This thesis focused on disinformation, providing analysis of media system in the Czech Republic. The main focus is on content analysis of disinformations and their persuasive function - explaining what are the ain characteristics of those news and which lingual and rhetorical tools they use. The main tool which is discussed and analysed in this thesis is fallacy, false or invalid arguments. Disinformation phenomenon and its place in today's world is explained in their first part of the thesis. The second, empirical part of the thesis looks at specific examples of disinformations which were published at selected Czech disinformation news websites (Aaronet, AC24, Instory.cz). Selection of those websites was guided by their diversity when it comes to structure and themes. The sample of analysed articles was subject to predefined standards, chosing articles with the theme of immigration crisis which were published between 2015 and 2017.

Title Discourse analysis of disinformation in Czech media during the 2019 European Parliament election Abstract The thesis focuses on the content of fake news websites in the Czech online environment during the 2019 European Parliament election. Using the method of discourse analysis, the author characterizes main features of the discourse consisting of content published by selected six fake news websites. The main goal of the thesis is to analyse the discourse of selected websites and to define the problematic aspects of disinformation websites for Czech society during the elections. The emphasis is put on the prevailing narratives and topics leading the discussion within these websites. Through deeper look into the narratives as well as the authors and main actors of the discourse, the author reveals ideologies and thoughts which fuel the fake news content. At the same time, the author examines the extent to which the discourse emphasized emotions and polarization by using the "us" and "them" narrative. Specific language techniques and manipulation tools are then analysed within broader context. Furthermore, using the methods of critical discursive analysis referring to the works of Norman Fairclough and Teun van Dijk, the thesis defines how the analysed discourse could influence power relations within...

The master's thesis is devoted to the analysis of the impact of the dissemination of information and disinformation in media about the disease caused by the COVID-19 virus in the Czech Republic in the period 02/2020-02/2021. The aim of the thesis is to analyse selected news portals and identifying the possible impact of the information on the Internet on public behaviour. The purpose of the theoretical part is a brief definition of the basic concepts, mapping the course of information in the Czech Republic and comparison with similar situations from the past. Subsequently, the theoretical part contains a description of the means of communication used to inform citizens about the event. The aim of the practical part is to show how the course of the spread of the COVID-19 virus influenced the traffic to online news websites, what articles appeared in the Internet environment, and finally I focus on the analysis of whether there was a change in the behaviour of citizens in the Internet environment in the form of traffic to news websites, retail sales and changes in work habits.

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This study seeks to analyze and understand the Russian propaganda before and after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. 15th of October 2021 to the 28th of February 2022 is the chosen research period, mainly because of the importance to get an understanding of how Kremlin used its propaganda machine to first justify the invasion and then legitimizing it after 24th of February. The study aims to shed light on how the propaganda can be understood from the perspective of the theories classical realism and authoritarian propaganda. Also, from a more general perspective to recognize what truly pervades the Russian propaganda during the period. The result reveals that the propaganda is strongly shaped by realistic beliefs regarding Russia’s national security in relation to the supposed threat coming from Kyiv and the West. It also shows that the propaganda is heavily restricted to the Russian authorities, seeing that it aims to create a reality where the western hegemony is in the wrong, while the Russian society is an idealistic alternative. Therefor the propaganda creates an image that Russia did not have any other choice than to invade Ukraine, to save it from Nazism and the presumed disastrous western civilization.

This study aims to investigate how to strengthen the resilience of Sweden's population against disinformation. To answer the purpose, the study has been based of the framing of questions: 1. What characterizes a desirable resilience agaisnt disinformation? 2. What challanges exists in Sweden to strenghten the resilience against disinformation? 3. How can preventive strategies and measures be used in order to strengthen Swedish populaiton's resilience against disinformation? Based on these questions, a qualitative method and an inductive approach were chosen. The data collection consisted of semi-structured interviews with respondents who have professional experience in various societal areas and levels, both practical and theoretical. This resulted in two central themes: 1) Today's Resilience, which includes how Sweden's resilience is precieved today, who's at risk, and what a desirable resilience characterizes, 2) Strategies, Measures and Challanges, includes strategies and measures which can be used in order to strengthen the resilience against disinformation, as well as existing challanges and risks in the Swedish society. The study results in a greater understanding of how several important components and levels of the Swedish society interact and together strengthen the resilience agaisnt disinformation. In addition the task requires a broad societal perspective where preventive measures need to be combined in order to have succesful effects. / Studien syftar till att undesöka hur Sveriges befolknings resiliens kan stärkas mot desinformation. För att besvara syftet har studien baserats på frågeställningarna: 1. Vad kännetecknar en önskvärd resiliens mot desinformation? 2. Vilka utmaningar förekommer i Sverige för att stärka resiliensen mot deisnformation? 3. Hur kan preventiva strategier och förebyggande åtgärder användas för att stärka Sveriges befolknings resiliens mot desinformation? Utifrån dessa frågor valdes en kvalitativ metod och en induktiv ansats. Datainsamlingen utgjordes av semistrukturerade intervjuer med respondenter som har yrkesmässig erfarenhet inom olika samhälleiga områden och nivåer, både praktisk och teoretisk. Detta utmynnades i två centrala teman: 1) Dagens Resiliens, som inbegriper hur Sveriges resiliens uppfattas i dag, vilka i samhället som befinner sig i riskzon och vad en önskvärd resiliens baseras på, 2) Strategier, Åtgärder och Utmaningar, omfattar strategier och åtgärder för att stärka resiliensen mot desinformation, vilka utmaningar och risker som återfinns i Sverige och tillkommer åtgärderna. Studien resulterar i en större förståelse om hur flera viktiga komponenter, delar och nivåer av samhället interagerar och tillsammans kan stärka resiliensen mot desinformation. Att det krävs ett brett samhällsperspektiv där preventiva åtgärder behöver kombineras för att uppnå framgångsrika effekter.

De senaste åren har flera offentliga skjutningar inträffat i Malmö. Malmöpolisen har haft svårigheter att lösa dessa då det, bland annat, har varit en brist på vittnen. Att vittnen inte vågar träda fram kan bero på olika saker, men vanligast är det att de är rädda för repressalier. Detta trots att risken för att utsättas för sådana är relativt låg. För vittnen som utsätts för hot finns det olika skyddsåtgärder att tillgå, men vittnen som upplever en ogrundad oro får i stort sett klara sig själva. Konsekvenserna av att vittnen inte vågar medverka i utredningar och rättegångar kan ha långtgående effekter i samhället och kan i till slut leda till att rättssystemet inte kan arbeta effektivt. Något som kan generera mycket negativa resultat. Eftersom majoriteten av vittnen inte utsätts för hot, kan man utgå från att gruppen som inte har möjlighet för att få polisiärt stöd är relativt stor. Frågeställningen är: Hur kan Malmöpolisen arbeta för att få fler att våga vittna i samband med offentliga skjutningar? Resultaten av denna kvalitativa studie visade att Malmöpolisen bör lägga stort fokus, i sitt arbete, på att sprida information. Både inom och utanför myndigheten. Detta hade kunnat bidra till en ökad säkerhet bland vittnena. / In the recent years a number of public shootings have taken place in Malmö. The Malmö police department have experienced difficulty in solving these crimes. One of the reasons for this is the lack of witnesses that have come forward. The reasons why witnesses won’t make themselves know can be many. The most common one however is the fear of reprisals from the suspect. This despite the fact that the risk of being subjected to reprisals is relatively low. Witnesses who are threatened are offered different types of protection. Witnesses who don’t get threatened, but still experience fear get to fend for themselves. The consequences of witnesses who are too frightened to take part in an investigation and trial can be extensive and could lead to the judicial system not being able to work effectively. This can generate very negative results. Since the majority of witnesses don’t get subjected to threats, you can assume that the group of witnesses without support from the police department is extensive. The research question is as follows: How can the Malmö police department work in order to generate more witnesses willing to testify, in connection to public shootings? The results of this qualitative study shows that the Malmö police department should focus on the distribution of information. Both within and outside of the department. This could lead to a stronger feeling of security among these witnesses.

Today's media landscape is larger and more diverse than ever before. Individuals are fedwith news and information from many different types of media. When competition ishigh, media actors need to stand out to be noticed, sometimes to the extent that the truthis omitted or embellished. The purpose of this essay is to examine the consequences ofthe spread of false information on social media. The material of the essay consists of 25Swedish videoclips from YouTube and is intended to investigate how well the videoportals (headlines & thumbnails) correspond to the actual content of the videos. Themethod used in the essay is a quantitative coding of these videoclips and a multimodalanalysis from a selection of these coded video clips. To fulfill the purpose of the essay,theories and concepts such as misinformation and disinformation, filter bubbles, andselective exposure theory are used. The results of the study showed that many videoportals do not correspond at all to the content that the clip possesses. They oftenexaggerate or add details that make the video clip stand out more or appear moreinteresting for the audience to engage with. The consequences of false information spreadon social media can be many. For example, it can contribute to somewhat distortedworldviews. If individuals in a society are fed with incorrect information, it becomes moredifficult to get a fair picture of the world. It can also become normalized that thingswritten on social media are often not true, which leads to it becoming commonplace tobuy into small lies and not trust the information and news consumed online.

The concern about disinformation in the digital space has increased since the U.S Presidential Election and the British ‘Brexit’ Referendum in 2016. Many have argued for stricter regulatory frameworks for the Internet to uphold the public’s trust in democratic institutions. In December 2020, the European Commission officially published the proposal of the Digital Services Act (DSA), a new regulation partly designed to approach the dissemination of disinformation in the digital space. Considering the political significance of the DSA, this critical study is interested in the discursive role of media in the public’s meaning making of the legislation in particular and, to some extent, Internet regulations in general. Specifically, the study focuses on linguistic aspects in a selection of 14 Swedish news media texts from December 2020 to systematically draw out the ideological implications behind the related discourses, and ultimately whose interests are represented in the in the conception of the DSA in Sweden. Focus is also paid on how and to what extent disinformation is included or excluded in the media discourses. The analysis is conducted with critical discourse analysis as both methodology and theoretical framework, with a complementary ideological and sociopolitical perspective. The results reveal a widespread support for the DSA specifically or Internet regulations in general, advocating for stricter governance in the digital space to a certain degree. Additionally, the DSA is constructed as a means to tackle the dominating role of large digital service providers in the digital market, establishing an economic outlook of the DSA. Consequently, disinformation is neglected in the media discourses and its political significance is therefore diminished.

Denna undersökning har studerat hur förekomsten av nyheter, information och desinformation på Instagram påverkar unga vuxnas uppfattning om källor och avsändares trovärdighet. Syftet var att ta reda på vilken typ av källor och avsändare på Instagram unga vuxna väljer att tro på och varför. Därtill undersöks i vilken utsträckning unga vuxna påverkas av källor och avsändares position i förhållande till källkritik, samt vilka metoder som används för att ta reda på en källas tillförlitlighet. För att undersöka unga vuxnas syn på källkritik och förmåga att identifiera desinformation har det genomförts tre fokusgruppsintervjuer. För att analysera materialet genomfördes en kvalitativ innehållsanalys, där diskussionerna från fokusgrupperna kategoriserades utifrån identifierade teman. Dessa teman jämfördes med varandra för att finna likheter och skillnader, samt för att kunna bilda lämpliga underkategorier. Resultatet visade att det finns flertalet faktorer som påverkar trovärdigheten på Instagram såväl positivt som negativt. Innehåll som är publicerat av public service har en hög trovärdighet, medan influencers trovärdighet skiljer sig beroende på användarens uppfattning. Delade politiska åsikter mellan avsändare och mottagare behöver inte innebära högre trovärdighet. Däremot visar resultatet att unga vuxna ser på politiskt innehåll på Instagram med viss försiktighet. Resultatet visade även att unga vuxna har svårt att identifiera desinformation, men samtidigt har ett källkritiskt tänk. / Following study examines how the presence of news, information and disinformation on Instagram can have an effect on young adults´s perception of source and sender credibility. The purpose of the study was to find out what kind of sources and senders on Instagram young adults choose to believe and why. In addition to investigating the extent to which young adults are influenced by sources and senders' position in relation to source criticism, as well as what kind of methods are used to find out the reliability of a source. In order to investigate young adults' view of source criticism and ability to identify disinformation, three focus group interviews have been conducted. To analyze the material, a qualitative content analysis was carried out, where the discussions from the focus groups were categorized, based on identified themes. These themes were compared to find similarities and differences, as well as to be able to form suitable subcategories. The results showed that there are several factors that affect credibility on Instagram, both positive and negative. Content published by public service showed a high credibility, while the credibility of influencers differs depending on the user's perception. Shared political views between senders and receivers does not necessarily mean higher credibility. However, the results show that young adults view political content on Instagram with certain caution. The results also showed that young adults have difficulties identifying disinformation, but at the same time have a source-critical mindset.