Authentic leading as relational accountability: Facing up to the conflicting expectations of media leaders

Abstract

This research is focused on understanding the ethical implications of conflicting expectations faced by leaders in the media industries. Though the “blended leadership” approach proposed by Collinson and Collinson discusses the existence of these conflicting expectations, we argue that work remains to be done on how this impacts leaders’ authenticity and accountability. Can leaders who respond to these varied demands still consider themselves authentic and accountable to a broad range of stakeholders? As our analysis of data gathered through an empirical study in Europe and the USA shows, the pursuit of profit does not always sit comfortably with the insistence on journalistic integrity, and decisiveness does not always foster openness toward experimentation. We explore the literature on authentic leadership to argue that its references to relational transparency make it difficult to deal with the “blended” nature of leadership reality. In response, we propose that relational accountability could be a more appropriate way to remain authentic despite conflicting demands.