The article examines how the co-creation of paradoxes impedes a public agency’s attempt to repair its legitimacy. Using press articles, it builds on analyzing the media discourse around the Berlin State Office for Health and Social Affairs (LAGeSo) during the so-called ‘refugee crisis’. Our findings show how the media call the agency’s legitimacy into question and, when the agency addresses the call to repair its legitimacy, becomes even more vulnerable and fails in the repair attempt. We explain this observation with the emergence of co-created paradoxes the agency finds itself trapped in. The study contributes to the legitimacy discourse in public management by highlighting the role of the media not as passive spectators but as powerful actors in legitimacy processes. Second, we contribute to paradox theory by arguing that paradoxes can be co-created by multiple actors and that addressing them exceeds the capability of a single organization.
