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Socio-Contextual Influences on the Korean News Media's Interpretation of Samsung's $847.6 Million Donation
2011 Journal of Public Relations Research
doi: 10.1080/1062726X.2010.504794
By content analyzing a multinational company's philanthropic activities after a series of illegal issues based on the framework of the contingency theory of conflict management, Shoemaker and Reese's (1996) onion model of media message production process, and crisis communication theory, this study shows that the failure to fulfill legal responsibility cannot satisfy the important public (mass media in this case), even though the company tries to fulfill philanthropic responsibility as a crisis communication strategy. Although Samsung wanted to express its apology through a donation, the Korean news media interpreted Samsung's philanthropic donation as an excuse or justification to minimize negative outcomes such as a tarnished reputation. The different interpretations of the donation by Samsung and the Korean news media can be attributed to the sudden change of corporate stance, influence of similar events of other companies, and socio-contextual factors (i.e., media types and affiliation).