Tillit når du trenger den mest : En kritisk diskursstudie av hvordan et folkemøte og prosessene rundt innvirket på kommunikasjonsklimaet mellom borgerne i Flekkefjord og ledelsen ved Sørlandet sykehus

Abstract

This critical discourse study shows how the communication climate and dialogue between Sørlandet hospital and the citizens of Flekkefjord was influenced by a public forum, and the processes surrounding it. This is done via perspectives from social planning, journalism, rhetorics and crisis communication. The public meeting arose as a result of a proposal from the CEO of Sørlandet hospital to close down the emergency surgery unit and the trauma reception at the local hospital in Flekkefjord. At the public meeting, the CEO, politicians and citizens met each other. This study shows how the local newspaper in Flekkefjord, by the chief editor, managed its social mission. The newspaper took a clear position in the emergency surgery case and played an active role in the debate. The study shows how the newspaper regularly attacked the CEO's ethos, thus weakening his credibility and trust. The study also shows how the director's strategies for preserving and building his own ethos did not function adequately. Through theories from crisis communication, it is argued that the emergency surgery case was a crisis for Sørlandet hospital. Analyzes show how the hospital director's strategic choices failed to defend and restore damage done to his reputation. The public meeting is placed in a cultural and a democratic context through perspectives from the social planning field. Using theories from Jürgen Habermas and Chantal Mouffe, among other things, the study points to contributing causes of the conflict between the citizens and the hospital management. Conclusions of the analyzes promotes a criticism of the local newspaper in Flekkefjord by the chief editor, and Sørlandet hospital, by the managing director's handling of this case. Both contributed to creating a polarized debate, and with that they impaired the opportunities for good dialogue between the citizens of Flekkefjord and the hospital management. This hampered the necessary production of knowledge, and by that reduced the basis for citizens to form free opinions.