I tider av miljöproblem ställs begrepp om natur och vad det innebär på sin spets. Olika uppfattningar vad som är naturligt och vad som är ett miljöproblem har dominerat inte minst klimatdebatten. Utgångspunkten består i den socialkonstruktionistiska tanken om att skapandet av naturen sker i våra tolkningar av den, och inte minst i olika samhällsinstitutioners definierande av den efter egna intressen. Det noteras även att flera av de mest framgångsrika definitionerna av naturen har på senare utgjorts av berättelser i form av spelfilmer och dokumentärer. Mot bakgrund av detta undersöker uppsatsen hur även företag skapar konstruktioner av naturen, och mer specifikt i berättelser om sina produkter. Uppsatsens syfte är att undersöka hur naturen används av det svenska klädföretaget Houdini för att skapa en intressant berättelse om en produkt. Det empiriska materialet består också av just av två produktberättelser i formen av Youtubefilmer. Frågeställningar som behandlas är hur naturen konstrueras i filmerna, vilken relation dessa konstruktioner har till den marknadsförda produkten, samt hur naturkonstruktioner används som narrativ funktion. Med ett teoretiskt ramverk bestående av en rad tidigare identifierade naturkonstruktioner och begrepp som kritiskt undersöker relationen mellan natur och produkt genomförs en semiotisk och en narrativ analys av de två filmerna. Slutsatser inkluderar att naturen porträtteras som ömtålig och problematisk i filmernas anslagsscener, samt att miljöproblem utgör båda filmernas konflikter. Det hot som föreligger mot naturen bäddar också för ett intressant narrativt projekt som Houdini åtar sig i filmerna - att skapa nya kläder som på olika sätt, om än i olika grad, utges lösa problemen. Via kritiska begrepp som semiotisk flexibilitet, naming och re-framing noteras även att naturen används för att ge vissa Houdiniprodukter närmast naturgivna karaktärsdrag i vissa fall. Studien konstaterar slutligen att det tycks finnas relevans för de ställda frågorna i uppsatsens frågeställningar och denna undersökningsdesign skulle vara intressant att applicera på marknadsföring kring andra branscher med kopplingar till naturen, så som turism- och bilindustrin.

The current paper examines the dissimilarities that have occurred in news framing by state-sponsored news outlets in their different language versions. The comparative framing analysis is conducted on the news coverage of the Russian intervention in Syria (2016) in RT and Radio Liberty in Russian and English languages. The certain discrepancies in framing of this event are found in both news outlets. The strongest distinction between Russian and English versions occurred in framing of responsibility and humanitarian crisis in Syria. The study attempts to explain the identified differences in a framework of public diplomacy and propaganda studies. The existing theories explain that political ideology and foreign policy orientation influences principles of state propaganda and state-sponsored international broadcasting. However, the current findings suggest that other influence factors may exist in the field – such as the local news discourse and the journalistic principles. This conclusion is preliminary, as there are not many studies with the comparable research design, which could support the current discussion. The studies of localized strategies of the international media (whether private networks or state-funded channels) can refine the current conclusions and bring a new perspective to global media studies. / <p>This thesis was supported by the Swedish Institute (Svenska Institutet) </p>

Master of Science / Department of Communications and Agricultural Education / Lauri M. Baker / The purpose of this study was to explore the frames and messages, issue salience, and communication preferences agricultural producers in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas use and accept related to climate change and the impacts of a changing climate. It was of additional interest to explore the climate-change beliefs and preferred agricultural media sources for climate and climate change information. Specific research objectives to guide the study were RO1: describe the level of issue salience agricultural producers have related to climate change; RO2: investigate frames and messages agricultural producers prefer in reference to the scientifically designated phenomena of climate change and impacts; and RO3: identify the agricultural media and information channels agricultural producers use for climate change. Based on findings in previous research, one hypothesis was developed: H1: agricultural producers in the Southern Plains Regional Climate Hub area will be located within the audience segment groups of the concerned and the cautious as identified in the Six America’s (2012) study. An Internet survey was distributed to producers in Kansas, which was open from March 3 to March 14, 2016, with 158 responses to the survey. Agenda-Setting Theory served as the basis for the study including the tenants of issue salience and framing in relation to climate change. The study found that the majority (n = 158, 64.92%) of producers believed that climate change was occurring, however, the causes were still contested. The study identified that higher levels of risk perception and education level were linked to belief in anthropogenic climate change (ACC). Primarily, the study found that loss framing was most effective in communicating the impacts of climate change. Terminology and distance framing were less important in message framing. Regional and university publications were cited most frequently by producers as sources of climate and climate-change information and overall use of agricultural media publications was linked to higher levels of belief in ACC. Users of business reports and TV had the highest mean climate-change belief; non-users had the lowest. Audience segments aligned with cautious and concerned Six America’s (2013) audience segment group, which indicated a shift towards accepting climate change among agricultural producers.

The 2014 Indonesian presidential election was the first election in the world's largest Muslim democracy where social media played an important role. Social media outlets, such as Facebook and Twitter, became a public forum where Indonesians debated about and framed the presidential candidates - Prabowo Subianto and Joko Widodo - in what was said to be the closest and most polarizing election in the nation's history. A content analysis of two partisan newspapers, two independent newspapers, and tweets showed that both legacy media and social media focused on the personality frame when describing the candidates. In legacy media the second most prevalent frame was experience, while on Twitter it was integrity. Religion remained an important factor in the election, as reflected in both media platforms, while ethnicity was considered less important. Social media became an integral part of Indonesia's nascent democracy, with the public examining the candidates' leadership qualities and integrity on Twitter. The independent newspapers were not neutral in covering the candidates, thus making social media even more relevant as a relatively free and impartial marketplace of ideas during the election. This study discusses how legacy media - both partisan and independent - and social media portrayed the candidates, where and why these platforms differed, and what it means for the future of journalism in Indonesia.

This study does research on the Swedish media's portraying of an extraordinary crime event in Sweden - the grenades in Malmö 2015. The study focuses on how the media portrays three major participants in the media image: the public, the politicians and the police. The question examined was: How does the media portray the public and the authorities during the grenades in Malmö 2015? I made a framing analysis of 30 news articles from the summer of 2015. The result showed that the public received the role as the victim, where the media image emphasizes on fear from the public. The police received two different images - the safe image where the media emphasizes on the work the police does on preventing crime. The other image was the critical image, where the media emphasized on how the public criticized the police success rate during these incidents. The politicians received a neutral image, where a small amount of critic was portrayed. The results of the analysis diverged from previous studies and theories in the field when it came to the police and the politicians.

Due to the importance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as drivers of economic growth, it is essential to explore the security issues impacting SMEs' success and failure. One of the main security risks that could significantly impair the operability of the organizations is the permanent loss of data due to man-made and/or natural disasters and interruptions. Research has shown that SMEs are not taking disaster preparedness for their computer and networking systems as seriously as they should. This dissertation is an attempt to explain the process of a risky choice, specifically the decision maker's choice of not investing in disaster recovery technologies (DRT) to protect the firm. This study applied a revised model of determinants of risky decision-making behavior suggested by Sitkin and Weingart (1995) to a context of DRT investment in the real world. The model was empirically tested using survey data collected from a list of technology investment decision makers of SMEs located in the northeastern United States. Analysis and results of the collected survey data suggest the revised model can be applied to the real world context. The executive's characteristics, experience, and traits such as positive outcome history, risk propensity, risk perception, and decision framing influence the decision to invest in data protective technologies in SMEs. Specifically, the results of the analysis indicated that risk propensity is affected by outcome history and risk perception is affected by decision framing. In addition, risk propensity affected risk perception and risk perception affected the choice of DRT investment. Furthermore, decision framing had moderate effect on DRT investment

The design of incentive compensation plans is critical to a company’s success. This study develops and validates a theoretical model to examine how incentive contract framing affects effort. This study uses an experiment to observe the effect of the manipulation of incentive contract frame and the presence or absence of principal discretion in performance evaluation on effort. The results of the experiment show that when principal discretion in performance evaluation is absent, penalty contracts induce greater effort than bonus contracts. The results of the experiment also demonstrate that the interaction of principal discretion in performance evaluation and contract frame influences how agents view the perceived fairness of their incentive contract. Specifically, principal discretion in performance evaluation increases perceived fairness under a penalty contract but not under a bonus contract. This study also extends prior research by documenting that perceived fairness explains how incentive contract frame affects trust and effort.

Sweden has traditionally been portrayed as a tolerant and generous country in terms of its migration policy. In conjunction with the increased flow of refugees in 2015 this image of Sweden has slowly but surely come to be questioned. Swedish political parties have raised concerns over the increased number of asylum seekers, and stressed the social, political and economic implications it may have for the Swedish society. This essay examines how Swedish political parties frame the refugee issue, and how these frames can be understood from a security lens. The following questions have been examined; How do Swedish parlamentary parties frame the refugee issue? To what extent is the refugee issue securitized in the Swedish context? What consequences can securitization of the refugee issue have for Swedish citizens’ attitudes to the welcoming of refugees? Two complementary methods are used to analyze the material. In the first step, Faircloughs critical discourse analysis uncover Swedish parliamentary parties frames of the refugee issue. In the second step, the securitization theory is applied in order to relate these refugee portrayals to security. Four central refugee discourses are identified in the material, following are; solidarity, responsibility, identity and expenditures. The essay argues that the refugee issue tends to be framed as a security threat of parties on the right wing of the political spectrum. Parties such as the Moderate Party and the Sweden Democrats have securitized the refugee issue. These parties frame the issue in terms of expenditures and identity, which follow a security rhetoric. The remaining parties show a great concern on the issue, but put emphasis on solidarity and responsibility. Successful securitization has thus not taken place among these parties.

Det mest sedda sportprogrammet år 2014 var herrarnas final i fotbolls-VM som hade 2,8 miljoner tv-tittare (MMS, 2014). Inte långt därefter, återfinns finalen i herrarnas OS-ishockey, som sågs av 2,3 miljoner tittare (a.a.) Med detta i beaktande kan vi konstatera att sport och framför allt ishockey och fotboll är väldigt populärt i Sverige. Problemet vi ser med nyhetsrapporteringen idag är att det kan upplevas som att medierna i rapporteringen av sport till stor del fokuserar på herrsport och manliga huvudpersoner. Syftet med vår studie är att undersöka hur sporterna ishockey och fotboll, med särskilt fokus på könsskillnader, gestaltades i Sportbladet och Sundsvalls Tidning under 2012/2013. För att svara på vårt syfte och frågeställningar har vi gjort en kvantitativ innehållsanalys, där vi har undersökt nämnda medier och med hjälp av ett kodschema kodat de analysenheter vi använt oss av, vilket har varit artiklar som handlar om fotboll och ishockey. Resultatet visar på att de undersökta medierna främst rapporterar om män, samt att det rapporterades mer om fotboll än ishockey. Det resultatet också visade var att majoriteten av artiklarna var positivt vinklade.

To explore strategic narratives of the U.S. and Russia is a motivation for this research. The study investigates whether there is a return to the Cold War rhetoric between the West and Russia, or if the discourse has taken a new form. A primary goal is to examine if media originating from the two countries spread propaganda, but mainly to detect what kind of propaganda it is. The research compares types of propaganda techniques that are most commonly applied by RT and CNN, and discusses results in a context of the Cold War propaganda prominent themes. This has been done by comparing how the two media outlets were reporting on a crash of a Malaysian Airlines aircraft in eastern Ukraine on July 17th 2014. A method of a framing analysis has been applied for a material from both channels for a period of four months. The results indicate that a number of propaganda techniques are used by both RT and CNN. Moreover, channels’ discourse is antagonistic, while strategic narratives of the U.S. and Russia nowadays have similarities and differences comparing to the Cold War times. Further research should look at other genres, events and topics reported by the two media.