Newcomers conserving the old: Transformation processes in the field of news journalism

Scandinavian Journal of Management (2012) 28, 65—76

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : h t t p : / / w w w. e l s e v i e r. c o m / l o c a t e / s c a m a n

Newcomers conserving the old: Transformation processes in the field of news journalism ¨m *, Karolina Windell 1 Maria Grafstro Department of Business Studies, Uppsala University, Box 513, 751 20 Uppsala, Sweden

KEYWORDS Blogs; Field of news journalism; Field transformation; Online journalism; Organizational field; Novel field actors

Summary As new actors become online news producers in a changing media landscape, questions about field transformation are raised. This paper adds to institutional theory on how novel actors are incorporated into mature organizational fields and change structures of domination. We explore online news flow in the Swedish media and blogosphere about an executive remuneration program. The findings demonstrate that novel actors are incorporated into the field of news journalism, as key actors with dominant positions invite them to participate. Newcomers remain peripheral and lack the capacity to alter field positions. Structures of domination are not altered; instead, positions of key field actors are strengthened. Newcomers in mature fields serve as forces not only for transformation, but also conservation. # 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Introduction I see how the Internet has changed journalism and circulation, and the old strengths that the newspaper and mainstream media had are no longer valid. Issues can be put on the agenda by grassroots or enthusiasts. Distribution is no longer a problem. (interview with a manager at a Swedish business weekly, 2010) Over the past few years, the media landscape has transformed. Various technologies for online communication have evolved such as search engines, communities, chat rooms, wikis and blogs. These interactive online tools are commonly named social media, and have changed the conditions for publishing information. And as suggested by the manager at a Swedish business weekly in the quote

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +46 072 22 18 057. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (M. Grafstro ¨m), [email protected] (K. Windell). 1 Tel.: +46 070 623 71 85.

above — an increasing number of actors are therefore taking part in news production and distribution on the Internet. Today, citizens, corporations and other organizations can contribute to the general news flow by publishing their own news. Hence, digital technology blurs borders that used to distinguish producers from sources as well as consumers of news content. Since an increasing number of actors are able to publish news content, it is apt to assume that news media organizations are also witnessing a period of strengthened competition. The consequences of the transforming media landscape have been widely discussed among both practitioners and academics. From the perspective of institutional organizational theory, these changes raise questions about the transformation of organizational fields. Given the development of a new media landscape with novel actor groups taking part in news production, it would be apt to assume that this could lead to struggles and repositioning between newcomers and key actors in the field of news journalism. Thus, these recent transformations offer a particularly fruitful context for studying the incorporation of novel actors into a mature field and its consequences for field structures.

0956-5221/$ — see front matter # 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.scaman.2011.09.003

66 In this article, we understand news journalism as an organizational field. The now classical definition by DiMaggio and Powell (1983, p. 148) suggests that an organizational field includes ‘‘those organizations that, in the aggregate, constitute a recognized area of institutional life.’’ A field exists empirically when the actors involved interact with each other, structures of domination have evolved, the organizations involved compete for the same information and a mutual awareness exists among the field members about their involvement in a ‘‘common enterprise’’ (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983, p. 148). Organizational fields only exist through actors’ collective conceptions of them, which means that common meaning systems and regulative frameworks hold fields together by creating a consensus among field actors on how to act and behave within that particular field (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983; Scott, 2001). This implies that a common understanding is developed among field actors on the form and function of field actors, what roles various actors play in the field and on how practices within the field are to be carried out (DiMaggio, 1991). With a higher education level in journalism and professional associations, journalistic practice has come to share a common understanding of news production. In the literature, news production has been described as highly structured and as being guided by common norms that define who and what to cover, and how to cover it. In other words, the social sphere of journalistic practice is permeated with a common meaning system that gives field constituents a shared perception of who news producers are, what constitutes news and how it is practiced (cf. Bourdieu, 1996; Cook, 1998). For example, business press organizations have been conceptualized as ‘‘a separate and distinct field with its own members, set of rules, and taken-for-granted beliefs’’ (Mazza & Strandgaard Pedersen, 2004, p. 876). Building on these observations, we argue that news production can be understood as constituting ‘‘a recognized area of institutional life,’’ i.e. an organizational field. We define news production as a mature organizational field — a sphere of practice with its own members such as media organizations, professional associations and educational institutes which are guided by a common meaning system that defines by whom and how news is to be produced, presented and distributed. Over the years, researchers within organization theory have addressed the transformation of organizational fields in terms of how new structures, norms and memberships are developed. The conventional explanations to the intriguing and persistent question about field transformation emphasize that change comes about through either abrupt revolutionary processes or incremental processes (Schneiberg, 2007). Revolutionary processes imply that exogenous shocks or jolts can throw a field into disorder and lead to changes (e.g. Hoffman, 1999; Hoffman & Ocasio, 2001; Meyer, Gaba, & Colwell, 2005). For instance, Hoffman (2001) illustrates how disruptive jolts such as the publishing of Silent Spring and the oil spill of the Exxon Valdez contributed to the institutionalization of environmentalism in the US chemical industry. By contrast, evolutionary approaches suggest that institutional change is progressive and incremental rather than radical or abrupt. Scholars within this tradition recognize that change is characterized by small, accumulated increments of change (e.g. Djelic & Sahlin-Andersson, 2006; Scott, Ruef, Mendel, & Caronna, 2000; Zietsma & Lawrence, 2010).

M. Grafstro ¨m, K. Windell Some researchers have paid particular attention to the role of actors in field transformation. Research has focused on how field constituents struggle over practices and how this ultimately leads to change within the field (Bourdieu, 1996; Hoffman, 1999). Another stream of research has developed the concept of institutional entrepreneurs as agents of institutional change, thereby introducing the role of agency, interests and power into institutional analyses of organizations. Entrepreneurs have been suggested to more or less deliberately develop new or transform existing practices, thus helping to contribute to the emergence of new fields (e.g. Garud, Jain, & Kumaraswamy, 2002; Grafstro ¨m, 2006; Lawrence & Phillips, 2004; Maguire, Hardy, & Lawrence, 2004) or to the changing of mature fields (e.g. Garud, Hardy, & Maguire, 2007; Greenwood & Suddaby, 2006). Whereas novel actors tend to play a natural role in the emergence of new fields, the role of newcomers in the change processes of mature fields has been given less attention (Sauder, 2008). Even though newcomers in fields might not lead to immediate and radical change, a recent study by Sauder (2008) demonstrates that novel actors that are incorporated into mature fields have the potential of altering relationships, power dynamics and positions among field actors. This in turn could lead to other substantial changes within the field. In mature fields, we see well-established structures of domination, which means that actors in the field are well aware of what role they have vis-a ´-vis other actors in the field (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983; Reay & Hinings, 2005). Structures of domination clarify what positions actors have in the field and to what extent they possess the power to influence regulative frameworks and common meaning systems. In this way, field members’ activities are guided by their relative positions and their relationships to one another (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983; Sauder, 2008). Changes in structures of domination — field positions and relationships — therefore have the potential to change field practices within the field. Exploring how new actors are incorporated into an already established field adds to theories about how structures of domination transform, i.e. to what extent key actors need to reposition themselves as new actors enter the field, and to what extent such changes influence field activities (cf. Sauder, 2008). Because of the technological transformation of the media landscape — making it possible for novel actors to take part in news production — the field of news journalism provides a compelling site from which to study what takes place with established structures of domination within an organizational field as new actors are introduced to the field. We build our analysis about the role of novel actors in field transformation with a case study of the circulation of online information about an executive remuneration program that gained extensive attention in Sweden in both the media and blogosphere during the spring of 2009. We explore how novel actors are incorporated into the field of news journalism and to what extent novel actors influence the news story, thereby challenging the position of established media organizations as key actors — and key producers — of news. The case study gives a snapshot of how a news story develops with the interplay between key actors within the field, the established media organizations and novel news producing field actors such as readers and bloggers. In other words, the article explores to what degree newcomers in the field actually exert an influence on the news agenda and to what degree they challenge the roles of key news producers in the field of

Transformation processes in the field of news journalism news journalism. By analyzing the interplay between key field actors and newcomers in the production of a single news story, this article contributes to the literature on the role of novel actors for field transformations. In particular, we discuss how novel actors are incorporated into a mature organizational field and how established structures of domination are altered. We show that newcomers in mature fields may serve as forces not only for transformation, but also for the conservation of field positions and relationships.

Theoretical framework: field change and the role of novel actors Over time, organizational fields tend to acquire greater structure as field membership, regulative and normative rules and boundaries are established. Once a field has become organized and established, field structures tend to contribute to the production of more structure, making the field even more stable (cf. Ferguson, 1998). Even though much of the literature on organizational fields has emphasized stability and homogeneity, an increasing amount of studies has recognized that fields also include inconsistency and rivalry. Over the past few years, research has paid increasing attention to the transformation of field structures (e.g. Greenwood, Hinings, & Suddaby, 2002; Hardy & Maguire, 2010; Lounsbury, 2002; Scott et al., 2000; Zietsma & Lawrence, 2010). As previously stressed, the conventional explanations for field-level change emphasize two extremes; either change comes about through abrupt revolutionary processes, such as shocks or ‘‘jolts,’’ or it happens gradually through more mundane processes over time. Organizational institutionalists have increasingly emphasized the role of agency and power for field transformation (Garud et al., 2007). Some studies have discussed the role that dominant versus peripheral field actors play in transformation processes. These studies highlight factors such as power and motivation as triggers for change. On the one hand, it has been demonstrated that peripheral field actors are able to alter change as they tend to have an incentive to promote new practices, while on the other hand they often lack the power that more dominant field actors possess (Garud et al., 2007; Maguire, 2007). However, some studies have demonstrated how peripheral field actors have become influential and contributed to field change. Hardy and Maguire (2008) discuss how actors in the periphery can succeed in introducing and promoting new ideas into a field, which leads to field transformation. Similarly, Leblebici, Salancik, Copay, and King (1991) demonstrated how the radio broadcasting industry changed as actors at the fringe of the field gradually gained prominent field positions. In their study, they found that radically new practices were introduced by fringe actors with less power than central actors. Leblebici et al. argue that the experimentation with new practices is less costly for these peripheral actors in comparison to dominant field actors, as the latter ones have a vested interest in conventional practices. Nevertheless, as central actors adopted the new practices coming from the periphery of the field, these practices gained legitimacy; consequently, the fringe actors also gained more prominent positions within the field. Even though studies have focused on the role of peripheral actors, less attention has been given to how actors outside

67 mature fields become incorporated and challenge field structures, i.e. what happens with the positions of key actors and their relationships as novel actors become part of a field. Sauder’s (2008) examination of USN rankings within the field of legal education is a recent exception. He demonstrates how a new actor — USN rankings — became a legitimate field actor, even though its entrance was first met with reluctance, and how this led to a repositioning among already established field actors. Sauder shows how power dynamics, field positions and relationships between field actors were restructured and how USN rankings became an influential actor in the field. He argues that field practices and activities are highly influenced by the relationships between actors and that repositioning among field members is therefore a source of field change. In a study of transformations in the health care field in Alberta, Reay and Hinings (2005) similarly demonstrate how an outside actor — the state — instigated field changes through a governmental reform. In their study, the government initiated and enabled a transformation of the field structure, a process that would not have been possible to put forward without the authoritative power that this key actor held. In this sense, power is the capacity for action. Building on DiMaggio’s (1983) understanding of a field as a ‘‘battlefield,’’ Reay and Hinings emphasize the degree of dependence or autonomy of actors — their power relationships — as a key explanation for field change. The structures of domination in a field reflect power relationships and positions among field members, and are therefore of key importance if we want to understand field transformation. Field positions are crucial in order to be able to take on roles as agents of institutional change. Actors coming from outside a field strengthen their chances to reshape positions and field practices if they acquire a central position in the field and obtain a degree of autonomy vis-a ´-vis other field actors. Actors with a high degree of autonomy possess more power in relation to other field members, which also tends to increase their possibilities for initiating and driving change processes within fields. Against this backdrop, we particularly build on findings by Sauder (2008), and argue that our understanding of how structures of domination — field positions and relationships — in mature fields change the need to be informed by exploring the role of novel actors being incorporated into these fields. In the field of news journalism, technological developments have made it possible for actors that have previously been excluded to gain access to the field of news journalism. We argue however that technology on its own cannot explain field change. Instead, we need to explore how novel actors are using the technology in order to become part of a field, as well as if and to what extent this contributes to changes in structures of domination within the field. Building on previous studies on field change, we argue that structures of domination between existing field actors are challenged when new actors are attempting to enter or are incorporated into a field. This in turn might contribute not only to changed positions and relationships within the field, but also to changed practices and common understandings of how news is to be produced — i.e. what is to be covered, how should it be covered, distributed and produced and finally, what actor groups should take part in the news process. Hence, in order to inform our understanding of what role

68 novel actors play for transformation in mature fields, this article raises the following questions:  How are novel actors incorporated into a mature field?  To what degree are structures of domination challenged and altered when novel actors enter a field? In order to discuss these questions, this article explores to what degree and how new actors in the field of news journalism take part in the formation of an online news story.

Materials and methods In order to contribute with insights on how novel actors may contribute to the transformation of organizational fields, we explore the changing media landscape. More specifically, we explore the role of novel actors in the production and distribution of a news story. We searched for an issue that has been given attention in both the established media and among novel news actors in the news field such as bloggers and readers, and decided to follow a news story built around a corporate issue that has gained significant media attention among several actors over the years — executive remuneration programs. The field of news journalism in this study is delimited to online news journalism. The reason for this delimitation is that the interplay between key actors in the field (established media) and novel news producing actors (social media) can be observed in online journalism. By ‘‘established media’’ we refer to online newspapers, and by ‘‘social media’’ we include blog posts and reader’s comments. The article builds on a case study of the information flow around the Swedish pension company AMF and its remuneration programs to top management, particularly in relation to the former CEO. As the remuneration program became public, it quickly turned into a widely circulated news story. Over the course of a few weeks, approximately 250 online newspaper articles and a corresponding number of blog posts reported on the issue in Sweden. Many of the articles were widely discussed in comments published by the readers, in addition to comments in connection to the blog posts. Given the amount of attention that the news story received in both established and social media, we argued that it was a suitable study object in order to explore the role of novel actors entering a mature field. To best capture the relationship between established and social media, we have built the case study on different data sources — on newspaper articles, blog posts and reader’s comments. We analyzed media texts to help develop insights about how the news story developed, which news media set the agenda for the story, which persons were interviewed as sources, which media sources were used and how the storyline changed over time. One of the most established methods for analyzing how something is presented in the media is through the use of content analysis (cf. Krippendorff, 2004; Silverman, 2001). This method is commonly used in the field ¨ stbye, Knapskog, Helland, & of media and communication (O Larsen, 2004), but has also been used by scholars within the field of business studies (e.g. Grafstro ¨m & Windell, 2011; Kjaer, Erkama, & Grafstro ¨m, 2007). This method of content analysis offers researchers a way to develop knowledge of

M. Grafstro ¨m, K. Windell how media present and describe specific issues over time. In particular, the research method is appropriate when searching for patterns within a larger amount of data (e.g. Bergstro ¨m & Bore ´us, 2000). There are several definitions of content analysis; here we rely on the definition proffered by Silverman (2001, p. 12) — ‘‘the researchers establish a set of categories and then count the number of instances that fall into each category.’’ In order to gain more knowledge about how the news story was developed in the media and how different media texts linked to one another, we have followed the procedure of content analysis and counted each time specific categories emerged. However, in order to understand the positions of novel actors in relation to key actors in the field, we complemented the content analysis of news material and blog posts with interviews at media organizations, as well as at the organizations that were part of the news story. Conducting these interviews made us aware about what news content and which sources were considered important or not. The combination of content analysis of various text material and interviews allows for different pictures and views to emerge, which should be seen as supplementary (Czarniawska, 1998). The case study therefore builds on three data sources: (1) content analysis of news articles from a sample of Swedish online newspapers; (2) content analysis of blog posts from the Swedish blogosphere; and (3) interviews with representatives of media organizations and the main actors around which the news story derived — the pension company AMF and the Swedish Trade Union Confederation.

Content analysis of news articles in Swedish online media The content analysis builds on articles from a sample of the most visited web sites of Swedish national dailies, business press and evening press — DN.se, SvD.se, Di.se, E24.se, VA.se, Affarsvarlden.se, Aftonbladet.se and Expressen.se (Table 1). The sampling of newspaper’s news sites includes those with the highest number of unique visitors based on the data of the KIA Index,2 and are hence those that we considered ‘‘key actors’’ in the field of news journalism. Table 1 exhibits the number of unique visitors at our chosen news sites during one week in March of 2010. Using the media monitoring and analysis company, Infopaq’s Media Agent, articles that contained the words pension and Elmehagen (the former CEO at AMF) were collected from the sampling of news sites. Online news is characterized by immediacy, interactivity and liquidity — features which make traditional content analysis methods problematic (cf. Karlsson & Stro ¨ck, 2009). Many articles appeared several ¨mba times in the database since minor changes resulted in a newly published version (new article). In each such case, we analyzed the last published article, i.e. the latest version of the article.

2 A committee for web advertisement managed by Sveriges Annonso ¨rer (the Swedish Advertisers) that presents weekly data on the number of visitors at Swedish web sites. According to KIA, they offer the ‘‘official currency’’ of performance on the web.

Transformation processes in the field of news journalism Table 1 Sample of news web sites and unique visitors, one week in March, 2010. News web sites

Unique visitors

General news DN.se SvD.se

1,259,387 788,505

Business news Di.se E24.se VA.se afv.se

806,783 660,459 56,913 89,516

Evening paper news Aftonbladet.se Expressen.se

4,884,626 2,020,752

All articles were coded according to a set scheme that included: date, source, headline, type of article (news article, column, leading article or polemical article), main actor (spokesperson who dominates the article), references made to other news sources (other articles or blogs) and the number of comments, as well as blog links made by readers. In total, 238 articles were analyzed. Moreover, it was impossible for us to account for the exact number of reader’s comments on the articles since most newspapers filter and delete ‘‘inappropriate’’ comments. According to our interviewees, all comments that are discriminating or contain inappropriate information are excluded from the news sites. The policies regarding reader’s comments most likely also differ between the studied newspapers. For instance, Expressen.se outnumbers the other news sites with its comments, even though Expressen.se has less traffic than Aftonbladet.se.

Content analysis of blog posts in the Swedish blogosphere Using the media agent of the media monitoring company Infopaq, all blog posts in the Swedish blogosphere containing the words Elmehagen and pension were collected. At the time of the study, the media agent covered about 100,000 Swedish blogs. Even though the number of active blogs is constantly changing, we would argue that media agent has a satisfactory coverage. Similar to the web articles, all blog posts were coded according to a set scheme that included: date, source, headline, references made to other news sources (web articles, blogs or other web sites) and the number of comments by blog readers. In total, 240 blogs posts from 171 blogs were coded. The database also included the corporate blog of the pension company AMF.

Interviews The interviews with media representatives served the purpose of developing our knowledge about online journalism and how journalists are interacting with bloggers and readers on news sites. They provided us with detailed descriptions of how established media perceive the role of bloggers and readers in news production. Thus, we found the interviews

69 essential in order to understand how established actors within the field perceive and handle novel news producers. We carefully selected interviewees who were key actors in the field and were engaged in interacting with and managing the activities of novel field actors. As a result, all of the interviewees could give us details and informative accounts on how they viewed and worked against/with bloggers and readers. In addition, we interviewed representatives at the two main organizations that played key roles in the news story. These interviews were conducted in order to receive accounts of how they looked upon different news producing actors within the news field. Against this backdrop, interviews were conducted with representatives at the largest Swedish online media organizations (Aftonbladet.se, DN.se, E24.se, Expressen.se, SvD.se and VA.se) as well as with the Swedish Trade Union Confederation and the pension company AMF. Interviews were also conducted with national dailies, business newspapers, magazines and online newspapers. We interviewed reporters, editors, editors-in-chief and business managers at the newspapers who held specific responsibilities for the news sites or insights into online news production. In addition, we interviewed representatives from the communication departments at AMF and the Swedish Trade Union Confederation. In total, we ended up with 15 interviews and we would argue that these gave us enough insights into the relationship between established media and novel news producing actors. The interview questions were open and derived around a few themes, and all the interviews were recorded and transcribed.

Results: the circulation of a news story on the web During March and April of 2009, one of the more well-covered media stories in Sweden concerned remuneration programs for executive management at the pension company AMF, which is owned by the Swedish Trade Union Confederation and the Confederation of Swedish Enterprises. It has more than 3.8 million pension savers as customers and administers approximately 335 billion Swedish Krona (SEK). During March and April, the media’s focus was particularly on the pension agreement with former CEO, Christer Elmehagen, who during his 10 years as CEO earned more than 100 million SEK. As this information reached the media, it quickly became a top news story that engaged a broad range of actors. The media story about AMF’s bonus payments to top management, and in particular the pension agreement with the former CEO, started on the web on the evening March 13, 2009. The business daily Di.se (print version, Dagens Industri) was the first to cover the story about the pension agreements at AMF. During the coming six weeks, the news flow was extensive. The news story, however, was not only covered by the newspapers’ news sites, but it quickly also became welldiscussed in the Swedish blogosphere. The news story also engaged the broader public; besides news articles and blog posts, almost 9000 comments were made by readers in relation to the online articles. Most news articles receive at least one comment. On average, 37 comments were written by readers per article about Elmehagen’s pension agreement.

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As the story developed in the media over a six-week period, the story line changed. The focus shifted from blaming the pension company AMF for their irresponsible behavior to accusing its former CEO of having low morals, to finally how the agreement could be approved in the first place by one of AMF’s board members — the chairman of the Swedish Trade Union Confederation and an opponent of high executive remuneration — Wanja Lundby-Wedin. As the story continued to evolve, six different news angles were identified (see Fig. 1). We divided these shifts in focus into six phases (presented in more detail below). Since the news story did not entirely change focus from one day to the next, the phases are overlapping. As indicated in Fig. 1, the number of articles and blog posts is about the same over the entire period. Even so, this does not mean that blog posts and news articles exert an equal impact among audiences. Only a limited number of blogs have great influence in terms of readership and status (based on the blog ranking of Twingly). Additionally, not many of the discussions can be located to the blogosphere, as only a few of the analyzed blog posts received more than 10 comments from readers. The amount of comments from readers tends to go hand in hand with the ranking of the blog. The few blogs in our study with a high rank, which means they have a strong influence in the Swedish blogosphere, are often run by the editorial desks at Swedish newspapers or are more or less professionalized blogs that engage several writers such as Kulturbloggen (The Culture Blog) and Politikerbloggen (The Politician’s Blog). The last blog is even owned by a media company. As previously stressed, about half of the blog posts contain references to articles on newspapers’ news sites. Blogs are spreading, and therefore also reinforcing, the news story run by news media organizations rather than adding new information to the dominant news story themselves. In addition to reader’s comments and web surveys, most of the analyzed online news sites offer bloggers a chance to link their posts to specific articles. This means that a blogger who for example has written a comment about Lundby-Wedin’s role in the pension drama, can easily market his or her blog post in direct connection to an article with the same theme on a news site. The analyses and comments by journalists — often appearing on a roll list on the right-hand side of an [(Figure_1)TD$IG]online article — now share this space with the blogosphere. At

the most, 98 blog posts were linked to a single article (DN.se 04.04.2009), mainly about the decreasing support for the Social Democratic Party, which was partly explained by Lundby-Wedin’s crisis of confidence due to the affairs of Elmehagen and AMF. On average though, 12 blog links were made in relation to each article about Elmehagen and his pension agreement. Through these blog links, both the blogosphere and established media strengthen their connections and become interwoven not only regarding content, but also directly through these links going from the news sites to the blogs. Even though news sites allow blog links to their articles, blogs are seldom referred to as sources in the articles. In other words, the blog links should be understood more as adding content from the blogosphere to the news site separate from the journalists’ text, and also as a channel for the news sites to connect their articles to the blogosphere than as a means to acquire new information that journalists can use to develop the article and news story. To a certain extent, this contradicts how reader’s comments are used. Most articles allow readers to express their opinions by commenting on the news article, which are then sometimes turned into news articles themselves. For example, two days after AMF’s bonus agreement had become public, the evening newspaper Aftonbladet.se published an article with the headline ‘‘Public outcry after the new bonus scandal at AMF — the readers of Aftonbladet.se demand more action’’ (03.15.2009). In the article, comments from readers are included as well as quotes from interviews with representatives from AMF. Similarly, VA.se conducted a web survey asking its readers what they thought about the greed among top managers (03.19.2009). As becomes evident below, these are only two examples of how journalists create stories out of the comments written by their readers — something that they did repeatedly over the studied period. The social web offers both private individuals/organizations the possibility to participate in producing and publishing news content. The two organizations that were key players in the drama about Elmehagen’s pension agreement, AMF and the Swedish Trade Union Confederation, contributed to the development of the news story by traditional communication activities such as answering questions from journalists and publishing press releases. Nonetheless, both

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Figure 1 Number of online articles and blog posts about Elmehagen’s pension agreement, divided into six phases, March and April, 2009.

Transformation processes in the field of news journalism organizations also used social media channels in order to reach out directly to their target groups. AMF communicated with its target groups via its corporate blog — a blog that was launched in 2005 with the aim of informing visitors about issues related to pensions. The manager for digital media at AMF, Ingela Jerat, explains that AMF used different channels to reach out to their customers during the media hunt about the pension agreement, and stresses that the corporate blog was an important platform for communication. The blog was used to communicate AMF’s version of the news story. In addition, AMF made three videos during the period — two with CEO, Ingrid Bonde, and a third with a representative from customer support. The videos were published on AMF’s homepage and You Tube. In contrast to AMF, the other key character in the news story, the Swedish Trade Union Confederation, lacked a platform in social media for communicating with their target groups. However, the organization made a video with its president that was published on its homepage and later also uploaded on You Tube.

Phase 1: AMF’s pension agreement is revealed In the beginning of the news story, AMF was in focus. Dagens Industri uncovered that high bonuses had been paid to AMF’s top management, even though the company had a negative return of 6% in 2008. At the same time and even worse, the customers’ pensions were written down by 8%. Yet, the bonus payments were done despite financial deficits during the year and a reduction of customers’ pensions. In the media, AMF received negative headlines on all the major news sites such as: ‘‘Lower AMF-pensions — but executives get bonuses,’’ ‘‘AMF back out on bonuses,’’ ‘‘AMF management team in crisis meeting,’’ and ‘‘Poor year gave executive bonus.’’ The news story focused on AMF and its questionable behavior. Issues raised in the articles concerned whether or not it was fair of AMF to pay bonuses to top executives at a time when its customers’ pensions were being reduced. The first blog posts were published the day after the story was announced in traditional media. One of the first blog posts about AMF and the high bonuses was on a blog written by ‘‘Steve,’’, who complains about the immorality in society, and the headline of the blog read ‘‘The term rapacious society has gained quite a new meaning’’ (03.14.2009). Other blog posts with headlines such as ‘‘Bonus party — come and grab!’’ and ‘‘Corruption — worse in good times than in times of crises’’ were also published as responses to the first news articles about AMF. However, in this first phase of the news story the number of blog posts and reader’s comments was still rather modest. It was not until after a week, when the story took a new turn that the number of blog posts and reader’s comments started to mount.

Phase 2: Elmehagen’s salary and pension are disclosed After a week into the story, the media attention shifted from AMF to its former CEO, Christer Elmehagen. First, the media reported that Elmehagen, together with the deputy CEO of AMF, Ingvar Skeberg, had transferred their own pension capital in order to avoid having it be written down by 8%. Elmehagen and Skeberg were accused in the media of

71 immoral behavior, as they secured their own pension capital based on information that was still unknown to their customers — the pension savers. Due to this maneuver, Skeberg was forced to resign from his position a couple of days after the 17th of March, thereby going out of the media spotlight. However, the story about Elmehagen had only begun. A few days later, the general daily Svenska Dagbladet uncovered that Elmehagen had been approved a salary, bonus and pension totaling 104 million SEK for 10 years’ work. Instead of the company name AMF appearing in the headlines, the headlines now included the former CEO, e.g. ‘‘Former CEO cost AMF 104 million SEK,’’ ‘‘He cost AMF 104 million SEK,’’ and ‘‘Retired CEO costs 104 million SEK.’’ Not only did the articles have almost identical headlines, they also largely presented the news story in a similar manner. As a result, there was a lack of different interpretations. The same story about what had transpired was found in all the articles. Similar to the content at the news sites, the blog posts also changed focus from AMF to its former CEO. The blog posts criticized the behavior of the former CEO by using headlines such as ‘‘Christer Elmehagen is worth at least ten times more than me’’ and ‘‘A little more to live from — for Christer Elmehagen.’’ Bloggers were also expressing concerns over their own retirement and pensions in a society that they perceived as unjust. The blog posts were clearly opinion oriented, in which the bloggers expressed normative views on what was considered to be reasonable executive remuneration programs. At this point, the opinion-oriented content was also produced and published by journalists. The online news articles were increasingly complemented by chronicles and analyses done by journalists covering the scandal. Hence, as the news story gained increased attention, the number of journalists who were allowed to raise their views on the affair increased. For example, Fredrik Braconier, business journalist at SvD.se, published a chronicle with the headline ‘‘The immorality shines in neon light from AMF,’’ in which he states that AMF took advantage of its customers and that the board of directors was undoubtedly responsible for immoderate pension agreements (SvD.se 03.20.2009). Pontus Schultz, the editor-in-chief at the time of the business weekly Veckans Affa ¨rer and VA.se, wrote a chronicle urging top management at AMF to: ‘‘Wake up — you’re destroying for all of us!’’ (VA.se 03.19.2009).

Phase 3: the president of the Swedish Trade Union Confederation has approved the pension agreement The news flow increased once again when it was revealed who had been involved in the approval of the lucrative agreement with the former CEO of AMF. One of the board members was Wanja Lundby-Wedin, who was president of the Swedish Trade Union Confederation. As a representative for Swedish labor, she had frequently criticized advantageous executive remuneration programs. Her involvement in making the decision about the pension agreement created attention in the media, and once again the focus shifted — this time from Elmehagen’s pension agreement to Lundby-Wedin’s involvement. The information resulted in a new stream of articles, with headlines pointing to Lundby-Wedin as the main character: ‘‘The AMF scandal puts Lundby-Wedin under pressure,’’ ‘‘LO [the Swedish

72 Trade Union Confederation] is now fully stripped,’’ and ‘‘Lundby-Wedin to DN: ‘I’m so sorry for this.’’’ Therefore, the investigative efforts by the journalists also shifted from AMF and Elmehagen to the Swedish Trade Union Confederation and Lundby-Wedin. The business web site, E24.se, published an article about Lundby-Wedin’s own remuneration from her engagement as a board member on several boards. The headline was ‘‘Profitable jobs on the side give the LO-boss gilt edge’’ (E24.se 03.23.2009). During this phase, the competence and judgment of Lundby-Wedin was questioned. As a representative for the Swedish Trade Union Confederation, it was argued that she should have known better than to approve the pension agreement of Elmehagen. In our interview with Marie Linder, the communication manager at the Swedish Trade Union Confederation, she stresses that the general public expects their representatives to be more moral than other actors in society such as corporations. According to her, this partly explains the massive criticism against Lundby-Wedin. In this third phase, the reader comments in connection to the articles peaked. Overall during the studied period, there were 37 comments per article; however, in this phase there were more than 50 comments per article. In particular, the first articles that addressed Lundby-Wedin and her role in approving the pension agreement at AMF created a reaction among the readers. The articles with the headlines ‘‘LundbyWedin under pressure’’ (Expressen.se 03.22.2009) and ‘‘I did not know anything’’ (Expressen.se 03.24.2009), in which Lundby-Wedin is asked to explain her involvement in the pension agreement, received more than 700 comments each. When the media storm was at its peak around LundbyWedin, SvD.se published an article mostly based on reader’s comments with the headline ‘‘The readers: We don’t accept the explanation.’’ Similarly, Di.se conducted a web survey among its readers which revealed that 93% of the respondents thought that Lundby-Wedin should resign; based on the results, the article ‘‘The readers of Di.se — ‘Resign Wanja Lundby-Wedin’’’ (03.25.2009) was published. In concert with increased discussion at the news sites, the number of posts in the blogosphere about the story also peaked. Hence, when the spotlight shifted to Lundby-Wedin at the news sites, the focus also shifted in the blogosphere, with typical headlines such as ‘‘The Swedish Trade Union Confederation steals workers’ pension money and gives millions to the CEO,’’ ‘‘The Swedish Trade Union Confederation’s double standard of morality concerning bonuses,’’ ‘‘Social democratic elites behind generous pensions’’ and ‘‘The representatives of the working-class movement live life as the upper class.’’ At this point of time, the Swedish Trade Union Confederation seldom commented or answered questions in the mainstream media. Instead, they were trying to bypass the news media organizations to reach out to their target audience — members of the labor union. In an attempt to communicate directly with its members, the labor union decided to make a video in which the president could tell her own story. The video clip showed a regretful but confident Lundby-Wedin, and was published on the homepage of the Swedish Trade Union Confederation. Quickly, however, it was picked up and also discussed in the media. Communications Manager Linder stressed that the video made it possible for the Swedish Trade Union Confederation to reach out with their story, not only directly via their homepage (to members and other visitors to the homepage), but also via the media to a broader audience.

M. Grafstro ¨m, K. Windell Even though the number of blog visitors at AMF’s corporate blog boomed during the period when the news story was circulated, it was not until this third phase — when the focus shifted from AMF and Elmehagen to the Swedish Trade Union Confederation and Wanja Lundby-Wedin — that AMF begun to use its corporate blog to communicate about the pension agreement. In total, seven blog posts were published during this period, all of them trying to explain AMF’s view on the pension agreements and seeking to counter criticism and frustration from the pension savers. The first post on the blog concerning the Elmehagen affair is from the 23rd of March. Stina Sandell, AMF’s communication manager, explains in the post that the current management team takes the criticism from its customers and the public seriously. Most of the comments made by readers expressed frustration over AMF’s behavior, especially that of Elmehagen and LundbyWedin. Two examples in relation to Sandell’s blog post were: Alright, you can do what you want, but sorry, I will never ever invest my pension in your funds again. And several others agree with me. We will never be able to trust you again [. . .]. (published by ‘‘Nicke,’’ 03.23.2009) Wanja [Lundby-Wedin] is stupid. She felt fooled, but she is incompetent - she cannot read an annual report. [. . .] She is a crook that has cheated ordinary pension savers. Yesterday, I applied to move all of my pension capital from AMF to La ¨nsfo ¨kringar. No more AMF!! (published ¨rsa by ‘‘Go ¨ran,’’ 03.24.2009) The day after Sandell’s blog post, AMF was invited to one of the main Swedish TV channels, TV4, to comment on how the organization used the corporate blog in this crisis situation (something that AMF also blogged about the day after). The same evening as the interview with AMF was broadcast there was an all-time high in the number of visitors to the blog. Even though AMF could reach out to their target group via its blog, it was not until the TV channel made a news feature about the blog that the number of visitors to it radically increased and reached out to Swedes in general. A few days later on the 27th of March, a video with the CEO Ingrid Bonde was published on AMF’s homepage on You Tube, which was also promoted and linked to on the blog. In the video, Bonde tries to explain what had occurred and why the pension savers should remain loyal to AMF. In one of the video clips, Bonde states: I understand that several of you are upset. But do remember that we have had the best return on investment during the last 10 to 20 years. [. . .] AMF is a well-managed company with fantastic values and I’m proud to manage this company. Let’s consider this as a single episode that is part of history and let’s look forward. (Ingrid Bonde, 03.27.2009, YouTube.com)

Phase 4: the independent audit of the pension agreement is published AMF ordered an independent audit from Ernst & Young about the pension agreement, and before the report was even published, speculation about its content started on the newspapers’ news sites as well as in the blogosphere. When the

Transformation processes in the field of news journalism audit was made public in the media, the number of articles peaked. In this phase, the spotlight was once again set on former CEO Elmehagen and whether he had received an excessive pension or not. Directly after publication of the report, several of the articles focused on summarizing its content with headlines such as: ‘‘Elmehagen received too much’’ and ‘‘The AMF scandal: Christer Elmehagen was paid from double agreements.’’ AMF published a short note about the report on its corporate blog, with a link to the press release about the report that was sent out on the 30th of March. Critical comments continued to be made by irritated and angry customers on the blog — for example in relation to the short post about the report. Two days later on the 2nd of April, AMF posted a longer comment with the headline ‘‘Appreciated blog,’’ explaining that AMF has received quite a bit of positive comments about its blog during the last week. AMF wrote that journalists and others were impressed by the openness and braveness of AMF, as the company left the comment function on the blog open to the public. As the question of whether or not Elmehagen should refund his pension continued to be debated in news articles, it became clear that AMF was not willing to reveal the content of the pension agreement. However, Elmehagen decided to present it himself in the media, which once again increased the news flow. Parallel to the discussions about the moral judgment of Lundby-Wedin in the blogosphere, a majority of the blog posts also discussed Elmehagen’s release of his pension agreement. After this peak of news articles and blog posts, the news story once again focused on Wanja Lundby-Wedin, and voices were raised that she should resign from her post.

Phase 5: Lundby-Wedin remains on her post The news story continued to discuss the involvement of Lundby-Wedin in the pension agreement, while the established media published articles speculating about the possibility of her keeping her position or whether or not she should resign. During this period, comments by readers continued to be part of the story on the newspapers’ sites. For instance, Aftonbladet.se published an article based on its readers’ opinions under the headline ‘‘The readers’ verdict: Resign from The Swedish Trade Union Confederation’’ (04.05.2009). Still, on the 6th of April the Swedish Trade Union Confederation announced that Lundby-Wedin was going to remain at her post. After the announcement, the focus on LundbyWedin on both the news sites and the blogosphere gradually disappeared.

Phase 6: Elmehagen’s moral judgment continues to be contested Even though it became less frequent, the news flow continued in April. The last articles continued to discuss Elmehagen’s moral responsibilities, while Elmehagen participated in interviews in order to give his view on what had happened. In this last phase, Elmehagen is the most visible main actor in the media, and AMF also continued its communication activities, using new channels in order to reach out to their target groups. On the 14th of April Sanna Malmsten, team leader at AMF’s customer support, is interviewed in a short video

73 published on AMF’s homepage and You Tube. She explains what the customer support is doing in order to answer all questions from customers. Some days later on the 20th of April, a short comment is posted on the corporate blog linked to a press release that announces that based on several investigations, AMF demands Elmehagen to repay parts of the money he had received. On the 20th of May, AMF published the last video on You Tube in relation to the news story. In the video, CEO Ingrid Bonde reaches out to pensions savers with the following message: ‘‘After all the bad news during this spring, I hope that all of you can have some patience so that we can show you what a fantastic company we actually really are.’’ The story continued, although with less intensity, until late June when Elmehagen and AMF reached a settlement after Elmehagen had agreed to refund 2.6 million SEK. The news story was no longer top news on the newspapers’ news sites, and the reader’s comments decreased in comparison to previous phases. The empirical results show that the many turnabouts in the news story about the pension agreement with Elmehagen engaged not only journalists and the involved organizations, but also the general public to a large degree. The story followed the same pattern in terms of news angles and content at both the newspapers’ sites and in the blogosphere, although the latter followed the first mentioned. Hence, bloggers built their blog posts on the content of online news articles; consequently, the blog posts did not provide new information or new angles to the story. Almost half the number of blog posts refers to articles at the news sites, among which the three most frequently referenced wee the news sites of the general dailies SvD.se and DN.se, and the evening newspaper Aftonbladet.se (see Table 2). With few exceptions, the content of the blog posts reinforces the news story of established media organizations. The blog posts criticized the high amounts that AMF had paid in bonuses to its management team, particularly in relation to Elmehagen’s pension. Similar to the media coverage, the bloggers later shifted the focus of their criticism towards Lundby-Wedin, who as a spokesperson for the Swedish workers had taken part in approving the pension agreement. Thus, the shift in focus from AMF and Elmehagen to the Swedish Trade Union Confederation largely reflected the content on the newspapers’ sites. In this way, the main story on the newspapers’ news sites was followed up on and reinforced in blog posts and by reader comments. Therefore, actors such as bloggers and readers were strengthening the role of news media organizations, and were distributing the news media’s story rather than creating their own. Even though online news production and

Table 2 Total number of references made by bloggers to the ‘‘top-five’’ news web sites. News web sites

No. of references

SvD.se DN.se Aftonbladet.se Expressen.se E24.se

58 47 44 16 10

74 distribution tends to be pluralistic and involve a diversified network of actors that together shape and circulate media news stories, one news story dominated. Parallel and heterogeneous news stories were rarely developed by social media actors; instead, they strengthened the news story produced and presented by the established news media organizations. We can thereby conclude that even though several actor groups can take part in formulating a news stories online, not all of them have equal possibilities or ambitions to set the agenda and reach out to their readers. Among all the news producers participating in the news flow around AMF’s executive remuneration program, the news media organizations were still the most prevalent producers. The news flow around the executive remuneration program was largely dependent on the productiveness of journalists at the newspapers’ news sites. The themes presented in the blog posts were influenced by what had already been published in articles at the sites, and bloggers also often explicitly made references to these articles. In other words, bloggers were primarily writing blog posts as a reaction to or based on information from online news articles. The reader’s comments were also written as a reaction to the newspaper articles, thus the newspapers’ sites became a forum for the general public to express their views, opinions and feelings. The involvement of users on the newspapers’ news sites influenced the news content, both directly and indirectly. The results demonstrate that some of the articles about Elmehagen’s pension agreement were written entirely based on reader’s comments. In this way, the comments influences the news content, as it fed ideas and information to journalists to transform into articles. For this reason, the audience is not only playing the role of producer, but is also used as a source. The articles based on reader’s comments were put together to fit the ongoing new story. Hence, these articles were neither challenging nor adding new information, but rather they strengthened the dominant news story.

M. Grafstro ¨m, K. Windell Sauder’s findings (2008), novel actors are not met with reluctance by already established field actors; rather, they are invited to take part in field activities. However, even though novel actors are incorporated into a field, this does not equal a radical field transformation since novel actors lack the power — or autonomy — to reshape field practices. The findings demonstrate that established field positions are strengthened and that the central field actors remain the same. The results even indicate that previously established structures of domination can be conserved through the presence of newcomers in the field. We further outline and discuss these two main conclusions below.

Dominant actors incorporate novel actors into the mature organizational field The findings demonstrate that novel actors become incorporated into the field of news journalism through the activities of dominant field actors. Established news media organizations — key field actors — invite readers and bloggers — the newcomers — to take part in field practices by allowing them to comment and link their blogs to articles. Key field actors therefore broaden the boundaries of the field by inviting novel actors to become members. With the support of dominant actors, novel actors are given access to take part in news production and are hence given positions in the news field. Because of this, online news production is no longer exclusive to journalists, but becomes something to be carried out in the interaction between journalists, their readers and bloggers. Similar to the findings of Leblebici et al. (1991), dominant actors are essential for making actors in the periphery count. As dominant actors acknowledge actors outside or in the periphery of the field, they legitimatize them as field members. This suggests that the reshaping of field borders in order to incorporate novel actors is achieved by dominant field actors themselves, rather than through for example technological innovations.

Discussion and conclusion This article set out to explore the role of novel actors in field transformation. Even though the research on change processes pursued by newcomers in a mature field is still scarce, existing studies indicate that novel actors have the potential to transform already established structures of domination, i.e. field positions and relationships (Sauder, 2008). As structures of domination are altered and field actors reposition themselves, this might lead to the development of new field practices. By exploring to what extent and how novel actors took part in the formation of an online news story about a Swedish corporate remuneration program during a few weeks in the spring of 2009, we have explored how novel actors become incorporated into a mature field and to what extent and how they alter structures of domination within that field. The contributions of this article relate to previous studies about the role of novel actors in the transformation of structures of domination — positions and relationships — within organizational fields (Leblebici et al., 1991; Reay & Hinings, 2005; Sauder, 2008). The study shows that novel actors can be incorporated into a mature field, as dominant field actors provide them with the tools needed to enter the field. In contrast to

Structures of domination are conserved and key actors within the field remain dominant Even though novel actors are given access to and become members of the field, the structures of domination are not altered. Instead, the dominant position of key actors within the field is reinforced by the newcomers. News sites of established media organizations provide key platforms for the creation and distribution of news. To a large degree, novel actors build their own activities on the platforms and activities of established news media organizations, thus participating in strengthening established power relationships by defining who is allowed to set the news agenda. As pointed out by Reay and Hinings (2005), power is a necessity for being able to initiate and drive change processes, and even though the newcomers gain positions in the field, they lack the power to change field practice. In order to become influential, field actors need to gain a certain amount of autonomy vis-a `-vis other field actors (cf. Reay & Hinings, 2005). This high amount of dependence, i.e. the established media organizations, functions as a platform and key source of information for both readers and bloggers, which constrains the possibilities for these newcomers to act as autonomous news producers.

Transformation processes in the field of news journalism The findings demonstrate that the news sites of the established media strengthened their positions as key arenas for news content in the field. By relating their activities to the activities of established actors, novel actors are supporting the established positions of field members. The dominant members of the field — the news media organizations — are therefore still setting the news agenda, and constitute key news producers and providers. These findings are in accordance with the results of Leblebici et al. (1991), which revealed that fringe actors in fields are dependent on the dominant actors to help create change. In their study, they show that fringe actors have the possibility to introduce new practices, though these need to be picked up by central actors to be able to have any impact on field structures. Thus, even though novel actors are incorporated into the field carrying with them new ideas of how to produce and present news content, these newcomers do not necessarily challenge the central positions of key actors. Newcomers in the field are incorporated, but remain in the periphery of the field. The entrance of new actors does not necessarily lead to significant changes in power relationships among field members, and peripheral actors lack the capacity to alter established positions in a mature field. In contrast to studies in which outside actors participate in transforming field structures (Sauder, 2008), our findings suggest that the incorporation of novel actors can instead result in reinforcing previously established structures of domination within the field. As a result, novel actors entering established fields not only serve as forces for transformation, but also for conservation. Our case shows that activities by newcomers indirectly served to conserve the dominant positions of key actors. These findings have implications on institutional theories about novel actors and the transformations of mature fields. First, it reminds us of the importance of carefully examining fringe and seemingly powerless actors, and their role for processes of field change (e.g. Leblebici et al., 1991; Rocha & Granerud, 2011). In particular, it emphasizes the necessity of exploring why novel actors seem to influence some mature fields more than others. In the field of news journalism, the information asymmetry between established media organizations vis-a ´-vis the newcomers should be taken into account. The novel actors in the news field are highly dependent on established key field actors as sources of information and as distribution channels (without the possibility of linking to news sites, the bloggers would not be able to reach a large amount of readers). In other fields, novel actors could be less dependent on established actors and might therefore also have the capacity to drive change. As suggested by Reay and Hinings (2005), autonomy is central for field actors in order to alter field practices. In Sauder’s (2008) study of the field of legal education, the novel actor — USN rankings — gained a high degree of autonomy. In other words, it is apt to assume that novel actors in certain mature fields have a greater possibility of influencing field structures and field practices than in other fields. Furthermore, as stressed by Sauder (2008, p. 228), the entrance of novel actors does lead to a repositioning among field actors and the reorientation of activities, but ‘‘these changes, however, do not entail a wholesale destructuring and then restructuring of the field.’’ Novel actors need to obtain a certain degree of autonomy visa `-vis other actors in order to have the power to reshape field

75 practices (Reay & Hinings, 2005), which is something that newcomers can gain gradually over time. It is therefore also relevant to ask questions about how and under what circumstances novel actors can gain autonomy, and thereby the capacity to reshape field positions and activities in mature fields. These results indicate that future research should continue to explore when and how novel actors are incorporated into organizational fields, and under what circumstances they have less or greater possibilities to alter established structures of domination. As this article builds on a case study that represents a snapshot of the online news production, future studies need to follow the entering of new actors into mature fields over time. The transformation of fields does not necessarily happen quickly or radically. For this reason, we need to conduct longitudinal studies in order to capture the long-term effects of newcomers. In addition, the character of the data, being a snapshot of activities in the field of news journalism, also raises questions about the specific nature of news production. This study is based on news production in the Swedish media system. As a consequence, it would be relevant to compare the findings of this study with studies conducted in other media systems in the world. For example, it is apt to assume that the entrance and role of novel actors in the news field would be different in non-western or less democratic countries. Finally, novel actors seem to have been accepted in the field of news journalism by key actors without struggle or contestation. In this case, novel actors have gained access to the field, but lack the status or position to influence the output of field practices, i.e. to set the news agenda. It would therefore be of interest to compare such a situation with a mature field that has undergone contestation between novel and established field actors to see whether contestation leads to an increased likelihood of changes in the structures of domination among field members.

Acknowledgements We would like to thank our colleagues at the Dept. of Business Studies, Uppsala University and participants at sub-theme 19 at the 26th EGOS Colloquium for useful feedback at an early stage of the paper. Many thanks also to the editor Janne Tienari and the anonymous reviewers for their extensive comments and suggestions that substantially improved this article.

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