Social Innovation Ignored: Framing Nonprofit Activities in European News Media

Abstract

News reporting typically has a dual function: it mirrors what is going on in real life, but it also shapes how actors behave. Previous studies suggest that media presence, by way of shaping public and policy perceptions, influence how well nonprofits are able to raise funds and mobilize human resources. Yet, we are lacking insights into how the third sector is actually framed in the media, in particular with regard to innovation, which increasingly complements the more traditional functions of advocacy and service provision. To find out, we performed a longitudinal content analysis and an in-depth framing analysis on national and regional newspapers from nine European countries. The analyses demonstrate that third sector activities, especially those related to social innovation, are largely ignored. We find no systematic evidence that crises increase news attention to nonprofit activities. The third sector is becoming more newsworthy when it co-engages with government and business actors, but can benefit only little from this “positive glow”. We suggest how research on these matters can be taken forward, with a specific focus on the agenda-setting theory of mass media, the strategic management of nonprofit organizations, and collaboration in the context of social innovation.

Social Innovation

“…The dimensions of space and actor networks, especially when combined with relational analysis, further enable targeted policy recommendations (Rocha, Brown, & Mawson, 2021). Importantly though, although the rise of social innovation has been strongly driven by policies, policy makers indeed lack guidance as to the sources and governance of social innovation (Krlev & Lund, 2020). They could thus benefit from concrete evidence on the drivers of social innovation and the processual dynamics in its engagement with social innovation over time (Krlev, Anheier, & Mildenberger, 2019b), to which ecosystem approaches would contribute.…”

Zukunft gestalten mit Sozialen Innovationen

“…2017) über die Rekonfiguration bestehender Institutionen (Wijk u. a. 2019) bis hin zur Gestaltung des gesellschaftlichen Diskurses reichen (Krlev/Lund 2020). Zweitens sind soziale Innovationen in der Regel lokal oder regional verankert (Kleverbeck u. a.…”

Building local ecosystems for social innovation

“…Analysis of the institutional framework around the subject of social innovation can help shape the scope, the implementation modalities and instruments as well as efficacy of interventions (Krlev, Bund and Mildenberger, 2014[69]; Terstriep, Rehfeld and Kleverbeck, 2020 [66]). Complementing the institutionalised forms of support, it is also important to look at the awareness of policy makers of social innovation or the intensity of political debates that will play a role for how well social innovation can thrive (Krlev et al, 2019 [88]).…”