ABSTRACT

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book describes a survey of the conceptual scaffolding of the study of media and scandals. It examines the ‘function’ of scandals, and critiques the view that scandals are merely negative features of politics, particularly when the frequency of scandals is high. The book provides a historical analysis of the concept indicating the strengths and weaknesses of the term in its use in scandal stories. It reviews the relationship between the theory of agenda setting and scandals, pre-social-media environments, on the one hand, and scandals within the altered dynamics of the new media ecology on the other. The book looks at mediatization and political scandal, argues that the institutional logic of media organizations and the network logic of communication platforms are crucial to the way political scandals unfold.