Corporate media work and micro-dynamics of mediatization

Recent analysis of interactions and relations between media, individuals and organisations is commonly based on the notion of mediatization. Research in journalism and media studies, political studies as well as business studies have explored mediatization as prevailing transformation influencing communication activities of individuals as well as organisations. In the field of organisational studies an increasing interest has been paid to the mediatised settings in which organisations conduct their activities. But despite the growing interest we still lack a sufficient understanding of the inner dynamics of these processes. Contemporary research often focuses on the effects of mediatization and, therefore, relatively little is known about how agents are involved in the creation, maintenance, re-shaping and interruption of the institutional properties of mediatization. In this article we seek to examine the dynamics of mediatization and how it is shaped, reproduced and reshaped through activities of individual corporations. Thus, Mediatization is not only “out there”, it will be argued, coming to expression through actors’ more or less passive and explicit adaptation to the dominant perceptions and understanding of the way the media operate. The aim of the article is to show how mediatization evokes processes of skilful and purposeful activities of actors involved in the creation, maintenance and disturbance of the shared rules, norms and practices that guide organisations in their effort to deal with media-related issues. The article, thereby, goes beyond examining the media activities of individual organisations as a result of mediatization, and focuses on these activities as a constituent of the processes in which mediatization is re-constructed and enacted (cf. Hartman 2009). The analysis rests on a study of thirteen Swedish publically listed corporations and their media activities. The material was collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews and participant observations.