Introduction
Leadership—both as a construct and a practice—attracts massive
attention. It holds a pivotal place in policy debates, trend analysis,
and global affairs. The media provides a platform for most of the
discourse about leadership. The media produce and reproduce notions of
leadership in diverse ways when they report on various players, such as
politicians, businessmen/women, sports leaders, and conflicts mediators.
Dominant notions of leadership—known as leadership
representation—has been studied, producing a significant understanding
in how journalists and commentators conceptualize leadership (see
Campus, 2013; Chen & Meindl, 1991; Hannah & Zatzick, 2008;
Iszatt‑White, Whittle, Gadelshina, & Mueller, 2018; Mavin, Bryans, &
Cunningham, 2010). However, there is little or no study that looks at
leadership representation in industry specific media outlets, such as
the business press or e-publications.
Many analysts recognize the media’s role in shaping public perceptions
(Caudwell, 1971; Altheide, 1976; Hall, 1977; Williams, 1977; Fishman,
1980; Jensen, 1987). Industry specific media, such as the business press
and online publications, have similar roles. They do so by covering a
wide range of issues, including organization and management. In addition
to dedicated special interest business publications (e.g.,Fortune, Business Week , Wall Street Journal andInc ), general interest press outlets (e.g., New York
Times, Time ) regularly feature business and management oriented
articles (Chen & Meindl, 1991). Arguably, the business media do not
engage only in simple reporting, but also they transmit a variety of
messages about organizations and how they function.
One of the specific ways the business media impact public perception is
through its presentation of constructs related to actors and their roles
in online platforms. In this regard, business media’s increased
commitment to regularly and extensively cover various topics on
leadership is worth exploring. Not only do the business media report on
trends and developments as related to corporate leadership, they also
feature various extended accounts on CEOs, leadership development, and
leadership challenges. Given their perception shaping role, it is
imperative that research explores and examines what the business media
cover about leadership and the underlying orientations that inform
editorial and authorial decisions regarding what to say about
leadership. This paper is part of a larger research effort to analyze
the discourse of leadership in the business media (see Tessema,
2019). In this paper, the focus is on common discursive strategies that
writers employ to construct dominant meanings of leadership.