Abstract: This study explores how the photographs of Alan Kurdi were used by Swedish newspapers, how they may have been perceived by the readers of those newspapers, and whether there are any ethical considerations when using the photography of Alan Kurdi. It answers three research questions; “How were the photographs of Alan Kurdi used by Swedish newspapers?”, “What potential meanings of the photographs of Alan Kurdi were interpreted by the readers of the articles?” and “What are the ethical implications of using the photographs of Alan Kurdi in the newspapers?” In order to investigate this the top 5 Swedish newspapers were studied and all the articles containing the photographs were studied. Through Sensitising Concepts and Inductive Analysis several topics and categories were discovered. The most common topic used by the newspapers was the topic of Alan Kurdi himself. In order to analyse these results Stuart Hall’s Encoding/Decoding Model of Communication is applied. The model identifies three types of receivers. Those who use preferred reading, negotiated reading and oppositional reading. By applying this model the way the photographs of Alan Kurdi was perceived by the readers of the newspapers can be analysed through the three different perspectives. Through the analysis it was argued that the most common way to perceive the photographs was humanising. The photographs worked both as an icon for the refugee crisis and to describe Alan Kurdi or the situation he was fleeing from. These topics can be argued to have a humanising effect on the refugee crisis as a whole. This was evident when charitable donations increased and there was a change in policy for refugees in Sweden that was less strict than before. However, after only a few months the public opinion grew harsher towards refugees and immigrants. This leads to the question - was it worth it? The photographs were used without consent and they could be argued to be exploitative of Alan Kurdi as well as his family. They can also be argued to be unethical. This papers concludes that the photographs were used by Swedish newspapers extensively, it seems in the most part with the intention of humanising the refugee crisis, and when looking at the rise in charitable donations and change in policy it seems to have worked. For a while. In truth, the photographs made no lasting difference, and it can be argued that the use of the photographs was unethical and the results that came from their publication did not justify the exploitation of Alan Kurdi.

I denna uppsats undersöks hur syrier och syriska flyktingar har porträtteras i fyra bilder som publicerats i svenska dagstidningar, utifrån frågeställningar om just framställning, vilket kontext som framkommer från artiklarna som bilden publicerats i och huruvida publiceringen av bilderna kan anses etiskt försvarbara. Bilderna som analyseras är bland annat fotot på Alan Kurdi, och tre andra, starka nyhetsbilder. Metoden som använts är kvalitativ, huvudsakligen bildanalys med hjälp av semiotik och steg skapade av Terje Hillesund som behandlar bland annat denotation och konnotation, men även ideologi. För att kunna analysera den kontext som bilderna publicerats i (det vill säga artiklarna) har diskursanalys använts. Teorin som bilderna och texterna undersöks genom är filosofen Emmanuel Levinas ansvarsmoral. Resultatet visar att tack vare den distans som personerna avbildas med tillåter man dessa personer respekt. Men barnen i artiklarna beskrivs utan att nämna vanliga barnaktiviteter som exempelvis lek, vilket fråntar dem en traditionell barnroll och särskiljer dem från svenska barn. Gällande den etiska frågan framkommer flera olika sidor, bland annat att bilderna kan väcka ansvar hos den som ser på bilden – ge dem ett val att ta det ansvaret och rikta uppmärksamheten mot kriget i Syrien, men mer problematiska sidor blev tydliga som att barnen i texterna är passiva aktörer. Slutligen framkom det i en intervju med Aftonbladets utrikesredaktör Martin Schori att tidningen var mer försiktig i publicering av bilder från exempelvis terrorattentatet i Stockholm i april och foton från krigets Syrien.