Representation of entrepreneurs in the mainstream online media in Hungary

Abstract

The paper examines the media representation of enterprises and entrepreneurs between 2015-2019 in the Hungarian mainstream online media by using mixed methods. The quantitative content analysis found that the fundamentally negative entrepreneurial image widely held in the literature does not seem to apply perfectly for the examined part of media and time period suggesting that the media image of entrepreneurs has changed to some extent. On the other hand, the representation of enterprises and entrepreneurs in general tends to be more negative than the representation of specific enterprises and entrepreneurs. Furthermore, there is some evidence that the portrayal of Hungarian enterprises and entrepreneurs is not as favorable than that of their foreign counterparts in the Hungarian media. By using qualitative content analysis and empirically grounded typology method the paper identifies and describes the following entrepreneurial media types: the born entrepreneur, the fairy tale hero, the idea-driven entrepreneur, the slow builder, the hobby-entrepreneur, and the social entrepreneur.