The expanding political role of Big Tech(nology) corporations has triggered concerns about the role of the media in holding corporate power to account. This study provides a comprehensive understanding of role dynamics between journalists and lobbyists toward the agenda for Big Tech’s responsibilities. Based on semi-structured interviews with European journalists ( n = 15) and lobbyists representing large technology corporations ( n = 15), we use professional role perceptions as a heuristic for examining the relationship of both actor groups in tandem. Journalists, who report an overlap of audience-focused with passive watchdog role ideals geared toward legislative accountability, interact with lobbyists, who assert a more concrete and active role perception. Journalists cautiously appropriate their normative watchdog role in accordance with the ideals of detachment and balance to maintain their own media legitimacy and access to an oligopolistic information environment. Remaining strategically sovereign over information, lobbyists perceive a strong mandate to establish Big Tech as a relevant stakeholder in the agenda on their regulatory accountability, but in mid of a perceived techlash, the majority of corporations avoid public attention. Both actor groups’ limited and off-the-record interaction reflects a defensive corporate stance, keeping their negotiation of Big Tech’s accountability off-stage. The technological and regulatory complexity of the information environment might render these corporations unfit for soft regulation by news media. We discuss implications for their co-dependence in the context of fast technological advancement and disruption of (corporate) mediatization processes.

中文翻译：

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踩到脚趾？关于大型科技公司问责议程的记者和游说者之间的角色动态

大型科技公司不断扩大的政治作用引发了人们对媒体在让企业权力承担责任方面的作用的担忧。这项研究提供了对记者和游说者之间的角色动态的全面了解，以实现大型科技公司的责任议程。基于对欧洲记者 (n = 15) 和代表大型科技公司的游说者 (n = 15) 的半结构化采访，我们使用专业角色认知作为启发式方法来检查两个参与者群体的关系。记者报告称，以受众为中心的角色与旨在立法问责的被动监督者角色理想重叠，他们与游说者互动，游说者主张更具体和主动的角色认知。记者按照超然与平衡的理想谨慎地发挥其规范监督者的作用，以维护自己的媒体合法性和进入寡头垄断的信息环境。游说者仍然保持着对信息的战略主权，他们认为将大型科技公司作为其监管问责议程中的相关利益相关者的强大授权，但在人们认为的科技抵制中，大多数公司都回避公众的关注。两个演员团体有限且不公开的互动反映了企业的防御立场，使他们对大型科技公司问责制的谈判保持在幕后。信息环境的技术和监管复杂性可能使这些公司不适合新闻媒体的软监管。我们讨论在技术快速进步和（企业）媒体化流程中断的背景下它们的相互依赖的影响。