ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the institutional logic of media organizations and the network logic of communication platforms are crucial to the unfolding of any political scandals. It reviews the state of the field, with regard to the implications of mediatization in general and that of mediatized scandals in particular. The chapter examines how new technologies and the power of digital networks aid the circulation of scandalous stories, and describes how the recent case of Cambridge Analytical poses new challenges for conceptualizing the network logic. It explains the dialectic relationship between media scandal and politics by problematizing the ideological standpoint of media organizations themselves. There are several key aspects of the arrangements of modern mass media that enable, and often encourage, the exposé of scandals. The professionalization of journalism, especially the development of investigative journalism, is another factor that has contributed to the rise of media scandals across Western democracies in decades.
