The Jeremiad Over Journalism

2. Theory
In order to tie abstract concepts such as Americanization, commercialization, objectivity,
institutionalism and framing to the concrete study, this chapter will identify key texts related to the
research question, and make an argument for how macro-level American influence translates into
changes in journalistic institutions and micro-level reporting practices in Denmark.
The following sections will clarify and define the theoretical concepts of Americanization,
commercialization, the ideal of objectivity, new institutionalism 21 and framing. Moreover, the
literature below will identify the key driving forces involved in the subsequent empirical analysis of
structural and symbolic Americanization.
The overarching aim of the chapter is to pin-point the importance of commercialization, technology,
and educational exchange among other driving forces in previous studies of American influence
which will then serve as the basis for sections within the chapters of structural and symbolic
Americanization based on evidence from the archival analyis. Additionally, an important
connection is made in relation to the content analysis, as it is here argued that developments at the
structural level can impact individual journalists‘ framing through the restraining and enabling
influence of journalistic institutions. For example, I argue that commercial pressure exerted on
journalistic institutions is potentially reflected in journalistic news frames.
Turning to the subsection of important literature on Americanization, I argue that in order to study
structural Americanization fruitfully, one needs to realize that there is a power ―asymmetry‖
between Denmark and the United States, yet also recognize that the is a certain ―power of the weak‖
to shape impulses from public and private sectors in America. 22 The perspective of asymmetrical
power rejects ―cultural imperialist‖ theory which understands Americanization as a process where a
―hegemonic America manipulated and ultimately imposed its way on passive recipients.‖ 23 Often a
21 Timothy Cook, Governing with the News: The New Media as a Political Institution, Second ed. (Chicago: University
of Chicago Press, 2005). Page 65 and 70-71. Cook combines sociological and political science definitions of
―institutions,‖ his aim is ―not to add to the theories of institutions, but to throw light on our understanding of the news
media.‖
22 Poul Villaume, "Replik - Om Tankefængsler, Sikkerhedsdilemmaer Og Interessefællesskaber [Response: On
Imprisoned Ideas, Security Dilemmas and Community of Interests]," Historisk Tidsskrift 16, no. 2 (1995). Page 463-
464.
23 Elteren, Americanism and Americanization: A Critical History of Domestic and Global Influence. Page 116.
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