Lars Östman towards a general theory of financial control

Professional story­telling  

 

The mass media play a key role for horizontal as well as vertical processes. Journalists and 

advisors of various kinds are important regarding the use of output – sometimes they affect 

the context of output and often the opinions of individual users and potential users. Those 

who review theatre productions and those who interpret the latest trends or give advice on 

savings products may have a considerable influence. The mass media are active in vertical 

processes too. Often they assume a role as representatives of individuals that formally have a 

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position at a high vertical level without being able to express an influential opinion or find 

desirable information.  

According to one view, the traditional mass media are a subordinate but demanding 

servant in the public arena. Their essential task is monitoring those in power and providing 

the public with valuable information. What is a problem for the mass media is also a 

problem for society. They fulfil an essential gate-keeping function. The mass media are 

needed to counteract tendencies towards incongruence between the acts of those in power 

and the well-being of people in general. According to other views, however, the mass media 

are driven by interests and forces in professions and organisations mainly in a similar way 

most professionals are. The mass media play a role as subject in an eternal action drama: 

chasing attention among potential receivers of information flows that are more and more 

fragmented. Gate-keeping tends to be an obstacle for information flows that do not suit 

professional interests 

The mass media are at a distance from events and organisations to be depicted and, with 

constraints in terms of time and costs, they should tell a story one step further for viewers, 

listeners and readers that may be accessible at an even greater distance. The pictures of 

events received by ultimate recipients depend on their pre-views, constructed impressions 

and transformations thereof. Ambiguous circumstances must be reduced by a mass medium 

to something more unambiguous that is easy to communicate in order to function and attract 

attention. Often, high vertical levels are in focus. These are relatively easy to observe and, 

moreover, relatively well-known actors and positions are involved. Internal processes are 

described most superficially, often for very short periods of time. As a consequence, so-

called scandals are depicted with a rather uncomplicated view on events, which is partly due 

to the fact that news coverage is extensive at early moments when much still remains to be 

investigated. 

Various kinds of media – TV, radio, morning papers, evening papers, business journals 

and sites on the internet – have different profiles in terms of content, expressions and 

recipients. Some give visual and phonetic fragments that are almost dramatised. Others have 

greater space, in terms of texts or audiovisual means, and maybe ambitions to treat subjects 

in a more penetrating and neutral way, but often they are able to convey only a few selected 

main thoughts within complicated areas. Normally, the media that have professionally 

defined target groups limit themselves to rather strict and professional frames. Some media 

are oriented toward sensationalism. Thus, recipients create a coherent picture that is based on 

all these fragments. In turn, this is important for what views are developed in societies and 

for how economic functions work and develop. Structures of internet flows, and other 

conditions for gate-keeping, provide a basically different basis for many vertical and 

horizontal control processes in the future.