Institutional deviance in TV news: BBC, ITV and the Mid Staffordshire hospital scandal

Abstract

This article is an empirical study of how institutional scandal is covered in TV news, using the BBC and ITV coverage of the Mid Staffordshire hospital scandal as a case study. It draws on sociology of deviance as well as Greer and McLaughlin’s model of institutional scandal and the different phases they go through. As such, the study examines how the coverage of the Mid Staffordshire hospital scandal moved through activations, reactions, amplification and accountability phases, although the progression was messy and complex. The study examines both verbal and visual elements of how TV news engaged in emotional accounts of suffering and attacks on figures of authority and public institutions. The article argues that institutional scandal and the media coverage of the NHS reflect both the politically disputed status of the NHS as well as a neoliberal drive to undermine public institutions.