ABSTRACT
Various types of scandals are inextricably linked to both the mass media and social media. Although there have been many technological changes in the news media over the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, the appetite for scandal news has not abated. The advent of social media has arguably intensified the speed of development and scale of both media scandals and the responses and consequences. For journalists and news organizations the wish to pursue scandal stories may be motivated by a variety of reasons – from holding governments to account in pursuance of fourth estate principles, whether it is exposing corruption or sexual exposés, to pursuing stories for audience-building strategies. Scandals can also provide moral and political sanctions against transgressors and deviants.
