ABSTRACT
This chapter considers scandal mining as an emerging practice that is shaped by longstanding forms of political denunciation, and in turn shapes potentially democratised forms of scrutiny and accountability. It deals with a critical review of academic literature on political scandals, notably as they relate to mediated visibility. The chapter provides an overview of the 2015 federal election in Canada as a pivotal moment in scandal mining practices. It explores the directions for future scholarship, while attempting to anticipate what the mediated political and electoral landscape will resemble in the coming years. Yet treating mediated visibility as “always shaped by a broader set of cultural assumptions and frameworks” supports an understanding of scandal that is necessarily co-construction by political, journalistic and other mediated actors and contexts. Individuals engaged in scandal mining may depend on conventional media channels in order to reach a sufficient audience, but also for the designation of a mediated act as scandalous.
