This study compared the characteristic of strategic planning as used in the corporate world with the planning process used in a sample of television news departments. The purpose was to determine if commonalities exist; in what circumstances, and whether techniques and approaches used for many years by businesses could advance the process of planning in the fast-paced environment of local television news. In-depth interviews were conducted with a sample of highly experienced local news managers. The results indicated some similarities in planning approaches but suggested significant differences in how the two industries approach key elements of traditional strategic planning. The primary conclusion drawn from the research suggests the local television news industry has informally adapted strategic planning processes to their needs with heavy emphasis on tactical execution.

According to most ways of measuring it the Swedish trade union movement is the strongest in the world. The Swedish Trade Union Confederation is the largest and most influential union confederation by far. Since the 1980s though, Sweden experienced a shift in the power relations between employers and unions in favour of the former. This has coincided with a growing importance for political communication, public relations and the mass media. This development has presented the Swedish trade union movement with a multitude of challenges. One of the major ones is how to influence the representations of trade unions and their viewpoints in the news media. The purpose of this study is to describe and try to explain how the Swedish Trade Union Confederation and its affiliated unions act to confront the “medialisation” of the public debate. A combination of research methods are used in this study in order to investigate both the historical development of trade union news management and the use of news management by trade union personnel in their everyday work. The study of how news management historically became a part in the overall union activity was performed through qualitative analysis of archive material. The study of the everyday uses of news management and the factors constraining this work builds upon interviews with the press officers of the TUC affiliated unions and the TUC itself. The study shows how both the historical development and the everyday use of news management by the Swedish trade union movement need to be understood in a context. This context contains political, economical, ideological and organisational structures that at the same time enables and constrains the adaption of news management. The study points towards five central paradoxes which faces the trade unions when they seek desired media attention and try to avoid unwanted publicity. The first paradox concerns how to fight hard in the interest of the members, while at the same time avoid being described as a sectional interest. The second paradox stems from the desire of the trade unions to be perceived as big and strong and how this might result in the labelling of them as ‘Goliath’ during a conflict. The next paradox concerns how trade unions want to show the importance of the work done by their members during a conflict and the way this might lead to media attention about how the strike affects ‘innocent bystanders’. The fourth paradoxes come from the wish of the trade unions to make their local representatives visible in mass media. This could result in unwanted publicity, due to the difference between blue-collar trade unionists and middleclass journalists. The fifth paradox stems from the importance of acting quickly to achieve wanted media attention and to avoid unwanted. The paradox is that it might be hard to be fast and at the same time have a thorough democratic process on a controversial issue.

Oggetto di questo lavoro è lo studio dello scandalo politico come costruzione mediatica, dalla notizia alla comunicazione dell’evento. L’individuazione dei temi sensibili e la ricostruzione delle retoriche dello scandalo politico italiano, avverrà tramite una ricognizione del dato giornalistico delle principali testate del Paese. La trasformazione di un fatto in scandalo è spesso strumento della competizione politica, utile alla messa in crisi della reputazione, della stima e della fiducia, quali caratteristiche indispensabili di ogni leader politico. L’accentuata relatività del confine tra spazio pubblico e privato, unitamente all’invadenza dei media, contribuiscono poi alla vulnerabilità della sua immagine. L’obiettivo è quello di utilizzare lo scandalo come lente di ingrandimento della relazione fra politica e media, rispetto alla contesa del potere per la gestione della notizia, tramite cui si è in grado di influenzare la percezione pubblica dei fatti politici. Come la politica è la politica dei media, come la politica gestisce i media e come i media gestiscono la politica, è il risultato dell’analisi. I tre casi scelti sono collocati nel periodo successivo al governo Prodi (2006-2007): lo scandalo della “droga in Parlamento”, quello legato al nome di Scaramella e alla Commissione Mitrokhin, ed infine il caso “Sircana” all’interno dell’inchiesta Vallettopoli. / Object of this work is the study of political scandal as a media creation, from news to the communication of event. The rhetoric of political scandal in Italy and the sensitive topic are analyzes through journalistic information of the main national heading. The transformation of fact in scandal is often a tool for political competition, as useful for critically damage the reputation, esteem and trust as fundamental characteristics of a political leader. The increased relativity of the threshold between public and private spaces and the pervasive nature of media, contribute to the vulnerability of his image. The objective is utilize the scandal as a magnifying glass for the relation between politics and media, with respect to contention of the news management power, for the final influence of public perception of political facts. How politics are media politics, how politics manage the media, and how media manage politics, is the result of my analysis. Case studies include three scandals exploded during the last govern Prodi (2006-2007): “drug in Parliament”, the scandal regarding “Scaramella e la Commissione Mitrokhin” and the case of “Sircana”, inside the investigation of Vallettopoli.

Journalists and communication managers are becoming more professional and to reach out to its stakeholders in society today, organizations must work strategically with communication, to enter the news. Many make use of press releases to provide journalists with information, hoping to influence what is published on the news. With a background in the medial change that occurs is the purpose of this study to elucidate and problematize which role press releases has for newsrooms and for organizations today and in the future. A qualitative interview study has been used, and communication managers from three organizations and journalists from three newsrooms has been interviewed. The study has been combined with a quantitative pilot study of selected press releases and articles from the selected organizations. The interviews has been transcribed and analyzed to identify and question their thoughts about press releases as a part of the daily work for communication managers and journalists. The interviews were analyzed from selected theories and previous research work on press releases as a tool to set the media agenda. Three consistently concepts in the study is Goffmans (1974) theory of framing, Gandys (1982) theory of information subsidies and Zoch and Molledas (2009) theory of agenda building, and their model of how organizations build good media relations. It was seen in the pilot study, that a lot of the content is based on press releases, which indicates that the editors make it appear that they are the initiator of the news. Journalists claims that press releases are not the most influential source of information but significant for their work, especially as it fills a function for web editors. Personal relationships with the journalists and a dedicated work on the social media network is valued higher than press releases, which is seen as an obsolete tool. The communication managers argued otherwise, saying that press releases have a central role in their strategic work with the media, claiming that they are an important source of information. The study indicates therefore that the communication managers, in relation to journalists’ reasoning, have too much confidence to the tool. However, it is difficult to determine whether press releases as a strategic communication tools will be eliminated. But the results of the study to judge, it is still important for both journalists and communicators, although not as strongly as before.