Mediatization of the Danish Central Government

ABSTRACT The impact of mediatization on bureaucracy is attracting increasing scholarly attention. While existing studies show how media logic influences central government performance, less is known about how it affects the norms and everyday practices of civil servants. This article presents a qualitative study of mediatization in the Danish central government, based on 20 in‐depth interviews with civil servants in the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Finance. Drawing on an interpretive approach, the study conceptualizes mediatization as an institutional logic that interacts with existing bureaucratic norms such as neutrality and expertise. The findings reveal that media logic not only demands communication skills but also penetrates the internal culture of the civil service. The effects of mediatization vary depending on the policy field, the impact of social media, and the deliberate strategies civil servants employ to manage media exposure. Both ministries exhibit mediatization, but the Ministry of Health experiences greater personalization, which influences both administrative practices and media strategies. The study also incorporates the role of social media, questioning whether mediatization should still be equated with traditional news logic or understood through the lens of social media logic. By highlighting differences in media strategies, policy field dynamics, and the evolving media landscape, the article contributes to a broader theoretical understanding of bureaucratic mediatization. While grounded in the Danish case, the findings offer insights relevant to meritocratic bureaucracies more generally, with implications for democratic governance and institutional trust.