The radio is a medium we often listen to whilst doing something else. We wake up, do the dishes, cook or drive to work. Radio as a medium reaches many people, regardless of whether it is through conscious or unconscious listening. We thereby thought it was an important medium to scrutinize in our study. The focus of our study is on the gender representation in P3 Nyheters broadcasts. We scrutinize the representation of gender as well as looking at potential differences in the way men and women are heard. The theoretical frame of reference of the study is primarily based on the agenda-setting theory, which is built on the notion that the media is involved in deciding what subjects we have opinions about, since these subjects are often the ones highlighted by the media. The gender perspective with its theses concerning homosexuality, the masculine norm and the gender stereotypic contract is another theoretic source that the study is based upon. We are also utilizing the theses of hard and soft news to emphasize who gets to talk about what in regards to what is traditionally perceived as feminine and masculine. The results show in a comprehensive way that the stereotypic genders that were created during the ancient time, still remain. Women usually have their say regarding unenlightened public opinion, consumer, neighbor, mother or wife of the man the story is really concerning. The men on the other hand have their say in topics where they get to shine in matters seen as of political relevance and importance to society. The women are under-represented and are portrayed as victims while the men are over-represented and are perceived as experts, which contribute to enhancing stereotypic genders with the masculine norm within the power center of society. The studied material clearly shows signs that P3 Nyheter is far from equal in regards to gender representation, hence, we believe that representation of gender in media is a field that demands more research in order to change or break the masculine norms of the mediasphere.

A controversial party’s entry into parliament - a review of Expressen’s depiction of the Sweden Democrats (Sverigedemokraterna) The purpose of this essay was to study how Expressen presents the Sweden Democrats, as well as reasoning about the effects this depiction could have on the citizens’ opinion. Using a quantitative method I studied 122 articles, and through a qualitative method four of these could be further analyzed to reach a deeper result. The theoretical perspective that was applied in this study was primary agenda-setting and framing theory, to illuminate the power of media. The result showed that a prominent theme was to present Sweden Democrats as racists. Other recurring themes were to include the party misfortunate-, successful, crime-related scandals and as victims. It also showed that the Sweden Democrats rarely gets to speak in the articles and that the headlines and events are angled in an unfavorable way for the party.

The intention of the project is to determine whether political elites have to discuss an issue using a specific emotional tone before the public and other political elites consider that issue a problem. Research has not yet demonstrated under what conditions elite rhetorical cues can heighten issue attention. Past studies have suggested that an increase in the absolute intensity of elite issue discussion can heighten perceptions of an issue as a problem. The problem with this notion is that within that absolute issue discussion, elites might simply be repeatedly saying conditions related to an issue are stable. They might also be presenting basic factual background information about an issue, a type of discussion unlikely to capture the interest of many in the political system. There has to be a specific type of cue that elites can offer to compel others in the political system to reconsider their outlook on issue salience. Derived from dual systems theories of emotion, the dissertation predicts that issue discussion that heightens feelings of anxiety increases the likelihood of an altered outlook on issue salience. To evaluate this prediction, time series statistical techniques are employed. The time series models evaluate whether prior change in the level of anxietybased cues by the president and the media predict changes in the level of attention the public offers to that issue. The same types of models evaluate whether this form of issue discussion by the president predicts issue dynamics of the media, and vice-versa. The several issues studied are crime, health care, poverty, and the environment. Information spanning thirty years is collected from presidential papers, general and ideological media newspaper coverage, and multiple public survey organizations. The findings suggest anxiety-based issue discussion does have the potential to guide issue attention. Prior changes in anxiety-based cues do predict future levels of attention the public provides to issues. A positive shift in anxiety cues by elites appears to have the capacity to increase public attention to issues. This increase though appears to be very small and abbreviated, suggesting limited effects. Elites do not appear to influence each other through anxiety cues.

This work investigates the question, “what made ethanol’s time come when it did?” The case examined is the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (P.L. 109-158), a landmark public policy law implemented in the United States to address the nation’s energy concerns. The Act’s emphasis on ethanol as a central part of the solution to address the energy crisis represented perhaps the most significant single policy shift in the history of the nation’s energy programme. This research draws attention to the process that resulted in ethanol being given a key role in American energy policy by investigating the pre-decision, agenda setting stage, of the process. Using qualitative research methodologies, this study conducts a historical case study analysis of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. The Multiple Streams agenda setting framework developed by Kingdon ([1984] 1995) is the one which forms the backbone of the study. This research suggests that the greatest influence on ethanol’s placement on the agenda was the way in which policy problems were constructed. When the energy, agricultural, and environmental problems that had garnered ethanol some legislative consideration in the 1970s and 1980s reemerged in the early 2000s, ethanol emerged as an attractive policy option that was seen as addressing each of these concerns. The role of interest groups and policy entrepreneurs helped to reinforce the relationship between these problems. The tactic of seeking aid from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had its advantages, as support from these agencies gave the proposals offered by pro-ethanol interest groups and corn state politicians greater weight. In addition, the fall in political influence of the petroleum industry (a traditionally effective oppositional force to the advance of ethanol) helped to facilitate and reinforce favourable political factors such as pro-ethanol presidential campaign platforms and a public mood that favoured decisive action. With some small modifications, Kingdon’s agenda setting framework, originally designed and applied in the context of health and transportation, holds up well when extended to the energy policy domain. One key point where the energy agenda setting process appears to diverge from Kingdon’s model occurs in the problem stream, which does not appear to be distinct from the political stream. Instead, this research suggests that problem definition plays a strong role in informing the content of the political stream. Kingdon’s framework has significant potential to enhance our knowledge of alternative energy policy formation.

On November 8, 2001, the Government of Manitoba announced that the number of school divisions and districts in the province would be reduced from 54 to 37. With that policy announcement, Manitoba embarked upon the most significant restructuring of school board governance arrangements since the late 1950s. The purpose of the research was to examine the school division amalgamation initiative as a case study in policy-making by the Government of Manitoba. The study investigated the nature of this initiative, including its origin, development, eventual conclusion and implementation. The fundamental question addressed by the study was this: Why was school division amalgamation an idea whose time had come in Manitoba? Discussion of amalgamation had been active within the Progressive Conservative administration of Gary Filmon since the early 1990s, but despite the recommendation in 1995 of a provincially established Boundaries Review Commission to move forward with government directed amalgamation, the idea languished until a newly-elected provincial government under Gary Doer, leader of the New Democratic Party, assumed power in 1999. The theoretical framework used in addressing the question posed relied primarily upon the work of John Kingdon (Agendas, Alternatives and Public Policies) who contends that there must be a timely convergence of three key aspects of policy formation: problems, solutions and politics. Therefore, the study examined the key role of elected officials in promoting certain policy ideas and their impact on the decisions of government at specific times. It also compared and contrasted the differing policy approaches taken by the Filmon and Doer regimes on this question, and assesses the opportunities and constraints which explain the differences found. The study relied on extant public documents and other primary sources, and especially the expressed view or position of certain elected officials and supporting staff gained through one-on-one in-depth interviews. The focus of the analysis was an attempt to assess the interplay of problem, solution, and politics, and whether or not it reveals what Kingdon has called a “window of opportunity” for decisive action by government. The study showed that, indeed, the window of opportunity for amalgamation occurred with the convergence of three forces by 2001: pervasive indicators of a problem; promotion of amalgamation as a policy solution previously tried in Manitoba and elsewhere; and the election of a new government in 1999 which was receptive to pursuing some degree of change with respect to school division governance and organization.

Studien syftar till att ge ökad kunskap om mediedebattens diskurs, i synnerhet utifrån ett riskperspektiv. Målet med denna studie är att undersöka hur mediedebatten om HPV-vaccinet ser ut, och varför den ser ut som den gör. Vilka aktörer som är aktiva i debatten, hur de argumenterar och vilka budskap de använder är områden som besvaras för att uppfylla vårt mål. Studiens huvudfråga undersöks genom en kritisk diskursanalys samt argumentationsanalys. Huvudresultaten visar att debatten kan liknas vid en kampanj, eftersom debattens aktörer till största del representeras av elitpersoner, människor som har makt att driva igenom eller påverka beslut inom området. Till hjälp använder de sig av argument som kan tyda på en hälsorisk hos den enskilda individen. En trolig orsak till att medierna satte HPV-vaccinet på agendan kan vara ett flertal omvärldsfaktorer som; massvaccinationen mot svininfluensan, Kalla faktas program om vaccinet, internet och sociala medier, nyhetsrapporteringen samt barn och kvinnors roll i samhället. Detta är omvärldsfaktorer som kan ha förstärkt hälsorisken med HPV-vaccinet och gjort att diskursen ser ut som den gör.

Denna uppsats behandlar SVT:s Uppdrag granskning. Vi var intresserade av att titta närmare på detta program eftersom det har en särställning i Sverige som ett av de mest sedda samhällsprogrammen. Vi frågade oss vilken agendasättande roll Uppdrag granskning har i vårt samhälle och hur deras reportage utformas för att få genomslag och nå ut till publiken. Utnyttjar Uppdrag granskning sin särställning på bästa sätt för att informera och upplysa? Våra teorier har alltså mycket att göra med mediers agendasättande funktion. Vi har även tittat på angränsande teorier om ”moral panics”, och lutar oss samtidigt till viss del mot utvalda delar av nyhetsvärderingsteori. Vi har genomfört en kritisk diskursanalys (CDA) av två reportage av Uppdrag granskning. Det ena har fått stort genomslag i svensk tryckt press, medan det andra knappt har omnämnts. Vi ville studera hur redaktionen har arbetat för att utforma reportagen och påverka deras genomslag. Därför har vi tittat på bland annat användningen av dramaturgi och diskurs, samt hur avsnitten gestaltas för att tala till tittarna. För att komplettera vår undersökning har vi även tittat på vilket genomslag reportagen har fått i form av uppmärksamhet i svensk tryckt press. Vi har sedan sökt en förklaring av detta genomslag med hjälp av våra fynd från diskursanalysen samt parametrarna för nyhetsvärdering. När vi började vår analys upptäckte vi snabbt vissa skillnader mellan reportagen. Den tydligaste var att det reportage som fick störst genomslag också berörde ett ämne som var aktuellt och som är lätt att ta ställning till. Det förekom också tydliga symboler och metaforer som lätt kunde användas av andra medier för att skapa rubriker. Vi lade märke till att personer identifierades på olika sätt till följd av bland annat när och hur länge de förekom i reportaget samt hur reportrarna förhöll sig till dem. De ställde ledande frågor som resulterade i att vissa personer identifierades på ett sätt som tydligt passade in i en dramaturgisk modell: de goda och de onda. För att få genomslag i medierna framstår det som viktigt att en syndabock pekas ut, och gärna att denna är en enskild person, samt att reportaget innehåller tydliga symboler och metaforer och att konsumenten känner igen ämnet.

On November 8, 2001, the Government of Manitoba announced that the number of school divisions and districts in the province would be reduced from 54 to 37. With that policy announcement, Manitoba embarked upon the most significant restructuring of school board governance arrangements since the late 1950s. The purpose of the research was to examine the school division amalgamation initiative as a case study in policy-making by the Government of Manitoba. The study investigated the nature of this initiative, including its origin, development, eventual conclusion and implementation. The fundamental question addressed by the study was this: Why was school division amalgamation an idea whose time had come in Manitoba? Discussion of amalgamation had been active within the Progressive Conservative administration of Gary Filmon since the early 1990s, but despite the recommendation in 1995 of a provincially established Boundaries Review Commission to move forward with government directed amalgamation, the idea languished until a newly-elected provincial government under Gary Doer, leader of the New Democratic Party, assumed power in 1999. The theoretical framework used in addressing the question posed relied primarily upon the work of John Kingdon (Agendas, Alternatives and Public Policies) who contends that there must be a timely convergence of three key aspects of policy formation: problems, solutions and politics. Therefore, the study examined the key role of elected officials in promoting certain policy ideas and their impact on the decisions of government at specific times. It also compared and contrasted the differing policy approaches taken by the Filmon and Doer regimes on this question, and assesses the opportunities and constraints which explain the differences found. The study relied on extant public documents and other primary sources, and especially the expressed view or position of certain elected officials and supporting staff gained through one-on-one in-depth interviews. The focus of the analysis was an attempt to assess the interplay of problem, solution, and politics, and whether or not it reveals what Kingdon has called a “window of opportunity” for decisive action by government. The study showed that, indeed, the window of opportunity for amalgamation occurred with the convergence of three forces by 2001: pervasive indicators of a problem; promotion of amalgamation as a policy solution previously tried in Manitoba and elsewhere; and the election of a new government in 1999 which was receptive to pursuing some degree of change with respect to school division governance and organization.

Zugl.: Köln, Univ., Diss., 2007

Recent studies show that when it comes to media exposure, men and women still face completely different conditions in how often and where they are placed in the context of news reports.   Men still stands for the vast majority of news content, and even though progress is being made it isn't going fast enough according to some and that more has to be done before we can have total equality in terms of who gets the opportunity the get their voices heard.   In this study we went in to take a closer look at how often the different sexes appears as writers on four of Swedens biggest newspapers op-ed pages. In our study we have conducted a quantitative content analysis on the op-ed pages in the for swedish papers Aftonbladet, Dagens Nyheter, Expressen and Svenska Dagbladet. We looked on how often any of the two sexes appeared, what subjects they were writing about and what types on news the texts were discussing.   What we found where that the op-ed pages actually where almost entirely equal in terms of who got to write, and what they were writing about. Although the analysis isn't big enough to be able to tell how the situation is across all of sweden's newspaper and media content, it still gives an interesting look on how the daily newspapers works when it comes to who gets a place at the op-ed pages.