Øyvind Ihlen
Datos Biográficos
| ID | 354632 |
|---|---|
| NOMBRE | Øyvind Ihlen |
| NOMBRES | Øyvind |
| APELLIDO | Ihlen |
| FIRMA | IHLEN Ø |
| AFILIACIONES | University of Oslo |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5001-3796 |
| VERIFICADO | Sí |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 33 |
| TOTAL DE CITAS | 113 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 32 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 1 |
| PRIMER AÑO DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2002 |
| AÑO MÁS RECIENTE DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 7 |
Vaccine communication in high- and low-trust countries
Purpose This paper explores how public health authorities' vaccine communication strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic interacted with pre-existing levels of institutional trust, and how these trust levels shaped perceived opportunities and constraints for communicating trustworthiness in high- and low-trust national environments. Design/methodology/approach The study employs an exploratory qualitative comparative case study design, analysing v…
Nordic Perspectives on Strategic Communication
Over the past two decades, the Nordic countries have attracted attention, for instance, due to their high rankings in surveys of happiness and a range of other economic and social indicators. This special issue investigates how strategic communication is theorized and practiced within this regional context, focusing on the distinctive conditions that shape both conceptual frameworks and professional approaches. In this introduction, we first ask …
Lobbying and the Nordic Model
I want what you want! Negotiating the public interest in lobbying and public affairs
Purpose This paper aims to examine the development of public interest topics by public affairs practitioners and how politicians evaluate these arguments. Design/methodology/approach The study utilizes the rhetorical theory of topos and theories of the public interest. It consists of 30 interviews with lobbyists and politicians in Norway’s energy and environment sector. Findings Lobbyists adapt their arguments to align with politicians’ preferenc…
Dealing with dissent from the medical ranks
During a public health crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic, the public health authorities will typically be criticized for their efforts. When such criticism comes from the ranks of medical personnel, the challenge becomes more pronounced for the authorities, as it suggests a public negotiation of who has sufficient expertise to handle the pandemic. Hence, the authorities are faced with the challenge of defending their competence and advice, while …
Made to measure
Research has demonstrated that interest groups frequently align themselves with a specific party and its ideological stance. Still, other studies have underlined that interest groups engage with undecided and opposing factions. In other words, they target friends as well as foes. This raises the question of whether their communication is based on the same type of arguments across the political spectrum of targets or if they customize their messag…
Between progress and struggle
Purpose The paper aims to analyze the contribution of young academics to the field of public relations (PR) and shows which authors exert most influence on them. The study thereby contributes to the assessment of the state of the art of theory building in the field. The authors analyzed the study data against the background of two approaches on progress in the field: Nothhaft et al. ’s (2018) idea of strategic communication as an elusive concept …
Trustworthiness Over Time on Twitter
Public health authorities and political leaders need to come across as trustworthy in their handling of a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic. There is, however, little knowledge about how the affordances and dynamics of social media influence perceptions of trustworthiness, especially during a protracted crisis. In this article, we study how Twitter users were discussing the trustworthiness of the Norwegian health authorities and political leaders…
The game of goodwill
In consensus democracies, interest organizations are likely to pursue their goals by attempting to create goodwill to strengthen their relationships with politicians. Through an exploratory analysis based on interviews with representatives from 58 organizations, a typology of seven strategies for such goodwill is suggested: Lobbyists will convey an understanding of the politician’s professional needs, while also recognizing constraints for what i…
We Do Not Have Any Further Info to Add, Unfortunately” – Strategic Disengagement on Public Health Facebook Pages
During the COVID-19 pandemic, communication with the public has been a central concern for state actors. One important question has been how to best use social media to ensure the sufficient uptake of their advice and recommendations to the public. With regard to such strategic communicative aims, a significant amount of attention has been previously devoted to the engagement, interaction, and dialogic forms of strategic communication on social m…
Transparency beyond information disclosure
The concept of transparency has been problematized in risk research. This exploratory study contributes to the risk literature by considering an established three-dimensional transparency framework (information substantiality, accountability, and participation) and discussing the opportunities for and challenges to risk communication in relation to the framework. Furthermore, we examine the strategies of Scandinavian health authorities during the…
Right‐wing ideological constraint and vaccine refusal
Research has shown a correlation between votes for populist parties and the belief that vaccines are not important or effective. More recent investigations in the United States and France have similarly shown that attitudes toward the COVID‐19 vaccine have been politicized. In this article, we show a similar pattern analyzing survey data from Norway, a country relatively mildly hit by the pandemic and characterized by high trust and a consensual …
Public Ethos in the Pandemic Rhetorical Situation
As illustrated by the COVID-19 pandemic, risk and crisis communication are crucial responsibilities of modern governments. Existing research on risk and crisis communication points to the importance of trust, both as a resource in and an end goal of communicative activities. In this paper, we argue that revisiting the classical rhetorical concept of ethos in combination with the modern concept of the rhetorical situation can contribute to fitting…
Using Rhetorical Situations to Examine and Improve Vaccination Communication
Opinion polls have documented a considerable public skepticism towards a COVID-19 vaccine. Seeking to address the vaccine skepticism challenge this essay surveys the research on vaccine hesitancy and trust building through the lens of the rhetorical situation and points towards five broad principles for a content strategy for public health communicators in regards to vaccination: 1) vaccine hesitancy is not irrational per se; 2) messages should b…
Science communication, strategic communication and rhetoric
Purpose There is a great potential in pulling together science communication and strategic communication, especially given how the former has gained importance in organizational contexts. Strategic communication, including rhetorical theory, can offer insights that are invaluable to understand the contests over what “truth” is and how different political perspectives influence such debates. The case of vaccine hesitancy is used as an illustration…
Lobbying, the public interest, and democracy
Political Public Relations
Frames advance coherent interpretations of issues that suggest specific problem definitions, causes, moral evaluations, and courses of action. As such, frames highlight certain aspects of an issue, and downplay or ignore others. While the use of frames is inevitable—i.e., the act of framing—actors do use frames strategically in their attempts to define issues in a way favorable to them and in their efforts to influence the course of action on iss…
Political Public Relations
Political Public Relations and Strategic Framing
Frames advance coherent interpretations of issues that suggest specific problem definitions, causes, moral evaluations, and courses of action. As such, frames highlight certain aspects of an issue, and downplay or ignore others. While the use of frames is inevitable—i.e., the act of framing—actors do use frames strategically in their attempts to define issues in a way favorable to them and in their efforts to influence the course of action on iss…
Self‐interest in new wrapping
This article explores public affairs and lobbying strategies that make public appeals beyond organizational self‐interest and instead focus on appeals to the public interest . While research has highlighted such appeals as a staple for lobbying campaigns, there is scant research exploring the communicative construction of this notion. Thus, this article uses the rhetorical concept of topos to explore how lobbyists attempt to fuse their private in…
Public Relations, Society and the Generative Power of History
Public Relations, Society and the Generative Power of History examines how histories are used to explore how the past is constructed from the present, how the present is always historical, and how both past and present can power imagined futures. Divided into three distinct parts, the book uses historical inquiry as a springboard for engaging with interdisciplinary, critical and complex issues in the past and present. Part I examines the history …
Framing “the Public Interest”
How do lobbyists get their way and what is the consequence for democracy of their strategies? It is frequently asserted that lobbyists appeal to the public interest to strengthen their proposals. This paper empirically corroborates this claim through four case studies cutting across different European cultural clusters and political systems. The paper unpacks how businesses communicatively construct a link between their private interest and the p…
Birds of a feather flock together? Party leaders on Twitter during the 2013 Norwegian elections
The advent of social media has spurred democratic optimism and been seen as something that help political public relations establish and maintain good relationships with key publics. Still, research has shown how, for instance, political candidates in the United States by large did not respond to messages on their Facebook walls. Another popular social media platform, Twitter, has often been deemed as an elite medium, thus reducing its democratic…
Behind the Framing Scenes
Internationally, the issue of irregular immigration is highly contested and actors promote different frames in the news. In this article, we analyze the strategizing that goes on behind the scenes among nongovernmental organizations and public immigration authorities. Many studies have documented how strategic actors take advantage of mainstream news media conventions, but there is a dearth of research on how these frame sponsors critically refle…
Making news and influencing decisions
Some irregular immigrants get to stay, most are asked to leave. Many in the latter category appeal and seek media coverage to further their case. While the vast majority of these stories are not reported, some cases do receive coverage, and some even cause policy change and a reversal of the return decision. In this article, we discuss under what circumstances media coverage has such an effect. We analyse three cases where a residence permit was …
Making news and influencing decisions
Some irregular immigrants get to stay, most are asked to leave. Many in the latter category appeal and seek media coverage to further their case. While the vast majority of these stories are not reported, some cases do receive coverage, and some even cause policy change and a reversal of the return decision. In this article, we discuss under what circumstances media coverage has such an effect. We analyse three cases where a residence permit was …
Behind the Framing Scenes
Internationally, the issue of irregular immigration is highly contested and actors promote different frames in the news. In this article, we analyze the strategizing that goes on behind the scenes among nongovernmental organizations and public immigration authorities. Many studies have documented how strategic actors take advantage of mainstream news media conventions, but there is a dearth of research on how these frame sponsors critically refle…
Framing Contests in Environmental Disputes
Few researchers have studied the contests between organizational sponsors' different frames and their reception in the media. This paper builds on a case study that illustrates a potential problem for strategic communicators: The media largely ignored the frames of the organizational actors. Instead a typical media frame, the “horse race frame,” was used. Communication professionals have to pay attention to such media frames, but it is also sugge…
Right‐wing ideological constraint and vaccine refusal
Research has shown a correlation between votes for populist parties and the belief that vaccines are not important or effective. More recent investigations in the United States and France have similarly shown that attitudes toward the COVID‐19 vaccine have been politicized. In this article, we show a similar pattern analyzing survey data from Norway, a country relatively mildly hit by the pandemic and characterized by high trust and a consensual …
Birds of a feather flock together? Party leaders on Twitter during the 2013 Norwegian elections
The advent of social media has spurred democratic optimism and been seen as something that help political public relations establish and maintain good relationships with key publics. Still, research has shown how, for instance, political candidates in the United States by large did not respond to messages on their Facebook walls. Another popular social media platform, Twitter, has often been deemed as an elite medium, thus reducing its democratic…
Self‐interest in new wrapping
This article explores public affairs and lobbying strategies that make public appeals beyond organizational self‐interest and instead focus on appeals to the public interest . While research has highlighted such appeals as a staple for lobbying campaigns, there is scant research exploring the communicative construction of this notion. Thus, this article uses the rhetorical concept of topos to explore how lobbyists attempt to fuse their private in…
Public Relations, Society and the Generative Power of History
Public Relations, Society and the Generative Power of History examines how histories are used to explore how the past is constructed from the present, how the present is always historical, and how both past and present can power imagined futures. Divided into three distinct parts, the book uses historical inquiry as a springboard for engaging with interdisciplinary, critical and complex issues in the past and present. Part I examines the history …
Transparency beyond information disclosure
The concept of transparency has been problematized in risk research. This exploratory study contributes to the risk literature by considering an established three-dimensional transparency framework (information substantiality, accountability, and participation) and discussing the opportunities for and challenges to risk communication in relation to the framework. Furthermore, we examine the strategies of Scandinavian health authorities during the…
Rhetoric and resources
This theoretical paper criticises the dominant rhetorical approach to public relations and issues management for not integrating symbolic and material dimensions. It is suggested that public relations and issues management assist actors in pursuing their interests with the help of symbolic strategies and various types of resources or capital. By drawing on rhetorical and sociological theories, the paper presents elements for a heuristic analytica…
Tears and Framing Contests
The reputation and legitimacy of public organizations can be threatened by emotional news stories depicting a faceless bureaucratic power apparatus that is blind to how their decisions affect humans negatively. This qualitative study focuses on the strategies of the Norwegian immigration authorities as they handle emotional accounts of family reunion cases. The analysis first reconstructs what is called a Man Against the System-frame, and then mo…
Corporate Reports on Sustainability and Sustainable Development
This paper analyses how the world's largest corporations communicate about sustainability and sustainable development in their non‐financial reports. It investigates the concept use, definitions and attempts at operationalization, and the rationales that corporations give to engage with them. It is concluded that the corporations typically opt to treat sustainability and sustainable development as given and unproblematic instead of addressing the…
Minding the gap
The game of goodwill
In consensus democracies, interest organizations are likely to pursue their goals by attempting to create goodwill to strengthen their relationships with politicians. Through an exploratory analysis based on interviews with representatives from 58 organizations, a typology of seven strategies for such goodwill is suggested: Lobbyists will convey an understanding of the politician’s professional needs, while also recognizing constraints for what i…
Trustworthiness Over Time on Twitter
Public health authorities and political leaders need to come across as trustworthy in their handling of a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic. There is, however, little knowledge about how the affordances and dynamics of social media influence perceptions of trustworthiness, especially during a protracted crisis. In this article, we study how Twitter users were discussing the trustworthiness of the Norwegian health authorities and political leaders…
The World on Television
How does television cover foreign news? What is covered and how? The present article reports on a comparative study of a license-financed public broadcaster and an advertising-financed channel in Norway – the NRK and TV2 , respectively. Both channels give priority to international news. While the NRK devotes more time to foreign news (both in absolute and relative numbers) than TV2 does, other aspects of the coverage are strikingly similar: The n…
Rhetoric and resources
This theoretical paper criticises the dominant rhetorical approach to public relations and issues management for not integrating symbolic and material dimensions. It is suggested that public relations and issues management assist actors in pursuing their interests with the help of symbolic strategies and various types of resources or capital. By drawing on rhetorical and sociological theories, the paper presents elements for a heuristic analytica…
Framing Contests in Environmental Disputes
Few researchers have studied the contests between organizational sponsors' different frames and their reception in the media. This paper builds on a case study that illustrates a potential problem for strategic communicators: The media largely ignored the frames of the organizational actors. Instead a typical media frame, the “horse race frame,” was used. Communication professionals have to pay attention to such media frames, but it is also sugge…
Business and Climate Change
This paper analyzes how central the climate change issue is and how it is treated rhetorically in the non-financial reports of the world's 30 largest corporations.The analysis shows a huge variation in the extent to which this issue is addressed, with some corporations barely mentioning it.Using an adaptation of Aristotelian topics to organize an exploration of those that do address the climate issue, I found four topics are central:(1) the envir…
Social theory for public relations
Minding the gap
The World on Television
How does television cover foreign news? What is covered and how? The present article reports on a comparative study of a license-financed public broadcaster and an advertising-financed channel in Norway – the NRK and TV2 , respectively. Both channels give priority to international news. While the NRK devotes more time to foreign news (both in absolute and relative numbers) than TV2 does, other aspects of the coverage are strikingly similar: The n…
Corporate Reports on Sustainability and Sustainable Development
This paper analyses how the world's largest corporations communicate about sustainability and sustainable development in their non‐financial reports. It investigates the concept use, definitions and attempts at operationalization, and the rationales that corporations give to engage with them. It is concluded that the corporations typically opt to treat sustainability and sustainable development as given and unproblematic instead of addressing the…
Tears and Framing Contests
The reputation and legitimacy of public organizations can be threatened by emotional news stories depicting a faceless bureaucratic power apparatus that is blind to how their decisions affect humans negatively. This qualitative study focuses on the strategies of the Norwegian immigration authorities as they handle emotional accounts of family reunion cases. The analysis first reconstructs what is called a Man Against the System-frame, and then mo…
Making news and influencing decisions
Some irregular immigrants get to stay, most are asked to leave. Many in the latter category appeal and seek media coverage to further their case. While the vast majority of these stories are not reported, some cases do receive coverage, and some even cause policy change and a reversal of the return decision. In this article, we discuss under what circumstances media coverage has such an effect. We analyse three cases where a residence permit was …
Birds of a feather flock together? Party leaders on Twitter during the 2013 Norwegian elections
The advent of social media has spurred democratic optimism and been seen as something that help political public relations establish and maintain good relationships with key publics. Still, research has shown how, for instance, political candidates in the United States by large did not respond to messages on their Facebook walls. Another popular social media platform, Twitter, has often been deemed as an elite medium, thus reducing its democratic…
Behind the Framing Scenes
Internationally, the issue of irregular immigration is highly contested and actors promote different frames in the news. In this article, we analyze the strategizing that goes on behind the scenes among nongovernmental organizations and public immigration authorities. Many studies have documented how strategic actors take advantage of mainstream news media conventions, but there is a dearth of research on how these frame sponsors critically refle…
Framing “the Public Interest”
How do lobbyists get their way and what is the consequence for democracy of their strategies? It is frequently asserted that lobbyists appeal to the public interest to strengthen their proposals. This paper empirically corroborates this claim through four case studies cutting across different European cultural clusters and political systems. The paper unpacks how businesses communicatively construct a link between their private interest and the p…
Political Public Relations
Frames advance coherent interpretations of issues that suggest specific problem definitions, causes, moral evaluations, and courses of action. As such, frames highlight certain aspects of an issue, and downplay or ignore others. While the use of frames is inevitable—i.e., the act of framing—actors do use frames strategically in their attempts to define issues in a way favorable to them and in their efforts to influence the course of action on iss…
Political Public Relations
Political Public Relations and Strategic Framing
Frames advance coherent interpretations of issues that suggest specific problem definitions, causes, moral evaluations, and courses of action. As such, frames highlight certain aspects of an issue, and downplay or ignore others. While the use of frames is inevitable—i.e., the act of framing—actors do use frames strategically in their attempts to define issues in a way favorable to them and in their efforts to influence the course of action on iss…
Self‐interest in new wrapping
This article explores public affairs and lobbying strategies that make public appeals beyond organizational self‐interest and instead focus on appeals to the public interest . While research has highlighted such appeals as a staple for lobbying campaigns, there is scant research exploring the communicative construction of this notion. Thus, this article uses the rhetorical concept of topos to explore how lobbyists attempt to fuse their private in…
Public Relations, Society and the Generative Power of History
Public Relations, Society and the Generative Power of History examines how histories are used to explore how the past is constructed from the present, how the present is always historical, and how both past and present can power imagined futures. Divided into three distinct parts, the book uses historical inquiry as a springboard for engaging with interdisciplinary, critical and complex issues in the past and present. Part I examines the history …
Science communication, strategic communication and rhetoric
Purpose There is a great potential in pulling together science communication and strategic communication, especially given how the former has gained importance in organizational contexts. Strategic communication, including rhetorical theory, can offer insights that are invaluable to understand the contests over what “truth” is and how different political perspectives influence such debates. The case of vaccine hesitancy is used as an illustration…
Lobbying, the public interest, and democracy
Public Ethos in the Pandemic Rhetorical Situation
As illustrated by the COVID-19 pandemic, risk and crisis communication are crucial responsibilities of modern governments. Existing research on risk and crisis communication points to the importance of trust, both as a resource in and an end goal of communicative activities. In this paper, we argue that revisiting the classical rhetorical concept of ethos in combination with the modern concept of the rhetorical situation can contribute to fitting…
Using Rhetorical Situations to Examine and Improve Vaccination Communication
Opinion polls have documented a considerable public skepticism towards a COVID-19 vaccine. Seeking to address the vaccine skepticism challenge this essay surveys the research on vaccine hesitancy and trust building through the lens of the rhetorical situation and points towards five broad principles for a content strategy for public health communicators in regards to vaccination: 1) vaccine hesitancy is not irrational per se; 2) messages should b…
The game of goodwill
In consensus democracies, interest organizations are likely to pursue their goals by attempting to create goodwill to strengthen their relationships with politicians. Through an exploratory analysis based on interviews with representatives from 58 organizations, a typology of seven strategies for such goodwill is suggested: Lobbyists will convey an understanding of the politician’s professional needs, while also recognizing constraints for what i…
We Do Not Have Any Further Info to Add, Unfortunately” – Strategic Disengagement on Public Health Facebook Pages
During the COVID-19 pandemic, communication with the public has been a central concern for state actors. One important question has been how to best use social media to ensure the sufficient uptake of their advice and recommendations to the public. With regard to such strategic communicative aims, a significant amount of attention has been previously devoted to the engagement, interaction, and dialogic forms of strategic communication on social m…
Transparency beyond information disclosure
The concept of transparency has been problematized in risk research. This exploratory study contributes to the risk literature by considering an established three-dimensional transparency framework (information substantiality, accountability, and participation) and discussing the opportunities for and challenges to risk communication in relation to the framework. Furthermore, we examine the strategies of Scandinavian health authorities during the…
Right‐wing ideological constraint and vaccine refusal
Research has shown a correlation between votes for populist parties and the belief that vaccines are not important or effective. More recent investigations in the United States and France have similarly shown that attitudes toward the COVID‐19 vaccine have been politicized. In this article, we show a similar pattern analyzing survey data from Norway, a country relatively mildly hit by the pandemic and characterized by high trust and a consensual …
Political science (29 obras) · Law (21 obras) · Public relations (20 obras) · Sociology (19 obras) · Politics (17 obras) · Computer Science (15 obras) · Public Relations and Crisis Communication (15 obras) · Law (13 obras) · Media Studies and Communication (13 obras) · Business (10 obras)