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Airport CSR in Local News: Agenda and Frame Alignment of Press Releases and Local Newspapers in Austria, Germany and Switzerland

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Airport CSR in Local News:

Agenda and Frame Alignment of Press Releases and

Local Newspapers in Austria, Germany and Switzerland.

Felix Bareiß 12362913 Master’s Thesis Graduate School of Communication Master’s programme Communication Science Dr. Pytrik Schafraad June 28 th , 2019

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Abstract This study analyses the extent to which there is alignment between corporate communication of airports and local media regarding CSR issues and investigates the differences of CSR issue arenas between the DACH countries (Austria, Germany, and Switzerland) in a multinational comparison. As there has been little research on this local level of CSR communication so far, this study aims to fill said research gap. The research is conducted as an automated content analysis of press releases ( n = 1692) from 6 airports and media articles ( n = 6719) from 12 local newspapers during the research period from 2013 to 2018. The technique of semantic mapping is used to identify implicit frames in the communication of CSR issues. The study shows that airports and media in Germany communicate more about CSR issues of airports than in Austria and Switzerland. It further reveals a relationship between the PR and media agenda for economic CSR issues. The frame analysis reveals that the economic framing of airport CSR by PR is taken over in the media to a large extent and that the discourse remains largely uncritical in the media. However, it becomes evident that in press releases airports often frame themselves as managers of CSR issues, a perspective that is rarely manifest in the media discourse. Keywords: CSR Communication, CSR Issues, Frame, Implicit Framing, Agenda Building, Frame Building, Alignment, Semantic Mapping, Local News Media, Public Relations, Airports

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Introduction Airports influence their environment in many ways and bear responsibility for economic, social and environmental consequences of their operations, which can lead to conflicts between their interests and stakeholder groups. As regularly public debates about airport extension plans, aviation noise and high traffic loads emerge (Jonkman & Verhoeven, 2013), occurring responsibility issues, that are attached to different aspects of operations, can be threats as well as opportunities for the reputation of an airport (J. Zhang, 2013) . Local media are possible arenas for such debates (Luoma aho & Vos, 2010) , with strong influence on the agenda-setting of the public. Because of that power, airports put their efforts into “attracting media for their agenda” (Schafraad, van Zoonen, & Verhoeven, 2016, p. 451) . As part of their agenda and frame-building strategy, airports publish press releases on corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues. Local newspapers, on the other hand, make sense of the issues and provide them publicly as framed information as well (Kim, Scheufele, & Shanahan, 2002) . So far there is little research on the salience of CSR issues on the public relations (PR) agendas of airports and on the agenda of local news media. Until now there is no empirical evidence to what extend implicit frames, as interpretive frameworks of CSR issues (Van den Heijkant & Vliegenthart, 2018) , align between the airport PR and local media. Even though research on the relationship between PR and Media on CSR issues exists (Cahan, Chen, Chen, & Nguyen, 2015; Lee & Riffe, 2017; Lunenberg, Gosselt, & De Jong, 2016; Pérez, García De Los Salmones, & López-Gutiérrez, 2018) , it mainly focuses on national or international issues and news coverage, with only a limited scholarly body paying attention to the communication of local issues in local media (McDaniel, Lown, & Malone, 2018) .

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Besides that, CSR communication has often been scientifically approached without paying attention to the cultural context. There are only few direct comparisons on how CSR is communicated throughout different cultures. Hence, this study aims to gain first insights into the salience of CSR issues of airports on the corporate and media agenda in order to find answers about what issues are salient and to check if there is an alignment between these agendas. Secondly, by comparing press releases of airports and media throughout the DACH region (Austria, Germany, Switzerland) different legislational, economic and political variables can be taken into account while examining the influence of cultural context on CSR issues. Thirdly, in an exploratory analysis, frames within the communication of airport CSR issues have been analyzed by applying an automated content analysis that identifies implicit frames that can be compared between the domains and provide knowledge about the competing frames on CSR issues of airports. By filling these gaps in research this study aims to find answers to the following research question: “To what extent do the CSR agenda of Austrian, German and Swiss airports align with the agenda of local media in terms of salience and frames?” Theoretical Framework In order to get a comprehensive picture of the theoretical foundations of corporate communication on CSR issues of airports, theoretical implications and research of different communication theories are linked. Figure 1 illustrates how the theories are connected and gives an overview of the mechanics that this study will elaborate on. The structure of this section is as follows. Firstly, the theory of issues, issue arenas, and the functions and roles of

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local news media will be discussed. Afterwards, the theoretical background of CSR will be addressed, followed by the theory on the communicational relationship between PR and media. Based on the theoretical background, hypotheses and a sub-question are formulated. Fig. 1. The theoretical framework of this study Issues Theory, Issue Arenas, and the Role of Local News Media Corporate issues can be described as “points of contention between organisations and stakeholders” (Coombs, 2002, p. 216) , marking a potential risk to the legitimacy of the organization. In order to avoid crisis and seek legitimacy, organizations manage their issues by advancing organizational interests, while balancing stakeholder interests, by the proactive identification and diffusion of an issue before it can arise into a crises (Heath, 1997) . To defuse an issue, airports have to take an active role within the issue. Conceptually, this can be done by joining an issue arena that is defined by Luoma aho & Vos as a “space for

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enactment” (2010, p. 319) to more or less involved actors. Issue arenas are not “owned” by corporations and can even exist without the involvement of corporations at all. They can occur as physical forums, for example as debates or virtually in (social) media (Luoma aho & Vos, 2010) . The issues arena model is distinct from the traditional stakeholder model, by proposing a more dynamic route. A distinction can be made between the long term investment of stakeholder relations and the short term reaction on the issue in issue arenas (Freeman, 1984; Luoma aho & Vos, 2010) . Furthermore, the theory of dissociation of issues from corporate communication proposes that issues are not controlled by corporations, they take a role within an issue by joining the issue arena through corporate communication (Luoma aho & Vos, 2010) . PR can be seen as a process of sensegiving to issue areas. Therefore, practitioners in corporate communication have to decide, whether an arena should be joined and how to make sense of the issue in favour of the need of organizational legitimacy (Van der Meer, Verhoeven, Beentjes, & Vliegenthart, 2014) . The opinion building process of the public, that is involved in an issue, depends on the information given by other actors into the arena (C. E. Carroll & McCombs, 2003) . Media have a central position within that process, since they compose, select, and frame information on public issues and contribute by giving sense to the issue (Kim et al., 2002) . Besides organizations and media, different actors can join the issues arena and take part in sensegiving activities to influence the sensemaking process of the public. The bigger the attention to an issue is, the more actors are involved and will join the issue arena (Vos, Schoemaker, & Luoma-aho, 2014) . Likewise, media often take a dual position, since they not only act within the issue arena but also are the issue arena, as a forum to bring an issue to the public's attention. This aspect makes the media a vital subject within organizational issues

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management. Organizations hope, through the maintenance of a beneficial long term relationship, to be able to influence the media's sensegiving activities in issue arenas on organization related issues in favour of the organizational interest. In this research, articles from local newspapers will be examined. That is due to the operative nature of airports. Issues of airports are most relevant to the population living close to the premises (Wright, Newell, Maguire, & O’Reilly, 2018) . Therefore these issues are not newsworthy for most mass media, like national newspapers. The exceptions, can be explained through the presences of certain new factors, for example “controversy”, “negative consequences” or “surprise” (Schafraad et al., 2016) . Local newspapers, on the other hand, have a restricted area of influence, which makes them important media for the area surrounding an airport, since issues related to airports are more relevant for them, as they are relevant to their audience, that lives in proximity of the airport (Kim et al., 2002; Yamamoto & Nah, 2018) . For issues of this limited scope, the competing actors in the issue arenas are limited, which further emphasizes the position of local newspapers as they often are the issue arenas themselves. Corporate Social Responsibility Issues Corporate social responsibility is a central concept within this research. So far, literature has not found a uniform and all-encompassing definition. For this research however, a societal perspective is taken, because airports operate on a local scope and thus CSR is interpreted as an expression of the concept that companies have a responsibility for the welfare of society (Tam, 2015) . One widely accepted concept to further specify the dimensions of CSR, is the concept of four responsibilities of corporations by Carroll (1979) . It includes the “economic”, “legal”, “ethical”, and “philanthropic” responsibility. In regards

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to issue theory and issue management, CSR communication can be described as a strategy to diffuse potential issues, by addressing them proactively, a strategy to gain a favourable reputation by the stakeholders (X. A. Zhang & Borden, 2017) . Consequently, CSR communication can be either contributing as sensegiving into ‘active’ issue arenas or potentially opening up new issue arenas to which the organization can contribute in a favourable fashion. To assess what CSR issues are present, Carroll (1979) provides the “Corporate Social Performance Model”, that contains the following “Social Issues”: “Consumerism”, “Environment”, “Discrimination”, “Product Safety”, “Occupational Safety”, and “Shareholders” (A. B. Carroll, 1979, p. 503) . Even though this framework is well developed it has not been applied to CSR issues by airports, thus there is no research on how it can be applied on the specific issues of airports. In research so far, the framework of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) was used as a comprehensive outline of all aspects of airport CSR, as it is also an outline for CSR reporting (Chang & Yeh, 2016; Skouloudis, Evangelinos, & Moraitis, 2012) . The GRI framework organizes all indicators around the aspects “Economic”, “Environmental”, and “Social”. Table 1 shows how the indicators are allocated to the three main categories. Since this framework is applied to CSR of airports in research, it will be utilized to operationalize CSR issues. In addition, since this research focuses on CSR communication, a fourth multi-issue-component will be added, besides the three CSR themes. All aspects of texts that contain information about CSR specific communications will be labeled “Communication Issue”, for example texts about certifications, and CSR publications. Even though this is technically not an CSR issue, since it is not part of the CSR framework and also is not an exclusive category, as it could contain an economic, social or environmental aspect, it will be analyzed along with the other issues.

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Table 1. The GRI framework.

Category Aspect

Economic Economic indicators Economic performance Market presence Indirect economic impacts Environmental Environmental indicators Materials Energy Water Biodiversity Emissions, effluents, waste Products and services Compliance Transport-Logistics Social Labor practices and decent work Employment Labor/management relations Occupational health and safety Training and education Diversity and equal opportunity Human rights Investment and procurement practices Non-discrimination Freedom of association and collective bargaining Child labor Forced and compulsory labor Security practices Indigenous rights Society Community Corruption Public policy Anti-competitive behavior Compliance Product responsibility Customer health and safety Products and service labeling Marketing communications Customer privacy Compliance Note. Adapted from “Accountability and stakeholder engagement in the airport industry: An assessment of airports’ CSR reports.”, by Skouloudis, A., Evangelinos, K., & Moraitis, S., 2012, Journal of Air Transport Management, 18(1), 16–20., p. 17.

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Corporate Social Responsibility of Airports The idea that airports have a social responsibility to society is connected with regional opportunities and challenges for the respective area. So far, different aspects of societal impacts of airports have been researched. For instance, research found a positive correlation between airport traffic and real estate prices in New Zealand, showing the economic impact that airports can have (Tsui, Tan, & Shi, 2017) . These results indicate that an airport can be a competitive advantage for a region that has a greater appeal to the economy, tourism and people because of the airport. (Chang & Yeh, 2016) . On the other hand, exposure to airport noise can mean a threat to the mental health of the population in the surrounding area (Wright et al., 2018) . For that reason, CSR at airports means “to balance profits and social impacts to their stakeholders” (Chang & Yeh, 2016, p. 338) . Even though research states that airports use CSR for “developing reputation, legitimacy, and searching a win-win outcome” (Chang & Yeh, 2016, p. 339) , there is limited research on the CSR communication by airports. The present research focuses on CSR reporting (Skouloudis et al., 2012) and the CSR strategies of airports (Chang & Yeh, 2016) . A relevant finding from this research is that the size of an airport has been found as an important factor for their CSR communication, because it correlates positively with a bigger scope of the operations with social, economic, and environmental impacts (Chang & Yeh, 2016; Tsui et al., 2017) . Influencing Factors on CSR Activities Research has shown that CSR activities are influenced by several organizational factors (e.g. the organizational size, sector (Tam, 2015) ) but also by cultural factors of the

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country of operations and the according legislative framework on CSR (Tam, 2015) . So far, research found evidence that differences between countries for several aspects of CSR (Lock & Seele, 2015; Loosemore, Lim, Ling, & Zeng, 2018) . Differences were found between countries regarding the domains of CSR reporting (Lock & Seele, 2015) , as well as the cultural background as a moderator of CSR engagement (Hur & Kim, 2017) and also the relevance of issues on corporate websites (Maignan & Ralston, 2002) . Further, the analysis on the effects of different legal frameworks of countries on CSR activities by corporations showed that Germany belonged to a more developed cluster of CSR legislation, than Austria and Switzerland (Amor-Esteban, García-Sánchez, & Galindo-Villardón, 2018) . All of these findings suggest an influence of cultural factors on CSR communication, however so far no extensive research on CSR communication by organizations and also the media coverage has been done. Therefore a comparison between Austria, Germany and Switzerland will be performed in this study. Based on the literature, it is proposed that there are differences of the salience of CSR issues on the media and the corporate agenda, according to previous research they are more salient in Germany than in Austria and Switzerland. This is tested with the following hypotheses: H1. (a) CSR issues of airports are more salient on the corporate agenda in Germany than in Austria and Switzerland. H1. (b) CSR issues of airports are more salient on the agenda of local newspapers in Germany than in Austria and Switzerland. Alignment of Corporate and Media Agendas In the following the theoretical background of the relationship between organizations and the media is going to be conceptualized. This is done by examining the alignment of the

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salience of an issue and comparing the corporate and the media agenda at a given time. This concept is rooted in the theory of agenda building, which itself is based in the agenda-setting theory. In the following, the underlying mechanism of the so-called agenda-setting function of mass media is going to be explained in order to corroborate the expected results. The media agenda is important for corporate communication. As described earlier, media are often arenas of issues and “the salience of elements on the news agenda influences their salience on the public agenda” (C. E. Carroll & McCombs, 2003, p. 37) . Research describes this process as first level agenda-setting. This theory is deeply rooted in the function and nature of mass media. Media communicate the importance of an issue with several cues that indicate which issues are more important than others (Scheufele & Tewksbury, 2007) . One cue is the salience of an issue, which means how present it is in the news. The media agenda is used by the public to evaluate the importance of an issue and sort their own agenda accordingly. Since organizations want their CSR activities to be known and valued by the public, they put effort into “attracting media for their agenda” (Schafraad et al., 2016, p. 451) . To do so, they put effort into what research calls agenda building, which can be defined as influencing the media to put their corporate issues on the agenda and therefore making them seem more relevant to the public (C. E. Carroll & McCombs, 2003) . Another act of influencing is agenda cutting, which in theory are planned acts to eliminate an issue from the media agenda in order to avoid the opening of an issue arena around that issue (Colistra, 2012) . In both ways, the organizations seek alignment of their agenda and the media agenda. The resulting question of “who sets the media agenda?” (Lee & Riffe, 2017, p. 294) on CSR issues has been researched with different focus and results. According to Schafraad et al. (2016) within the body of research two routes can be identified. Firstly, the focus on the components of PR material and the effects of the structure of messages, for instance, the

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presence of certain news values (Schafraad et al., 2016) on the success of subsequent media coverage. Secondly, the focus on contextual factors of issues and themes present in a press release. Since this study is going to examine local specific issues and contexts within a certain theme, with only limited sources for journalists to choose from, the second route is chosen for this study. On a national scale, Lee & Riffe (2017) examined the “reciprocal relationship” between news media and their sources, where they found no significant causal relationship between the salience of issues in press releases and subsequent news coverage, as they researched national news coverage on CSR issues of listed organizations. A different result found Tam (2015) with evidence that the agenda building power of press releases is dependent on the relevance of a CSR issue to the operations of an organization and whether an issue has an impact on society. Since both criteria are given for CSR issues by airports, within the scope of local news media, it can be expected, that: H2. (a) There is a positive relationship between the salience of economic issues on the corporate agenda of airports and the agenda of local newspapers. H2. (b) There is a positive relationship between the salience of environmental issues on the corporate agenda of airports and the agenda of local newspapers. H2. (c) There is a positive relationship between the salience of social issues on the corporate agenda of airports and the agenda of local newspapers. H2. (d) There is a positive relationship between the salience of communication issues on the corporate agenda of airports and the agenda of local newspapers. Frame Alignment of Corporate and Media Agendas While first level agenda building takes interest into what issue is on the news agenda, second level agenda-setting is looking at how an issue is covered in the news. This second

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level agenda-setting, which is also named attribute agenda-setting, can consist of a substantiative and an evaluative dimension (C. E. Carroll & McCombs, 2003) . Substantiative attribution of an issue describes the cognitive aspect of an issue. By choosing certain descriptions for an issue, PR can frame an issue according to their organizational sensemaking processes and goals by choosing an appropriate frame (Lunenberg et al., 2016) . According to Entman (1993, p. 52) , frames have four functions, firstly frames define problems, by asking: What are the costs and benefits of the actions by a causal actor? Secondly they diagnose causes with the indication of relevant forces to the action. Thirdly, they make moral judgements by evaluating the action and lastly, frames suggest remedies, that provide a treatment towards the action. A frame can be the result of the sensemaking process of an issue (Van der Meer et al., 2014) . Van den Heijkant & Vliegenthart (2018) made the distinction between issue specific and generic frames. Issue specific frames can be only applied to a certain issue, whereas generic frames are more general and can be used in a wider array of research. Following the definition of Entman (1993) of a frame, the focus of this study lies on issue specific frames since the semantic frame construction of specific issues is going to be researched. Therefore, the problem definition aspect to a frame will be typically connected to the mentioned issue. Research also differentiates between implicit and explicit framing. Explicit framing is manifest within the choice of words of the message wheres implicit frames emerge as results of the underlying contextual emphasis on aspects . For this research, implicit frames are relevant, since they are proposed to be a latent antecedent for the public opinion through a certain choice of words, regarding one issue (Hellsten, Dawson, & Leydesdorff, 2010; Jonkman & Verhoeven, 2013) . By communicating a frame, framing theory implies, that this process has an influence on how the audience understands the issue (Scheufele & Tewksbury, 2007) . Frames can be seen as

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“semantic networks”, as they are constructed through a system of words that are repeatedly used to make sense of an issue. Consequently semantic fields represent frames, which create meaning through the way how single words are organized. In this study, semantic mapping will be utilized, to analyze how words co-occur and are related to each other (Hellsten et al., 2010; Jonkman & Verhoeven, 2013; Leydesdorff & Welbers, 2011) . Since different domains and aspects of one discourse (CSR issues of airports) are analyzed, the semantic fields, that are evident from the analysis, will be interpreted as frame-expressions and build on grounded theory, all appearing frame-expressions will be condensed to frames, based on interpretative similarity. As described, second level agenda-setting elaborates on how an issue is communicated. Thus, organizations participate in actions, similar to agenda building, that is frame building. That describes the process of alignment of domain-specific frames, by providing a rational on an issue that can be used by media. After domain specific sensemaking processes journalists borrow frames from corporate communication and that eventually leads to frame alignment (Van der Meer et al., 2014) , what results in PR and media using the same frames for an issue. This theory also takes the reciprocal relationship of media and organisations into account, since it is indicated by research that journalists highly depend on corporate press releases due to economic reasons and limited access to information (Colistra, 2012) . Especially for local newspapers, that identify themselves as chroniclers and public servants (Colistra, 2012; Neidhardt, 1994) , airport CSR issues have high relevance with limited access to the information besides corporate PR. Therefore based on the theory explained above, it can be expected that media and PR frames align (Hellsten et al., 2010; Van der Meer et al., 2014) . However, there is no evidence from research, what frames are

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present within the corporate and the media debate on CSR issues by airports and to what extent, they could align. Hence for the frame analysis the following sub-question is proposed: SubRQ 1. To what extent do frames used in press releases and media coverage on different CSR issues by airports align? Method Sampling To answer the research question, a research period from 2013 to 2018 was chosen. The reason for this is that CSR at airports is still a fairly new discipline (Chang & Yeh, 2016) . To compare CSR press releases, it makes sense to choose a period in which CSR PR output is comparable due to the higher degree of practice and professionalisation (Pollach, 2015) . The airports included in the sample were chosen on 3 criteria: 1) CSR commitment, 2) Availability of press releases, 3) Language of publication. 1) To achieve a sample of airports with a homogeneous commitment to CSR practices, only airports with an ACA (Airport Carbon Accreditation) level of at least 3 (efforts for optimization or carbon neutrality ( Airport Carbon Accreditation, 2019 )) are included. 2) Only airports that had their press releases available for the entire research period on their corporate website or on PR platforms, where the press releases are shared by the corporation, were included. To conduct semantic network analysis, it is necessary, that all press releases are present in the German language to make them comparable on a semantic level. Based on this logic, the following airports were included in the sample: Munich Airport, Hamburg Airport, Frankfurt Airport, Stuttgart Airport, Zurich Airport and Vienna Airport. From within the research period, all press releases of these airports were part of the analysis.

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The sampling of the media outlet was conducted according to two criteria: 1) local proximity 2) availability. Since this research is focussing on local news media, newspapers in low proximity to the airports where selected. For each airport, two newspapers were sampled, to achieve a wider representation of the media landscape of the respective area. For each location, the regional newspapers with the highest numbers of circulation were chosen. The news articles were retrieved from the platforms wiso-net.de and lexis-nexis.com. To be sampled, the newspaper had to be available from one of these sources. For the research period, all articles were retrieved, that contained the name of the airport and had content that contained airports and was about the local airport corporation. For the assessment of this criterion, the content classification of the content-platforms was used. All press releases and news articles, that meet the aforementioned criteria, are processed with Python. With scrapers, the texts were retrieved from the websites of the airport corporations and from the output of the content platforms wiso-net.de and lexis-nexis.com. The data was parsed into the Python dataset for further analysis. Table 2 gives an overview of the final sample for each domain, media and airport location. Since this research focuses on domain and country-specific aspects, all media and all airports were analyzed combined as a representation of their domain and country. In total n = 1692 press releases and n = 6719 news articles were analysed.

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Table 2. Frequencies of press releases and newspaper articles by location and domain.

Airport Location n Domain n Newspaper Name n

Frankfurt Airport 2910 Media 2769 Frankfurter Neue Presse 1499 Frankfurter Rundschau 1270 PR 141 Hamburg Airport 888 Media 353 Die Welt (Hamburg) 148 Hamburger Abendblatt 205 PR 535 Munich Airport 687 Media 528 Münchner Abendzeitung 121 Süddeutsche Zeitung (Munich) 407 PR 159 Stuttgart Airport 702 Media 516 Stuttgarter Zeitung 280 Südwest Presse 236 PR 186 Vienna Airport 1221 Media 827 Die Presse (Wien) 482 Kronenzeitung (Wien) 345 PR 394 Zurich Airport 2003 Media 1726 Neue Zürcher Zeitung 1058 Tages-Anzeiger 668 PR 277 Identification of CSR Issues To identify the theoretically backed CSR issues in the texts, natural language processing in Python was used. Based on dictionaries, the presence of CSR issues was assessed on two levels, first on the paragraph level, secondly on the article level. Whether an issue was present or not was determined with wordlists, that contained keywords for each of the relevant issues. The keywords were retrieved from airport CSR-Reports and allocated to the issues based on the the GRI framework for CSR reporting (Skouloudis et al., 2012) . See Appendix for all keywords and their associated issues.

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The presence of any of those words in the articles was interpreted as the presence of the CSR issue and coded with 1 for present or 0 for not present. The analysis was conducted on the paragraph level. One paragraph may contain multiple CSR issues if keywords from multiple lists are present. From the paragraph level, the content of the entire article was assessed. If at least one paragraph contained one of the issues, the article was coded with a 1 for that issue. However, since media articles, often contain information about multiple subjects, it was important to ensure, that the identification of the issues was only done, in the context of an airport. Therefore, only paragraphs were included, that contained the word “airport” in any form. Periodic Resampling To assess the alignment of the agendas of domains, the salience of an issue for a certain time point needed to be made comparable. Figure 2 shows the distribution of content throughout the research period on a yearly basis. Based on the timestamp of the article or the press release, the content was resampled into two month periods, and the salience of each issue was computed as the average salience of each issue during that time. The length of two months per period was chosen to have enough individual time points, to assess a relationship between the agendas and on the other hand to ensure, that for each period, enough cases represent each issue.

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Fig. 2. Distribution of all press releases and articles on a yearly basis throughout the research period Semantic Network Analysis The analysis of implicit frames on airport CSR issues was done by applying the technique of semantic mapping to all paragraphs that contain CSR in the sample. Semantic mapping measures “the meaning of words in their context, and representing the results as networks of co-occurring words after proper normalization” (Hellsten et al., 2010, p. 596) This is done by using words as variables and all text as cases to create word co-occurrence matrices. The basis for this procedure is a list of the most frequently used words. With Python for each issue and domain, the 75 most common words were compiled. To make the texts from different airports comparable, the texts from each airport location was “normalized” in a preliminary step, by creating a dictionary that replaces location specifics with generic terms. For example, the names of airport managers were replaced with “airport management”, to maintain the semantic meaning but make them comparable. The texts were further manipulated, by applying stemming, to reduce similar words and to eliminate different

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grammatical conjunctions while maintaining their meaning. For this task, the NLTK package from Python was used. From these ‘cleaned’ texts, the 75 most common words were retrieved, excluding stopwords from the Python NLTK toolkit and also individual stopwords. With the software Fulltext.exe, word co-occurrence matrices were generated for press releases and media articles. The matrices were imported into SPSS, to perform factor analysis in order to identify networks of correlated words. To assess the reliability of the frame

expressions Cronbach’s alpha ( ) was calculated. Frame expressions with an below 0.60 were excluded or interpreted as additional cues of the framing of the discourse for an issue. In some cases, frame expressions were combined, and was calculated with components of both if they represented the same frame. Each frame expression was labelled with an interpretation by the researcher based on the factor analysis. The interpretation of the relative position of a frame in each issue was explained with the EigenValue (EV) and the Explained Variance (R 2 ) of each frame expression. Frames expressions that score higher are more dominant within the discourse (Hellsten et al., 2010; Leydesdorff & Welbers, 2011) . Based on the meaning of the frame expressions, implicit frames were identified. Results In order to assess the salience of the CSR issues in media and PR publications, the descriptive distribution of the CSR issues was analyzed. In the research period (2013-2018), communicational CSR issues were present in n = 205 ( M = 0.12, SD = 0.32) press releases and in n = 822 ( M = 0.12, SD = 0.32) news articles. Thus, it is the least communicated issue. Ecological issues were present in n = 587 ( M = 0.35, SD = 0.47) press releases and n = 1853 ( M = 0.28, SD = 0.45) media articles . On the corporate agenda, economic issues were the most salient with presence in n = 927 ( M = 0.55, SD = 0.50) press releases and n = 3487 ( M =

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0.5, SD = 0.49) newspaper articles. However on the media agenda, social issues had a higher presence with n = 4171 ( M = 0.63, SD = 0.48) articles, to n = 889 ( M = 0.53, SD = 0.5) press releases. Table 3 shows the distribution of the issues per year, it is evident that within each domain, the salience of an issue does not vary more than 10 %. Table 3. Salience of issues throughout the research period by year CSR issue Media PR 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 Ecological issue M 0.25 0.28 0.30 0.23 0.27 0.32 0.37 0.35 0.31 0.35 0.39 0.30 SD 0.43 0.45 0.46 0.42 0.45 0.47 0.48 0.48 0.46 0.48 0.49 0.46 n 231 287 375 290 316 354 107 70 81 95 133 101 Social issue M 0.64 0.64 0.65 0.61 0.57 0.62 0.52 0.54 0.49 0.50 0.57 0.51 SD 0.48 0.48 0.48 0.49 0.50 0.49 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 n 588 659 810 780 658 676 152 108 126 135 197 171 Economic issue M 0.47 0.56 0.54 0.56 0.47 0.50 0.50 0.59 0.57 0.59 0.55 0.53 SD 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.49 0.50 0.49 0.50 0.50 n 430 578 672 715 543 549 144 118 146 157 187 175 Communication issue M 0.12 0.15 0.13 0.12 0.11 0.10 0.11 0.08 0.13 0.11 0.14 0.14 SD 0.32 0.35 0.34 0.33 0.31 0.31 0.32 0.27 0.33 0.32 0.35 0.34 n 108 149 169 153 129 114 33 16 33 30 48 45 Comparison of the DACH Countries Hypothesis 1a and 1b assume a higher salience of CSR issues on the media and PR agenda in Germany than in Austria and Switzerland. To test these hypotheses, a one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used. The differences between the countries were assessed from the post hoc test. Since the group sizes differed and for some issues, and the variances were not homogenous, the more conservative Scheffé’s procedure was used. The independent variable represented the three countries (Austria, Germany, and Switzerland).

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The dependent variables were the salience of the four CSR issues. In table 4 the descriptive statistics for each of the three groups for all issues are stated.

Table 4. Salience of issues throughout the DACH countries

CSR issue

Austria Switzerland Germany

Media PR Media PR Media PR

Ecological issue M 0.23 0.31 0.13 0.18 0.34 0.41 SD 0.42 0.46 0.34 0.38 0.47 0.49 n 192 121 232 49 1429 417 Social issue M 0.41 0.44 0.49 0.37 0.72 0.60 SD 0.49 0.50 0.50 0.48 0.45 0.49 n 338 172 850 102 2983 615 Economic issue M 0.34 0.55 0.30 0.50 0.64 0.56 SD 0.47 0.50 0.46 0.50 0.48 0.50 n 282 216 524 138 2681 573 Communication issue M 0.13 0.07 0.07 0.03 0.14 0.17 SD 0.34 0.25 0.26 0.18 0.35 0.37 n 107 27 121 9 594 169 Since hypothesis 1a assumes a higher salience of CSR issues on the corporate agenda in Germany than in Austria and Switzerland, only the press releases were included in this analysis. For economic issues, the one-way ANOVA showed no significant difference between the countries, Welch’s F (2, 2088) = 387.84, p < .001. A significant difference between the countries was found for ecological issues ( F (2, 1689) = 28.45, p < .001. The post hoc analysis using the Scheffé post hoc criterion for significance indicated that there is a significant difference between German press releases ( M = 0.41, SD = 0.49), with the highest salience, Swiss press releases with the lowest ( M = 0.18, SD = 0.49), and Austria in the middle ( M = 0.31, SD = 0.46). The significant difference is also present for the salience of social issues ( Welch’s F( 2, 638.04) = 33.53, p < .001). In Germany, social issues have

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significantly higher salience ( M = 0.6, SD = 0.49) than in Austria ( M = 0.44, SD = 0.49) and Switzerland ( M = 0.37, SD = 0.48). For the communication issues a similar pattern is visible. The difference between the countries is significant ( Welch’s F (2, 858.31) = 36.83, p < .001) and Germany has a significant higher salience of communication issues in press releases ( M = 0.17, SD = 0.37), than Austria ( M = 0.07, SD = 0.25) and Switzerland ( M = 0.03, SD = 0.18). In conclusion, on the corporate agenda, significant differences between the countries have been found for all issues, except for economic issues. The post hoc test revealed, that for all other issues, Germany has the significant highest mean. Based on these findings, the hypothesis 1a is partially supported. Analogically, hypothesis 1b assumes a higher salience of CSR issues in Germany than in Austria and Switzerland on the media agenda. For economic issues, the One-way ANOVA determined a significant difference, Welch’s F (2, 2088) = 387.84, p < .001. The post hoc test shows the economic issues in Germany are significantly more salient ( M = 0.64, SD = 0.48), than in Switzerland ( M = 0.3, SD = 0.46) and Austria ( M = 0.34, SD = 0.47). For ecological issues, the results are similar. There is a statistical difference between the countries, in the salience of ecological issues in media articles, Welch’s F (2, 2201.42) = 179.59, p < .001. The post hoc test shows a significant difference between all countries. In Germany, ecological issues are significantly more present than in Austria ( M = 0.23, SD = 0.42). Issues in Switzerland have the least salience ( M = 0.12, SD = 0.34). This pattern is also visible in the ANOVA of the salience of social issues. The significant difference ( Welch’s F (2, 2000.68) = 224.64, p < .001), is evident with a higher salience of social issues in German articles ( M = 0.72, SD = 0.46). In between is Switzerland ( M = 0.49, SD = 0.50) and the significantly lowest salience have social issues in Austria ( M = 0.41, SD = 0.49).

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Communication issues are also covered significantly different in the countries ( Welch’s F (2, 2153.21) = 40.22, p < .001). The Post hoc test shows, that in Germany ( M = 0.14, SD = 0.35) and Austria ( M = 0.13, SD =0.37) communication issues are significantly more salient than in Switzerland ( M =0.07, SD = 0.35) The analysis found significant higher salience of CSR issues on the media agenda in Germany than in Switzerland and Austria. Only for communication issues, there was no difference between Germany and Austria. Consequently, hypothesis 1b is partially supported. Agenda Alignment H2a-d , individually assume a positive relationship between the PR and media Agenda for the salience of each CSR issue. Meaning, the more an issue is present on one agenda, the more it will be present on the other one. To test this assumption, the Pearson Product-Moment Correlation between the agendas for each issue was computed. For H2a , the test found a correlation of the salience of economic issues on the corporate and the media agenda, r (37) = .45, p < 0.01. See figure 3 for the timeline illustrating the salience of economic issues in media and PR, visualizing this relationship throughout the research period. The medium positive correlation indicates, that the agendas align for economic issues, thus H2a is supported. For H2b and H2c slightly negative, insignificant correlations were found. Therefore the alignment between the agendas for ecological issues ( r (37) = -.03, p = n.s) and social issues ( r (37) = -.08, p = n.s) is not supported. As a consequence, the hypotheses were rejected, as well as H2d . The test showed a positive but insignificant correlation between communication issues on the PR agenda and the media agenda, ( r (37) = .25, p = n.s).

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Hence for this set of hypotheses only on the salience of economic issues, a positive correlation between the corporate and the media agenda was found. Fig. 3. Salience of economic issues in news articles and press releases throughout the research period. Frame Analysis Sub RQ 1 , asks to what extend frames used in press releases and media coverage on CSR issues by airports align in the communication on a specific CSR issue. To answer this question, for each issue and for each domain the earlier described technique of semantic mapping was applied. Table 5 shows the descriptive statistics on how many paragraphs of articles, per issue and per domain were analyzed.

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Table 5. Sample of the frame analysis (paragraphs) CSR issue PR Media Economic issue n 1751 6116 M 0.16 0.12 SD 0.37 0.32 Ecological issue n 1054 2795 M 0.10 0.05 SD 0.29 0.22 Social issue n 1603 8174 M 0.15 0.15 SD 0.35 0.36 Communication issue n 305 1069 M 0.03 0.02 SD 0.16 0.14 From this corpus of texts, 35 expressions of frames were identified in total. These frame expressions were a condensed into five frames, that are present in the issue arena of CSR issues of airports. In table 6, these frames are explained by describing them with Entman's four functions of a frame (1993) and relating them to the corresponding frame expressions, found in the analysis. The frame expression found in the frame analysis is presented with their corresponding , EigenValue, and R 2 in table 7 .

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Table 6. All identified frame expressions and frames

‘Gate-to-World-Frame’ ‘Neighbour-Frame’ ‘Local-Force-Frame’ ‘Money-Frame’ ‘Managerial-Frame’

What does the causal actor? The airport is a connector to national and international destinations that enables the region to travel. The operation of the airport has a negative impact on the community in immediate vicinity. The operation of the airport has a positive effect on the local economy. The airport corporation is a successful company. The airport corporation has a strategic approach to current and future issues. What forces are relevant to the action? To achieve this advantage, the airport must be attractive to airlines and airline customers. These costs are related to capitalist motives, political influence, the airline business and expansion plans of the airport. The airport is a local employer and contributes to the region's economic success by attracting tourists, businesses and talent. The airport has substantial passenger growth, revenue growth and overall financial success. The operation of the airport and related effects depend on management decisions. How is the action evaluated? The activities of the airport are seen as a positive factor for the region and the city of the airport. The action of the airport is seen as a threat to the local population with negative consequences for the people involved. The action is considered to be an important and positive contribution to the local economy. The action is a positive result of good management and a successful industry. The airport company has been successful in addressing the present issues strategically. Which approach for treatment is present? Support the action to maximize benefits for the region. Supportive actions for the community, mobilization of political actors and reduction of the influence of airports. Supportive action towards the airport to maintain and enhance its positive influence on the local economy. Supportive action towards the airport to enable further success of the corporation. Supportive and liberal actions for the airport management to strategically address issues. Frame Expressions: Gate to world, Internationalization, Airline Offers Extension plans, Environmental effects, Aviation Noise, Public Affairs, Regional impact Regional importance, Development local, Local importance, Local Employer Corporate Success, Operation Growth, Corporate Size, Pax Growth, Economic Growth Future plans, Corporate Statement, Eco development, Employee operations, Customer Relations, Corp. Communication

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Communication Issues In press releases on communication issues the ‘Gate-to-World-Frame’ was expressed the strongest ( = 0.80, R 2 = 10.63, EV = 10.37) it was expressed with words like “connection”, “city”, and “international”. The ‘Money-Frame’ was present with two frame expressions, with emphasis on operational growth ( = 0.85, R 2 = 8.90, EV = 10.01) and also on organizational success ( = 0.78, R 2 = 5.80, EV = 5.80). The ‘Managerial-Frame’ was represented by aspects of corporate communication ( = 0.60, R 2 = 5.30, EV = 5.20), that contained words like “report”, “integrated” and “become”. In the media discourse, the most prominent frame was the ‘Money-Frame’, expressed by emphasising on the organizational size ( = 0.67, R 2 = 5.50, EV = 8.69). Secondly, ‘Neighbour-Frame’ was identified, focusing on extension plans, board decisions and infrastructural projects. Also politicians played a crucial role in that frame ( = 0.64, R 2 = 4.30, EV = 4.60). The ‘Gate-to-World-Frame’ was identified, with focusing on airline connections, opportunities, and also with the narrative of the international hub ( = 0.64, R 2 = 4.20, EV = 3.40). The ‘Managerial-Frame’ was present as corporate agitation of projects and future developments ( = 0.60, R 2 = 4.00, EV = 3.20). In the communication of communication issues, frame alignment can be observed. The three frames present in press releases (‘Gate-to-World-Frame’, ‘Money-Frame’, ‘Managerial-Frame’) were also found on the media coverage. In addition,the critical ‘Neighbour-Frame’ was found, what can be linked to the media's function as an issue arena, with multiple actors present. However, looking at the EigenValues , it can be said that the discourse is overall more dominated by the same frames, which were also present in the press releases.

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Ecological Issues Press releases on ecological issues contained the ‘Money-Frame’, narrating ecological issues with economic growth, expressed with words like “strong”, “positive”, “compare”, “passengers” ( = 0.87, R 2 = 11.86, EV = 12.01). The second frame identified, was the ‘Managerial-Frame’, that was present in two expressions, firstly by the emphasis on planned development ( = 0.74, R 2 = 5.50, EV = 7.37), used with words that imply improvement (“modern”, “become”, “international”, “information”, “project”). The second expression can be interpreted as ecological development ( = 0.49, R 2 = 7.99, EV = 7.02), that contains a strategic explanation for planned ecological improvements. Since this frame scored with an below 0.6, it has not proven to be reliable, therefore it can be seen as a supporting argument for the presence of the ‘Managerial-Frame’. In the media, ecological issues are often framed with economic growth ( = 0.62, R 2 = 4.60, EV = 7.34) with the emphasis on operations growth. The ‘Neighbour-Frame’ was identified in three expressions, by emphasizing on noise ( = 0.50, R 2 = 3.99, EV = 3.16),

local CO 2 emissions and also extension plans of the airports ( = 0.52, R 2 = 6.90, EV = 5.41).

The expressions of the ‘Neighbour-Frame’, are below the critical but can be seen as cues, that this frame might be present in the media coverage on ecological issues. Frames also align on environmental issues between media and press releases, as the dominant frame in the media and the press releases is the ‘Money-Frame’. However, the ‘Managerial-Frame’, which was also present in the press release, was not transferred to the media. This means that the media while recognizing the financial success of airports, does not frame them in a position of power on the issues. In addition, in the media discourse, a hue of

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the ‘Neighbour-Frame’ can be observed, which critically assesses the activities of the airports. Economic Issues For economic issues in airport PR, the ‘Gate-to-World-Frame’ was most present. It was expressed with the stress on international connections ( = 0.82, R 2 = 8.2, EV = 10.5). A second influential frame was the ‘Money-Frame’, salient in the expressions of corporational success ( = 0.75, R 2 = 5.90, EV = 4.60) and operational growth ( = 0.72, R 2 = 6.40, EV =

7.70). In airport PR for economic issues also the ‘Local-Force-Frame’ was evident ( = 0.63, R 2 = 4.40, EV = 3.90). This was revealed by highlighting the importance of the international airport for the local community. In the media coverage, the dominant frame on economic issues was the ‘Money-Frame’ with emphasize on the organizational success ( = 0.66, R 2 = 3.90, EV = 6.10). In the media also the ‘Gate-to-World-Frame’ ( = 0.59, R 2 = 3.4, EV = 3.1), ‘Local-Force-Frame’ ( = 0.58, R 2 = 3.20, EV = 2.60) and the ‘Neighbour-Frame’ ( = 0.41, R 2 = 2.60, EV = 2.20) were visible, however, the expressions was below 0.6. Airports frame themselves as a ‘Gate-to-World’, a ‘Local-Force’, and as an overall economic success, regarding economic issues. A perspective, that was also found in the media. Only a minor part of the media discourse is concerned with immediate negative effects. Social Issues Social issues in PR were predominantly discussed within the ‘Managerial-Frame’. The expression for the frame, that is most dominant within the press releases, is the

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expression of the employee operations ( = 0.67, R 2 = 5.30, EV = 9.09). Also, the ‘Gate-to-World-Frame’ is present with implication to the experiences of customers and employees ( = 0.75, R 2 = 5.31, EV = 5.14). A perspective, that is also taken for the ‘Money-Frame’, expressed with economic growth ( = 0.71, R 2 = 4.80, EV = 4.20), which was communicated with reinforcing adjectives. The ‘Managerial-Frame’ is also present, with the emphasis on strategic customer ( = 0.63, R 2 = 4.70, EV = 3.80) and employee relations ( = 0.63, R 2 = 4.40, EV = 2.80). For the media, the identified frames of social issues are rather vague, since the of the most dominant frame, the ‘Money-Frame’ expressed with economic growth ( = 0.57, R 2 = 3.28, EV = 3.24), is below 0.6. Therefore the ‘Local-Force-Frame’ is more dominant, represented with the expression of the airport as a local employer ( = , R 2 = 3.15, EV = 2.37) and economic factor ( = 0.64, R 2 = 3.23, EV = 2.83). Also below 0.6 are the expressions of the ‘Neighbour-Frame’, that addresses noise impact ( = 0.44, R 2 = 2.94, EV = 2.28) and extension plans ( = 0.41, R 2 = 2.67, EV = 2.13). For social issues, the alignment between PR and the media is visible, since the frames from press releases, that frame from an economic perspective are still present, however the EV show, that they are not as dominant within the media discourse. Also, the managerial perspective was not found in the media but the more critical ‘Neighbour-Frame’, revealing a more diverse discourse in the media for such issues.

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Table 7. All identified frame expressions and frames

CSR issue Domain Frame Frame Expression Keywords EV R 2

Communication PR Gate to world Airlines, City, Connections 0.80 10.63 10.37

Operation Growth Growth, Passengers, Airport, Strong 0.85 10.01 8.90 Corporate Success Corporation, Development, 0.78 5.80 5.80 Corp. Communication Report, Integrated, Become 0.60 5.20 5.30 Media Corporate Size Employees, Millions, Airport, Airport Management 0.67 8.69 5.50 Public Affairs Board, Expansion, Politics, City, 0.64 4.60 4.30

Airline Offers Airlines, Passengers, Important, High 0.64 3.40 4.20

Internationalization Airport, International, Region, Corporation, 2.70 3.60 Corporate Statement Management, Planned, Project, Plans 0.60 3.20 4.00 Ecological PR Economic Growth Passenger, Development, Positive, Rising,

Strong, Compare 0.87 12.01 11.86

Future plans Airport, Management, International, Information, Modern, Project, Become 0.74 7.37 5.50 Eco development Management, Sustainability, Tons, Environment, Apron 0.49 7.02 7.99 Media Economic Growth Airport, City, Operations, Percent, Million, Economy 0.62 7.34 4.60

Aviation Noise Airline, Noise, Start, Flight 0.50 3.16 3.99 Environmental effects CO 2 , Emissions, Region, City, Important

0.52 5.41 6.90 Extension plans Management, City, Planned

Economic PR Gate to world Airline, Connection, Daily, City, Offer 0.82 10.50 8.20

Pax Growth

Count, Airline, PAX, Increase, Goal 0.72 7.70 6.40 Corporate Success Ebit, Development, Airport Corporation, Positive, Plus 0.75 4.60 5.90 Regional importance Operation, Airport, International, Location, Worldwide, Important 0.63 3.90 4.40 Media Corporate Success Airport, Profit, Airport Management, Million, Pax, Percent 0.66 6.10 3.90 Gate to world Airline, Connections, City, Destinations 0.59 3.10 3.40 Development local Project, Planned, Runway, Terminal, Building, Announcement 0.58 2.60 3.20 Local importance Airport, City, International, Public, International, Important, Strong 2.50 3.10 Extension plans Extension, Aviation Noise, Politics, Region, Economy 0.41 2.20 2.60 Social PR Employee operations Work, Operations, Airport, Service 0.67 9.09 5.30 Gate to world Airline, City, Destinations 0.75 5.14 5.31 Economic Growth Airport Corporation, Positive, Million, Percent, Strong 0.71 4.20 4.80

Customer Relations Service, Terminal, Visitor, Information, PAX 0.63 3.80 4.70 Working Worlds Airport, Modern, Workers, Project, Business, Management 0.63 2.80 4.40 Media Economic Growth City, Million, Management, Airport, Corporation, Economy 0.57 3.24 3.28 Local Importance Airline, Involved, Flight, Pax, Operations, Announcement 0.64 2.83 3.23 Local Employer Work, Airport, Region, Employees, Strong, Becoming 2.40 3.15

Regional impact Noise, Safety, Landing, Planes, Loud 0.44 2.28 2.94 Extension plans Extension, Building, Politics, Terminal 0.41 2.13 2.67

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Conclusion and Discussion This study aimed to answer the question: “To what extent do the CSR agenda of Austrian, German and Swiss airports align with the agenda of local media in terms of salience and frames?” by conducting an automated content analysis of n =1692 press releases by six different airports in Austria, Germany and Switzerland and n = 6719 news articles, from 12 different local newspapers. The analysis found that on the media agenda, all issues are more salient in Germany than in Austria and Switzerland, with the exception for communication issues, which are similar in Austria and Germany. This means, that CSR issues of airports are less present in Swiss media. This pattern is also visible for the PR agenda, where all issues where most salient in Germany, with the exception for economic issues, that are communicated in all DACH countries in a similar salience. The research also showed that the communication of CSR was a continuously present theme within the corpus of texts, measured with the explorative multi-component-issue of communication issues. However, the significant difference between the countries reveals, that CSR communication as an issue itself is significantly less salient in Swiss media than in German and Austrian media outlets. An explanation for this could be the different CSR culture, with Austria and Germany being part of the European Union with a similar regulatory approach on CSR. Another explanation, that also applies to the differences for the other issues, could be the different development stages of legislation (Amor-Esteban et al., 2018) . The differences could also be a result of the aviation market of the DACH region. Whereas in Germany multiple international airports are competing within a short distance from each other, the representing airports for Austria and Switzerland are the biggest ones in those countries. Metaphorically, Austria and Switzerland have an airport ‘monopoly and Germany has an airport ‘oligopoly’. This could hypothetically

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change the discourse about those airports, as there might be more need to seek legitimacy in Germany than in Austria and Switzerland. Future research is needed for a more in-depth understanding of which factors contribute to these differences. The findings on the relationship between PR and media show domain-specific sensemaking processes, with economic issues being the most salient issues on the corporate agenda and social issues on the media agenda. These results are in line with previous research on the relationship between PR and media on CSR issues (Pérez et al., 2018; Tam, 2015) . Overall, this analysis found a dominating economic paradigm of the discourse. The first indicator for that is the alignment between the agendas for economic issues, implying that both domains talk about the same economic issues at a given time. Furthermore, the frame analysis showed that for economic issues, the dominating frames used in PR and media align to a great extent, being discussed in the media by stressing mainly positive economic effects for the region. Hints of a critical debate were found, discussing the immediate negative effects of the airport on the people in its proximity. However, this critical approach was considerably less present than the focus on economic benefits. For social issues, which turned out to be the most salient on the media agenda, framing the airport as a local business factor is more salient than the critical approach. Nevertheless, the managerial focus that emphasizes on strategy, that was found to be an important frame in press releases, was not found in the media. This can be the media framing the airport as a rather ‘given’ institution, than as a strategically planned operation. Airports are framed to be shaped by the business, people, and regional context, while also benefiting the community positively. This pattern is also present for ecological issues, for which the managerial efforts that are stressed in press releases, are not present in the media. However for these issues, the media discourse shows critical remarks about direct local effects. However, for all issues, the aspect of economic

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contribution is more dominant. Communication issues had the most diverse discourse in the media. Those issues are framed from a managerial perspective, but also by stressing direct negative effects. This means, that the communication about CSR communication itself may be beneficial to attract media attention to the CSR strategy, but at the risk of critical discourse. Overall, it can be said that CSR is framed by airports from an economic and managerial perspective as consequences of operations. The negative effects are strategically managed by the management and counterbalanced by profit. A perspective that has been adapted to a great extent by the media that frame airports more as an enabler for international business and travel as well as a local employer and economic force than as a threat to the local community. The results of this research have several theoretical and practical implications. On the one hand, this study found first evidence for the influence of national frameworks on CSR communication by corporations and the media and thus contributes to CSR literature. On the other hand, this study enriches the research on the relationship between PR and the media and provides valuable insights on CSR communication in a local scope for airports, that can be transferred on other businesses with a high local impact, a level of corporate communications that has rarely been explored so far. The frame analysis has revealed dominant frames in the discourse of CSR issues from airports and thus contributes to framing research by providing frames, that could also be present in the discourse on other infrastructural facilities. The findings of this study emphasize that future research on CSR communication needs to consider the scope of CSR issues and media as well as the cultural context in order to get a comprehensive picture of the relationship between media and PR.

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It should also be noted that this study is one of the first ones to successfully apply the still relatively young method of semantic mapping to a German text body. Thus, this study contributes to gain further information on the applicability of this method. For PR professionals working in airport PR, this study provides valuable insights on how airport CSR issues are framed in the media and to what extent frames between the domains align. The findings reveal the risk that in the media the CSR of airports is strongly linked to their economic success. Consequently the media discourse could become more critical if the economic climate worsens or airports fail to fulfil economic expectations. Hence, it is important for airports to seek the role of managers of CSR issues. However, it is important to ensure that CSR is not communicated as an end in itself, as the media could interpret this as ‘greenwashing’ and this could damage the legitimacy of the airport by evoking a more controversial discourse in the media. At this point, the limitations of this study must be addressed. Firstly, the limited sample must be taken into account. Due to practical and economic reasons, the research period was limited to 6 years. Therefore, the longitudinal examination of the agenda alignment is limited in meaning. Further, the sample of airports has its shortcomings, even though it was theoretically grounded. The sample consists of only one representative airport of Austria and Switzerland, which limits the implications of CSR communication in these countries. Also, it can be expected, that the frame analysis could be biased towards the frames predominantly in Germany since the groups were not equally sized. In addition, important German airports were not included for practical reasons. During the data collection the web pages of the press releases of 2014, 2015, and 2016 on the website of Stuttgart Airport were not accessible and therefore missing from the analysis and the sample.

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A further limitation lies in the sampling of the local newspapers that was also restricted by practical factors, with the result that big newspapers (such as Süddeutsche Zeitung), that are local to the location and have local editions, were compared to smaller newspapers. Even though only local editions of big newspapers were taken into the analysis, systematic differences between the media could still distort the results. Likewise, no distinction between the quality level of the newspapers was made. Consequently, for some locations qualitative and popular newspapers were sampled. For future research a more balanced sample, that takes respect to the different characteristics of different media and airport locations, is suggested. These studies would help to verify the findings of this research. A further shortcoming is the identification of the issues with keywords. Since the keywords were drawn from annual reports by airports, they could be biased towards corporate communications. Furthermore, the decisions which terms represent which issues were subjectively decided by the researcher based on theory. For further research it is recommended to use machine learning to identify CSR issues within texts. By training an algorithm, a wider array of issues can be identified with more precise results. Besides those limitations, this study makes a significant contribution with first insights about the alignment of airport PR and local newspapers on CSR issues in terms of salience and frames. It further adds to the understanding of the importance of contextual factors, concerning CSR communication.

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https://doi.org/10.1177/1522637912444106 Coombs, W. T. (2002). Assessing online issue threats: Issue contagions and their effect on issue prioritisation. Journal of Public Affairs , 2 (4), 215–229. https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.115 Entman, R. M. (1993). Framing: Toward clarification of a fractured paradigm. Journal of Communication; Philadelphia, Etc. , 43 (4). Freeman, R. E. (1984). Strategic management: A stakeholder approach . Boston: Pitman. Heath, R. L. (1997). Strategic Issues Management: Organizations and Public Policy Challenges . SAGE. Hellsten, I., Dawson, J., & Leydesdorff, L. (2010). Implicit media frames: Automated analysis of public debate on artificial sweeteners. Public Understanding of Science , 19 (5), 590–608. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963662509343136 Hur, W.-M., & Kim, Y. (2017). How Does Culture Improve Consumer Engagement in CSR Initiatives? the Mediating Role of Motivational Attributions: Cultural values and CSR. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management , 24 (6), 620–633. https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.1432 Jonkman, J., & Verhoeven, P. (2013). From risk to safety: Implicit frames of third-party airport risk in Dutch quality newspapers between 1992 and 2009. Safety Science , 58 , 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2013.03.012 Kim, S.-H., Scheufele, D. A., & Shanahan, J. (2002). Think about it This Way: Attribute Agenda-Setting Function of the Press and the public’s Evaluation of a Local Issue. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly , 79 (1), 7–25. https://doi.org/10.1177/107769900207900102 Lee, S. Y., & Riffe, D. (2017). Who sets the corporate social responsibility agenda in the

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