting of scandals (Eder, 2023).
Against this background, the project investigates cross-national commonalities and differences in mediatised scandalisation processes across Europe. Applying such an integrated analytical framework advances understanding of the complex interplay between economic, political, and societal contexts of mediatised scandalisation. Examining how journalists report on scandals will also provide insights into journalism's democratic role in mediating public accountability.
The project combines large-scale quantitative and qualitative content analysis with semi-structured interviews with journalists in three European countries. It is investigated: (1) which types of misconduct and norm transgressions are scandalised by journalists; (2) how mediatised scandals unfold; and (3) what economic, political, and societal influences journalists perceive when reporting on scandals.
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CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF
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4021 Stavanger
Norway
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