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The art of falsifying

Rönholt, Kenneth LU (2015) SKPM08 20151
Department of Strategic Communication
Abstract (Swedish)
Top politicians are increasingly using social media to create perceptions of
authenticity but social media challenges taken-for-granted notions of
authenticity, as people cannot see who is the creator of the perceived
authenticity. Applying a grounded theory approach, this study conducted
in-depth interviews with communication advisors assigned to Danish top
politicians and developed a theory of how communication advisors can
use social media to create perceived authenticity of top politicians. Most
existing studies on the concept of authenticity agree that it is a socially
constructed concept but they have difficulties detaching themselves from
an essentialism value system, assuming that authenticity is ontologically
present. To... (More)
Top politicians are increasingly using social media to create perceptions of
authenticity but social media challenges taken-for-granted notions of
authenticity, as people cannot see who is the creator of the perceived
authenticity. Applying a grounded theory approach, this study conducted
in-depth interviews with communication advisors assigned to Danish top
politicians and developed a theory of how communication advisors can
use social media to create perceived authenticity of top politicians. Most
existing studies on the concept of authenticity agree that it is a socially
constructed concept but they have difficulties detaching themselves from
an essentialism value system, assuming that authenticity is ontologically
present. To avoid being caught in such essentialism thinking, this study
drew on theoretical perspectives by Jean Baudrillard and Umberto Eco.

The results suggest that in order to create perceived authenticity,
communication advisors have to understand and be able to connect with
the code of the audience in a convincing way because authenticity is not a
matter of who creates it but how well it meets the audience’s expectations.
It is also suggested that communication advisors may even be better at
creating perceived authenticity of politicians than politicians themselves.
This thesis thus contributes to the current body of knowledge and public
relations practice with an explanation of the concept of authenticity that
transcends the dominating essentialism assumptions and the typical
dichotomy of authenticity and inauthenticity. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Rönholt, Kenneth LU
supervisor
organization
course
SKPM08 20151
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Authenticity, social media, public relations, framing, advisor, political communication, Baudrillard, Eco, hyperreality, grounded theory
language
English
id
5426233
date added to LUP
2015-08-24 15:13:08
date last changed
2015-08-24 15:13:08
@misc{5426233,
  abstract     = {{Top politicians are increasingly using social media to create perceptions of
authenticity but social media challenges taken-for-granted notions of
authenticity, as people cannot see who is the creator of the perceived
authenticity. Applying a grounded theory approach, this study conducted
in-depth interviews with communication advisors assigned to Danish top
politicians and developed a theory of how communication advisors can
use social media to create perceived authenticity of top politicians. Most
existing studies on the concept of authenticity agree that it is a socially
constructed concept but they have difficulties detaching themselves from
an essentialism value system, assuming that authenticity is ontologically
present. To avoid being caught in such essentialism thinking, this study
drew on theoretical perspectives by Jean Baudrillard and Umberto Eco.

The results suggest that in order to create perceived authenticity,
communication advisors have to understand and be able to connect with
the code of the audience in a convincing way because authenticity is not a
matter of who creates it but how well it meets the audience’s expectations.
It is also suggested that communication advisors may even be better at
creating perceived authenticity of politicians than politicians themselves.
This thesis thus contributes to the current body of knowledge and public
relations practice with an explanation of the concept of authenticity that
transcends the dominating essentialism assumptions and the typical
dichotomy of authenticity and inauthenticity.}},
  author       = {{Rönholt, Kenneth}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{The art of falsifying}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}