TY - JOUR
T1 - Civil Servant Involvement in the Strategic Communication of Central Government Organizations
T2 - Mediatization and Functional Politicization
AU - Salomonsen, Heidi Houlberg
AU - Frandsen, Finn
AU - Johansen, Winni
PY - 2016/5/26
Y1 - 2016/5/26
N2 - This article investigates the involvement of permanent civil servants in strategic communication in government organizations within the context of mediatized democracies. Based upon an argument that the involvement in strategic communication is to be seen as part and parcel of a functional politicization of the civil service, the article identifies a significant and positive relationship between media awareness and functional politicization across the ministerial hierarchy as well as between media pressure and functional politicization, although moderated by organizational level and position. Based upon these empirical findings, the article demonstrates how strategic communication for pursuing and achieving political ends in central governments involves a permanent civil service aware of and positioned in organizations subject to pressures from the news media. The article discusses how these findings relate to different perspectives on strategic communication in central government organizations and identifies the need for mediatization research to re-emphasize central government organizations as organizations in their own right but just as importantly as an instrument for governments. Furthermore, the article points out the relevance for including non-elected actors into the research on political communication from politicians once elected into offices. The empirical analysis is performed in the context of Danish central government organizations.
AB - This article investigates the involvement of permanent civil servants in strategic communication in government organizations within the context of mediatized democracies. Based upon an argument that the involvement in strategic communication is to be seen as part and parcel of a functional politicization of the civil service, the article identifies a significant and positive relationship between media awareness and functional politicization across the ministerial hierarchy as well as between media pressure and functional politicization, although moderated by organizational level and position. Based upon these empirical findings, the article demonstrates how strategic communication for pursuing and achieving political ends in central governments involves a permanent civil service aware of and positioned in organizations subject to pressures from the news media. The article discusses how these findings relate to different perspectives on strategic communication in central government organizations and identifies the need for mediatization research to re-emphasize central government organizations as organizations in their own right but just as importantly as an instrument for governments. Furthermore, the article points out the relevance for including non-elected actors into the research on political communication from politicians once elected into offices. The empirical analysis is performed in the context of Danish central government organizations.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84973162085&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/1553118X.2016.1176568
DO - 10.1080/1553118X.2016.1176568
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:84973162085
SN - 1553-118X
VL - 10
SP - 207
EP - 221
JO - International Journal of Strategic Communication
JF - International Journal of Strategic Communication
IS - 3
ER -