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John Murray
Senior lecturer
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Industry vs. Government : Leveraging Media Coverage in Corporate Political Activity
Author
Summary, in English
This article investigates how an industry leveraged media coverage to publicly oppose governmental policy. Based on a frame analysis of the political contest between the mining industry and the Australian government over a proposed tax on resource corporations, we show how the industry aligned its position with mass media to (a) make the policy contest salient, (b) frame their position in the contest as legitimate and (c) construct negative representations of the policy as dominant. The analysis reveals how the industry’s corporate political activities leveraged media coverage to align disparate frames into a consistent message against the policy in the public sphere. This contributes to the literature on corporate political activity by explaining the process of alignment with mass media frames to legitimize corporate positions on salient issues. Second, we contribute to the framing literature by demonstrating the process of frame alignment between non-collaborative actors. Finally, we contribute to the broader discussion on corporations’ role in society by showing how corporate campaigns can leverage the media to facilitate the favourable settlement of contentious issues. These contributions highlight the pitfalls of corporate political influence without necessary democratic standards.
Publishing year
2021-10
Language
English
Pages
1629-1650
Publication/Series
Organization Studies
Volume
42
Issue
10
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Topic
- Business Administration
Keywords
- corporate political activity
- frame alignment
- framing contest
- mass media
- public policy
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 0170-8406