Between spin doctor and information provider: Conceptualizing communication professionals in government ministries
基于官僚制理论和媒介化、个人化文献，提出政府信息提供者和舆论操纵者两种理想类型，并用挪威部委的非党派传播人员数据检验其经验相关性。
Abstract Communication professionals are increasingly found within government ministries. Based on classic work on bureaucracy and recent literature on mediatization and personalization, this article develops two ideal types: the government information provider and government spin doctor. These ideals are constituted by six dimensions: recruitment criteria, values, loyalties, reputational concerns, interactions, and tasks. A study of nonpartisan communication professionals in Norwegian ministries is used to illustrate the empirical relevance of the ideal types. The analysis shows that for loyalties and reputational concerns, Norwegian communication professionals resemble the government information provider. Regarding interactions and tasks, they resemble the government spin doctor. For recruitment criteria and values, the picture is mixed. The empirical application thereby illustrates a fruitful aspect of the framework as certain configurations will bring forth inbuilt tension in communication professionals' role. The framework allows a fine‐grained approach to extend ongoing debates of appropriate and inappropriate practices of communication professionals in ministries.