Business Instrumentalism in U.S., Swedish, and French Media: A Content Analysis of How Ownership Matters

• In Event: 2207 - Section on Communication, Information Technologies, and Media Sociology Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 08. Political Economy

Abstract

In this paper we use quantitative techniques to find patterns in what we call “business instrumentalism,” a particular mode of media ownership power that can shape coverage of events in ways that support the business concerns or interests of ownership. Content analyses of U.S., French, and Sweden news outlets indicate that business instrumentalism, in which news production processes are influenced in ways that support the broader market goals of ownership, is found in overall approaches to business news and in how owners and funders are present or absent in news content. Our analysis shows that business instrumentalism is a particularly elusive mode of ownership power, but that when it does occur it is often accompanied by strong commercial logics at the macro-level of the media system, and often comes in the form of an absence of owner and funder mentions at the micro-level of content. Owners and funders seem to prefer keeping their names out of the news, and when they do appear in the news they generally can count on professional journalists treating them with a neutral tone.

Authors

• Timothy Neff, New York University

• Rodney Benson, New York University