Just a few rotten apples? The social construction of corporate scandals in France and the United States

This project examines the social construction of corporate scandals in France and the U.S. The main goal of this project is to identify the cultural and institutional sources of media and public frames, utilizing the thematic/episodic distinction developed by Iyengar (1991). In addition, the project investigates how an entrenched socio-economic system such as capitalism avoids meaningful reform during crisis periods. Finally, the work examines the extent to which business and prestige newspapers differ from one another.; Media frames are examined using both interviews with journalists and content analysis of scandal coverage in the two countries. Public frames are studied using both in-depth interviews and group interviews.; The project finds that there are differences in the frames prevalent in France and the U.S., differences that are at least partially consistent with the institutional history of the political economies and the cultural orientations of these two countries. Public frames in France tend to be thematic, assigning blame for the occurrence of scandals to systemic causes. American public frames tend to be more episodic with blame assigned to individuals. Media frames in the U.S. are episodic, while in France there is variation across genres, suggesting specific genres and especially popular and business genres can trump cultural factors. The globalized nature of economics as a journalistic object could also be contributing to the narrowing of cross-cultural differences in media coverage of business issues.; Overall, media framing is episodic, and this could explain the rapid return to the status quo ante in terms of corporate regulation after scandals have occurred. In addition, the supply of economic news might be somewhat constricted given the similarities between the practices employed and content produced by prestige and business newspapers.; Based on the findings of framing differences between genres and cultures, it is suggested that poly-framing---the production of and exposure to media content that has diverse genre and cultural origins---could make public opinion at the individual level more deliberative. This project suggests that additional systematic accounts of the institutions, audiences and messages that participate in the creation and reception of business news are needed.