Scandalisation in Contemporary European Media

Description du projet

Dévoiler la dynamique des scandales dans le journalisme européen

Nous vivons une époque marquée par les plateformes numériques et les pressions politiques. Bien que ce ne soit pas facile, le journalisme trouve toujours un moyen de garantir la transparence et la responsabilité publique. Inévitablement, les scandales figureront toujours en bonne place parmi les sujets de discussion au sein de nos démocraties. Soutenu par le programme Actions Marie Skłodowska-Curie, le projet SCEUM explore le processus par lequel les scandales sont créés, rapportés et amplifiés au sein des écosystèmes médiatiques européens. Il implique de comparer les différences nationales afin de comprendre quel type de faute se transforme en scandale et comment ces signalements évoluent, tout en tenant compte des facteurs qui influencent le processus décisionnel des journalistes.

Objectif

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.