What's in a Frame?

Abstract

Maintaining a good image and reputation in the eyes of stakeholders is vital to the organisation. Thus, in its corporate communication and discourse the organisation will seek to present or frame itself as favourably as possible while observing regulations stipulating accuracy and precision in the information given. However, in this process the organisation is not operating in a social vacuum but is continuously interacting with various players, such as the media, for its textual and discursive creation (Gunnarsson 2009). In this presentation, I will focus on the role of this interaction in framing an organisation, and hence in shaping the image projected to the public. Framing is here understood as the selection of ‘some aspects of perceived reality … [making] them more salient in the communication text, in such a way as to promote a particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation and/or treatment recommendation for the item described’ (Entman 1993, Hallahan 1999). I will take my starting point in the 2008 financial crisis and the discursive construction or framing of the large Danish bank, Danske Bank. Facing severe criticism for its business conduct prior to the crisis, in 2009 the Bank was striving to uphold the image of a prudent, trustworthy – and blameless - actor in the financial sector, a strategy it eventually changed. Through the study of the frames adopted by the Danish print press and the Bank, I will argue for the constructions of the press putting considerable strain on the Bank and its image, leading it to reconsider its previous strategy of denial of responsibility. References Entman, Robert M. 1993. Framing: Toward clarification of a fractured paradigm. Journal of Communication, 41: 6-25. Gunnarsson, Britt-Louise. 2009. Professional Discourse. London/NY: Continuum. Hallahan, Kirk. 1999. Seven models of framing: Implications for public relations. Journal of Public Relations Research, 11(3): 205-242.

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