TY - JOUR A1 - Salomonsen, Heidi Houlberg A1 - Flinders, Matthew A1 - Hustedt, Thurid T1 - A comparative analysis of senior civil servants’ involvement in media management JF - Policy & Politics N2 - This article offers results of a comparative case study into how pressures from the media translate into the involvement of senior civil servants (SCSs) in media management and how this is reflected in differentiated ways in politico-administrative relationships. It offers tentative explanations for these differences through the lens of ‘public service bargains’. Based upon a qualitative analysis of documents and 62 interviews with SCSs and advisers in Denmark, Sweden and the UK, the research found that: (i) media management, in some countries, generates an extension and an amplification of the normative expectations towards SCSs’ involvement in media management; (ii) this is accompanied by a revitalisation of the reflections from SCSs to balance their responsiveness to the minister with anonymity and neutrality when involved in media management; (iii) an extensive formal politicisation seems to curb pressures on SCSs’ anonymity and neutrality and their involvement in media management. These findings improve our knowledge of SCSs’ involvement in media management by raising crucial questions about the political neutrality of administrators, tendencies towards politicised governance and (more) interventionist political staffers – amid intensified pressures from the media on governments. Y1 - 2025 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1332/03055736y2024d000000037 SN - 0305-5736 N1 - Published online 20 May 2024 VL - 53 IS - 1 SP - 109 EP - 128 PB - Bristol University Press ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Hustedt, Thurid ED - Howlett, Michael ED - Mukherjee, Ishani T1 - Variations of policy advisory systems: taking stock T2 - Handbook of Policy Advice Y1 - 2025 SN - 9781035318070 U6 - https://doi.org/10.4337/9781035318087 SP - 600 EP - 608 PB - Edward Elgar Publishing Limited CY - Cheltenham, UK & Northampton, USA ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Veit, Sylvia A1 - Hustedt, Thurid A1 - Bach, Tobias ED - Capano, Giliberto ED - Craft, Jonathan ED - Howlett, Michael T1 - Dynamics Of Change In Internal Policy Advisory Systems: The hybridization of advisory capacities in Germany T2 - The Routledge Handbook Of Policy Advisory Systems Y1 - 2025 UR - https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Handbook-of-Policy-Advisory-Systems/Capano-Craft-Howlett/p/book/9781032737454?srsltid=AfmBOoq8AGN8n5-LE0TwJvZnUE8m3Hp38_wOzU2vc6ld7o8P9bNdgcv5 SN - 978-1-032-73745-4 U6 - https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003465720 SP - 458 EP - 475 PB - Routledge CY - Abingdon and New York ER -