Journalism and Business Legitimacy

This chapter focuses on the role of the news media in the creation, maintenance,or disruption of business legitimacy. The chapterfirst introduces the concept oflegitimacy in organization theory and describes the evolution of new institution-alist approaches to legitimacy. The chapter then turns to the role of the newsmedia, which are often seen as a conduit for public opinion with respect tobusiness. Recent scholarship has come to question this passive view and hasbegun to examine how news media per se exert an influence on business andpublic opinion. Drawing on research on agenda setting and mediatization, thechapter argues that the news media should be viewed as an independent politicalinstitution, embodying particular values and beliefs and playing an active role inthe preservation or challenging of organizational legitimacy.