Governance by Scandal? Reconsidering the Influence of Media Interest on State Agencies

• In Event: 261 - Section on Political Sociology Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 12. Issues in Governance

Abstract

New media technologies have expanded the capacity of the general public to monitor state institutions. But it is not clear whether this development entails more governance, or indeed better governance, since the benefit of increased public oversight has coincided with the erosion of professional journalism and a coarsening of political discourse. These tensions are manifested in the phenomenon of scandal, characterized by a frenzy of media attention, too often directed at trivial affairs. For critics, scandals represent the worst tendencies of the new media environment. We ask whether scandal can play a positive role in the governance of public institutions and, if so, by what mechanisms. Focusing on an especially closed state agency, the United States Department of Defense, we draw together two related but currently discrete fields of study: (1) research concerning the effects of mass and social media on large organizations; and (2) research concerning the democratic responsiveness of public institutions. While military organizations are relatively immune from external pressure, we find that a series of scandals concerning sexual assault did cause substantial reform, although only after decades of organizational resistance to change. Our findings suggest the need to resituate scandal within theories of democratic governance.

Author

• Thomas Crosbie, University of Maryland College Park