dc.description.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. | nb_NO |