Mass Media Discourses and the Legitimation of Digital Surveillance: The Case of Proctoring in Dutch Higher Education

Mass Media Discourses and the Legitimation of a Controversial Technology: The Case of Proctoring in Dutch Higher EducationWhile a growing body of research has examined digital surveillance in organisations, much of this work focuses on tensions and paradoxes, but largely overlooks how such contradictions are actively obfuscated in practice. In particular, limited attention has been paid to the role of public discourses in facilitating the legitimation of paradoxical surveillance technologies. Addressing this gap, this study examines how these technologies acquire legitimacy in a case study of the public legitimation of proctoring in higher education. Building on Herman and Chomsky (2002), it analyses the role of mass media in shaping public discourse on proctoring in this context. Through critical discourse analysis, the study identifies the strategies that underpin the normalisation and justification of this technology, contributing to its institutionalisation. We demonstrate the discursive processes and strategies through which (perceived) contradictions are minimised in the public debate, thereby planting the seeds for the widespread diffusion of a controversial technology. Our core argument is that such processes and strategies are likely to contribute to the institutionalisation of controversial technologies in many contexts beyond higher education.Our research question is thus: what discursive strategies underlie the legitimation of digital surveillance in HE, and what role does the mass media play?In this Excel file relevant sources from Mass Media and Specialised Media were recorded and analysed.