Mona Solvoll is associate professor of communication at BI Norwegian Business School. Solvoll received her Ph.D. degree in organisational theory in 2009 from BI Norwegian Business School. Prior to her Ph.D. Solvoll studied media and communication at the University of Oslo.
At BI Norwegian School of Management Solvoll teaches classes in digital communication, media economy and strategic media planning at various levels.
Solvoll is the research leader of the project Digitization and Diversity in the Media Sector. Her research focus is digital business models in local newspapers.
Solvoll’s current research interests within communication is the field of social media, public affairs and PR agencies.
Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the identification and collaboration rhetoric of the Norwegian government and public health authorities during the pandemic. The aim is to show whether and how actors use strategies and themes of identification, and whether they build identification with their publics. Design/methodology/approach The study combines qualitative and quantitative methods. Six identification strategies were identified through manual text analysis of press statements; word counts of each strategy were registered electronically to access quantitative data of individual actors. Findings The three strategies reflecting values, the two strategies reflecting division and disagreement and the strategy reflecting change showed almost equal frequencies. The strategy of shaping community, serving the function of change, and the division strategy, demonstrating identification through dissociation, were the most frequent strategies. Politicians preferred the collaboration strategy, while health experts preferred the strategy of concern and recognition. Originality/value The six identification strategies extend the understanding of leadership crisis communication and contemporary rhetoric as community-building discourse aiming for speaker–audience collaboration. The study demonstrates that division and disagreement are equally essential components of crisis communication as values and change. When actors differ in choice of strategy, themes and publics, they may still come across as coordinated and unified in their calls for solidarity, collective efforts and common understanding.
Olsen, Ragnhild Kristine; Solvoll, Mona K & Futsæter, Knut Arne (2022)
Gatekeepers as Safekeepers—Mapping Audiences’ Attitudes towards News Media’s Editorial Oversight Functions during the COVID-19 Crisis
This study investigates people’s attitudes towards news media’s role as gatekeepers during the coronavirus pandemic. Specifically, this concerns news media’s quality control and the selection of the most important news about the pandemic, as well as the provision of useful information and knowledge about the virus and its implications. Challenging research that has questioned the very idea of journalistic gatekeeping in hybrid media systems, we set out to explore people’s attitudes towards news media’s gatekeeper functions during a crisis, when the need for reliable and relevant information is extraordinarily high and the information environment is flooded with disinformation. In this situation, news media gatekeepers could serve as safekeepers that protect the population. Based on a national survey in Norway (N = 1024), a country characterized by high levels of trust in social institutions, including the national press, the study finds that people were generally supportive of news media’s gatekeeper functions amid the pandemic. However, there were noteworthy demographic differences. Older people, women, and those who were more highly educated showed more positive attitudes towards news media’s gatekeeping. Moreover, we found lower support for news media’s gatekeeping in the group who trusted alternative, right-wing news media.
Solvoll, Mona K & Larsson, Anders Olof (2020)
The (non)use of likes, comments and shares of news in local online newspapers
This paper utilizes a nationally representative survey to gauge the ways in which media users engage with their local newspapers by using features that allow for sharing, liking, and commenting. The main results indicate that significant predictors for different types of news engagement vary, but that age and education emerge as two of the more interesting varieties. Implications are discussed— for instance, how both psychological and behavioral experiences constitute the concept engagement and how our results challenge the technology-optimistic argument that social media presence on a newspaper website promotes audience engagement in the journalistic process.
Olsen, Ragnhild; Kammer, Aske & Solvoll, Mona K (2019)
Paywalls? Impact on Local News Websites? Traffic and Their Civic and Business Implications
In an attempt to manage a looming revenue crisis in their transition from print to digital, many local newspapers have implemented user payment (paywalls) in their online editions. This paper asks what the business and civic implications of such introduction of user payment are. Comparing audience metrics on a sample of eight local news websites (four Norwegian, four Danish) for 52 weeks before and after paywall introduction, this study finds that the numbers of both pageviews and unique visitors decrease upon the transition from free to fee-based access to the news. Hard paywalls have a more negative immediate effect on traffic than soft paywalls. This difference equalizes over time and the traffic mainly remains at a decreased level regardless of paywall type. Traffic development in Norway is somewhat better than in Denmark in a short-term perspective, but national differences also even out over time. We posit that while paywalls may constitute a new revenue stream for local news media under financial pressure, they also challenge the civic function of the local news media since fewer people consult them.
Kampen Kristensen, Linn-Birgit & Solvoll, Mona K (2019)
Digital payments for a digital generation. Disruptive technology in book and local newspaper industries
Digitalization is both a major cause of the challenges now faced by several media industries and a source of their potential solutions. Within the book and newspaper industries, the value of the physical product is about to be surpassed by that of digitally delivered content, disrupting the distribution system that these industries have relied on for many decades. In particular, digital distribution has radically changed the way in which consumers engage in unpaid and paid media consumption. Anchored in the notion of disruptive innovation, and more specifically related to the idea of distribution as disruptive technology, our study investigates Generation Z’s unpaid and paid consumption of digital books and online local newspapers. Drawing on two Norwegian audience surveys, we find that both industries involve at least one disruptive actor. Generation Z relies heavily on Facebook as a distribution channel for news. Paywalls have a negative effect on the usage of paid online local news, despite the belief that paywalled news is better than free news. In the Norwegian book industry, paper books still have a very strong position among Generation Z. Audiobooks have greater usage than e-books, and we conclude that the real disruptive actor in the Norwegian book industry is the streaming of audiobooks by actors such as Storytel.
Olsen, Ragnhild & Solvoll, Mona K (2018)
Bouncing off the Paywall – Understanding Misalignments Between Local Newspaper Value Propositions and Audience Responses
Using a business model lens, we analyse local newspapers’ paywall strategies and ask how monetisation has affected the newspapers’ offerings to users and advertisers. Based on interviews with 20 local newspapers in Norway, findings suggest that paywalls represent two different strategies: A brake strategy in the user market, whereby the newspaper targets existing customers with bundled and differentiated products to secure subscription revenue and protect print from web cannibalisation. In addition, an acceleration strategy, in the advertiser market, focused on improving services with more relevant and valuable audiences and user behaviour insights from user data harvesting. Local newspapers have been relatively successful with balancing these two strategies, providing some optimism on paywalls’ potential contribution to the funding of local journalism.
Bang, Tor & Solvoll, Mona K (2017)
Secrets of Public Affairs
van Ruler, Betteke; Smit, Iekje, Ihlen, Øyvind & Romenti, Stefania (red.). How strategic communication shapes value and innovation in society
Bang, Tor & Solvoll, Mona K (2016)
Åpenhet om kommunikasjonsbransjens hemmeligheter
Alm, Kristian; Brown, Richard Mark & Røyseng, Sigrid (red.). Kommunikasjon og ytringsfrihet i organisasjoner
Solvoll, Mona K (2016)
Football on Television: How has the coverage of the Cup Finals in Norway changed from 1961 to 1995?
The aim of this study is two-fold: first, to investigate how the production practices of the TV coverage of the Norwegian Men’s Football Cup Final rely on journalism, drama and entertainment and, second, to analyse how the production practice has changed in the period 1961–1995. I conducted a visual analysis of 12 Cup Finals, transmitted on NRK, the Norwegian public service broadcaster, using Whannel’s triangular model. In my study, I found that there was a tendency that entertainment and journalism merged into ‘infotainment’, without disturbing the journalistic convention that formed the base of all the coverage. The dramatic convention played a minor role in the coverage.Elements from this genre increased, significantly in the 1990s when the monopoly of NRK was broken. The practice of producing the Cup Final in NRK has not followed a gradual and linear development. Rather, the production practice continually undergoes changes. The modifications and adjustments are constantly testing the legitimate limits for how the practice can balance between entertainment, journalism and drama without distressing the values of a public service broadcaster.
Bang, Tor & Solvoll, Mona K (2015)
Commodifying and Politicising Insight. A Case of Mediated Debate of Revolving Doors in Norway.
Catellani, Andrea; Zerfass, Ansgar & Tench, Ralph (red.). Communication Ethics in a Connected World
Solvoll, Mona K & Bang, Tor (2014)
Medieøkonomiske begreper
Bang, Tor & Solvoll, Mona K (red.). Medieøkonomi: Konflikt og samspill
Solvoll, Mona K & Bang, Tor (2014)
Medienes inntektskilder
Bang, Tor & Solvoll, Mona K (red.). Medieøkonomi: Konflikt og samspill
Solvoll, Mona K (2014)
Mediemarkeder
Bang, Tor & Solvoll, Mona K (red.). Medieøkonomi: Konflikt og samspill
Bang, Tor; Barland, Jens, Krumsvik, Arne H., Roppen, Johann & Solvoll, Mona K (2014)
Brukerinvolvering: fra passive mottakere til aktive produsenter
Bang, Tor & Solvoll, Mona K (red.). Medieøkonomi: Konflikt og samspill
Bang, Tor & Solvoll, Mona K (2014)
Medieøkonomi: Konflikt og samspill
Cappelen Damm Akademisk.
Solvoll, Mona K & Larsen, Svein (2011)
Medieplanlegging
Fagbokforlaget.
Solvoll, Mona K. (2009)
Organisering av Wikipedia - hvilken rolle spiller administratorene?
Norsk Medietidsskrift, 16(3), s. 252- 272.
Solvoll, Mona K (2008)
Pedagogiske bruk av Wikipedia
Digital kompetanse, s. 222- 231.
Johnsen, Hallvard W. & Solvoll, Mona K (2007)
The demand for televised football
European Sport Management Quarterly, 7(4), s. 311- 335.
Det gis inntrykk av at 40 prosent av befolkningen bruker NRK på nett mer etter et betalingsmurene kom. Men det er ikke riktig
Medier24 [Kronikk]
Solvoll, Mona K (2017)
Betalingsmur bra for lokalaviser
Kampanje [Fagblad]
Solvoll, Mona K (2017)
Betalingsmur fra for lokalaviser
Dagens Næringsliv [Avis]
Bang, Tor & Solvoll, Mona K (2015)
Svingdører mellom politikk og PR
Inside [Fagblad]
Solvoll, Mona K (2015)
Skavlans dannete gjestebud
Vårt Land [Avis]
Solvoll, Mona K (2015)
Konfirmasjonsvideoer tar nettet med storm
Dagen [Avis]
Solvoll, Mona K (2015)
Tallene som viser at Champions League-finalen er større enn Super Bowl
Harstad Tidende [Avis]
Solvoll, Mona K (2015)
Gir bort betalt innhold
Klassekampen [Avis]
Solvoll, Mona K (2015)
Går i strupen på avisene
Klassekampen [Avis]
Gran, Anne-Britt; Olsen, Ragnhild & Solvoll, Mona K (1)
NRK konkurrer i liten grad ut lokale nettaviser https://www.dn.no/avisen/dn_2018-03-20/29
Dagens næringsliv [Kronikk]
Olsen, Ragnhild Kristine & Solvoll, Mona K (2022)
Media innovation through the corona crisis. What were the possibilities for development and growth among news media during the COVID-19 crisis?
[Academic lecture]. Reuters Institute, University of Oxford, meeting with journalism fellows.
Olsen, Ragnhild Kristine & Solvoll, Mona K (2022)
Medieinnovasjon under koronakrisen
[Academic lecture]. Media Innovation Through the Corona Crisis, sluttkonferanse.
Solvoll, Mona K & Høiby, Marte (2022)
Global pandemic, local impact - how online news media frame COVID-19
[Academic lecture]. EMMA.
Olsen, Ragnhild Kristine; Solvoll, Mona K & Booth, Peter (2021)
Thumbs-up to trust? Understanding users’ relationship to Facebook and local news media (Use and trust in local media before and during the pandemic: What local newspapers could learn)
[Academic lecture]. 8th ECREA ECC conference Communication and Trust.
Solvoll, Mona K; Larsson, Anders Olof & Krumsvik, Arne H. (2021)
End of the «Prosumer» in News Media? User Generated Content (UGC) Continues to Decrease as Strategic Priority
[Academic lecture]. emma 2021: Media management and sustainability.
Booth, Peter; Solvoll, Mona K & Krumsvik, Arne H. (2020)
Newspaper executives’ perspectives on social media
[Academic lecture]. Norsk medieforskerkonferanse.
Olsen, Ragnhild & Solvoll, Mona K (2019)
Thumbs-up to trust? Understanding users’ relationship to Facebook’s trustworthiness as local news source
[Academic lecture]. Countering online disinformation: An interdisciplinary and network-building symposium.
Solvoll, Mona K (2019)
Paywalls, decision making and the garbage can model
[Academic lecture]. Behind the paywall - A Cross-Thematic Conference.
Olsen, Ragnhild; Solvoll, Mona K & Kammer, Aske (2018)
Civic and business implications of paywalls for local newspapers
[Academic lecture]. 7th European Communication Conference ECREA 2018.
Solvoll, Mona K; Bang, Tor & Buhmann, Alexander (2018)
Vi stoler på kommunens nettsider, men er ikke fornøyd med innholdet
[Popular scientific article]. BI Business Review
Solvoll, Mona K & Larsson, Anders Olof (2018)
The (non) use of likes, comments and shares in local online newspapers
[Academic lecture]. Norsk Medieforskerkonferanse.
Bang, Tor; Solvoll, Mona K & Reithaug, Kristine (2018)
#metoo and sexual harassment within a political party - crisis communications in social media
[Academic lecture]. EUPRERA 2018.
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the complexity of crisis communication when social media is being used as channel. Design/methodology/approach: Single case study was used in addition to qualitative content analysis Findings: The paper provided insight into how personal communication mixed with organisational communication are challenging an organisation’s choice of crisis response strategies as key actors interpret and react to crisis differently. Research limitations/implications: The single case study only included some of the communication processes within the crisis and only for a period of one month Practical implications: The paper provides indicators of the complexity of an organisation’s crises responses. It demonstrates the value of understanding of social media provides an unpredictability and loss of control, challenging the traditional way of communicating with “one voice”
Kristensen, Linn-Birgit Kampen & Solvoll, Mona K (2018)
Digital Generation and disruptive innovation - how a generation Z is hijacking media content (Working paper)
[Academic lecture]. European Media Management Association Annual Conference.
Olsen, Ragnhild; Solvoll, Mona K & Gran, Anne-Britt (2018)
Svensk rapport utarbeidet av Medier & Demokrati-prosjektet ved Lindholmen Science Park, Gøteborg,
Olsen, Ragnhild; Solvoll, Mona K & Gran, Anne-Britt (2018)
Digitalisering av lokalt mediebruk. DnD-rapport 1
[Report]. Centre for Creative Industries.
Solvoll, Mona K (2018)
Do you read me? Users dislike ads, content marketing and paywalls
[Academic lecture]. WMEMC.
Solvoll, Mona K (2017)
Annonse+ Annonsepotensialet for digitale lokalaviser med brukerbetaling
[Report]. Handelshøyskolen BI.
Olsen, Ragnhild Kristine & Solvoll, Mona K (2017)
The Potential of Paywalls to Attract New Subscribers? Business Models in Local Online Norwegian Newspapers
[Academic lecture]. EMMA 2017.
The topic of this paper is the introduction of paywalls in ultra local online newspapers. Our analysis apply a double lens approach: First, we investigate what value proposition the newspapers offer, based on interviews with commercial leaders in 20 Norwegian local newspapers. Second, we explore how users received this value proposition in terms of attitude and use, based on national survey data from 1586 respondents among local media users. Our findings suggest that the newspapers apply a problematic preservation strategy as valuable customers, such as young segments, do not subscribe to the newspapers and are locked out by the paywall. Other customers who have access to paywalled content, such as older print subscribers, have reduced the time spent on reading online local news. Online local news is not perceived as valuable, niche content worth paying for, despite overall high news interest. We argue the paywall is a shortsighted defensive, business model innovation, which drives away younger readers and pave the road for substitute offerings. These findings give cause for concern as a thinner use of local newspapers may result in a less informed local citizenry.
Bang, Tor; Solvoll, Mona K & Buhmann, Alexander (2017)
Stoler på kommunens nettsider
[Popular scientific article]. Communication for Leaders, 4(1), s. 18- 19.
Bang, Tor & Solvoll, Mona K (2016)
Secrets of Public Affairs
[Academic lecture]. EUPRERA 2016 Congress, Let's Talk Society. How strategic commununication shapes value and innovation in society..
Solvoll, Mona K (2015)
Ads behind the paywall
[Academic lecture]. The European Symposium on Media Policy 2015.
Solvoll, Mona K & Bang, Tor (2015)
Tre typer åpenhet i PR-bransjen
[Popular scientific article]. Magma - Tidsskrift for økonomi og ledelse, s. 14- 15.
Solvoll, Mona K (2015)
Ads behind the paywall – for better or worse?
[Academic lecture]. The European Symposium on Media Policy 2015.
Bang, Tor & Solvoll, Mona K (2015)
Communication Competencies + Business Acumen = Employability. How PR Students at a Business School Value Their Education
[Academic lecture]. Euprera 2015: THE MANAGEMENT GAME OF COMMUNICATION:.
Solvoll, Mona K (2014)
Lykkelig som kikker på Facebook
[Popular scientific article]. BI Business Review
Solvoll, Mona K & Bang, Tor (2014)
Commodifying and politicizing insight: A case of mediated debate in Norway