Environmental issues have been described as one of society’s wicked problems. In contrast to widespread technological responses to environmental issues, I spotlight social aspects as chief barriers to productive change. I posit that socially constructed frames can influence people’s perspectives, opinions, and behaviors regarding environmental issues. In this project, I explored organizational work and framing processes as a means to bridge the chasm between technological and social approaches to environmental issues. To date, researchers using framing theory have narrowed their focus to testing the effectiveness of different frames. By doing so, however, researchers remain limited to discursive explanations regarding how frames are constructed at a micro level. In contrast, I adopted a multimodal approach that accounts for both discursive and non-discursive modalities to investigate how organizations deploy visual, material, and textual approaches to shape environmental meaning through framing processes. Specifically, I focused on organizational campaigns to construct meaning around the contentious issue of bottled water. I adopted a qualitative approach, using a multimodal analysis, to explore advertisements and campaigns used by bottled water companies and environmental activist groups to shape perspectives, opinions and behaviors of plastic containers and bottled water usage. I found that visual, material, and textual modalities can be used as value-neutral tools to help stakeholders construct different frames and shape the public’s opinion of bottled water. Different multimodal elements serve different functions in constructing different frames. I also identified particular barriers for the framing construction process.

During the twenty-first century attention towards climate change and its consequences has increased significantly and somehow it reached its peak when young activist Greta Thunberg started what has become one of the largest movements for the climate in 2018. Her school strike has created debate and given rise to demonstrations and collective actions around the globe. The purpose of this study is therefore to bring clarity to the framing processes which has contributed to this development. Consequently, this analysis has been conducted through a descriptive framing analysis with a focus on what frames Greta Thunberg has used to describe climate change, including a description of her goal with the strikes and a discussion of features associated with mass mobilisation. Building on the theoretical framework from social movement researchers Robert D. Benford and David A. Snow the results have revealed three main frames; a crisis frame, a parental frame and a hierarchical frame as well as features within Thunberg’s message has been discovered which ad insights to Benford and Snow’s discussion of what can create resonant frames. By describing how Thunberg has framed her cause this study concludes that the coherence between her actions, behaviour as well as who she is in relation to her frames has contributed to a message that emphasises collective and/or self-efficacy which encourages people to follow her lead.

Aim: With particular regard to the traditional media and political participation in Sweden, Iintend to map how and in what way Greta Thunberg protests and the political engagement she expresses. Questions: • How is Greta Thunberg’s protesting framed and how can it be understood based on theprotest paradigm? • How can you understand Greta Thunberg´s political participation on the basis of ideasabout Civic Engagement? Method and material: This report is a qualitative study based on a textual analysis. For collectingthe empirical material, I have chosen to use texts from Swedish news articles. I used 27articles from 2 newspapers which is Aftonbladet and Expressen. Main results: The study shows that media puts greater focus on Greta Thunberg as a personinstead of the factual content and political agenda she stands for. This contributes to GretaThunberg being marginalized and delegitimized, since she is considered a symbol thatchallenges the political power structure. Greta Thunberg feels responsible for the climateissue and it is her duty to be able to contribute to a democratic society by getting involved.Greta Thunberg considers her participation in the media that she feels a moral obligation toengage with the climate.

We live in a time of changing climate and global warming, creating an urgency for policy- and societal ameliorative action. Increasing climate change skepticism in the Anglo-Saxon parts of the world as well as in Europe risks delaying urgent actions needed. This thesis studies a climate skeptical blog site and network in Sweden, Klimatupplysningen, and analyzes strategies used. A comparative framing analysis is conducted where frames compiled from previous research is searched for and analyzed in a randomly selected material of 150 blog posts. The results from the research show that strategies and frames from previous research to a large extent match those in Klimatupplysningen. Two new frames appeared from the material; Media & Debate and Humor. The new frames are indicative of a contextuality of online social media as main platform for communication and networking. More research is needed on effects on audiences from blogs and other social media.

Ist die 16-jährige schwedische Schülerin Greta Thunberg eine Heldin, weil sie (ohne ein politisches Amt oder eine Führungsfunktion in einem Umweltverband) die «Schulstreiks für das Klima» und die daraus entstandene nternationale Bewegung „Fridays for Future“ (FFF) initiiert hat? Oder ist sie ein bedauernswertes Opfer, ein Kind ohne Kindheit, das von ihren Eltern wie eine Marionette gesteuert und für politische Zwecke instrumentalisiert wird? Die Deutung und Interpretation der verwendeten Deutungsmuster werden als Frames (Rahmen) bezeichnet, der Prozess, in dem diese Deutungsmuster erstellt und verbreitet werden als Framing (Rahmung). Der Beitrag diskutiert am Beispiel von Greta Thunberg welches Framing bei diesem Thema möglich ist.

The aim of this study was to compare how the Swedish men’s national football team and the Swedish women’s national football team are reported on in Sportbladet during their respective world cups. I also wanted to find out the differences in how they are framed respectively from a gender stereotypical point of view. The study were made by analysing all the articles written online at Sportbladets website during the periods of the men’s world cup in Russia 2018 (June 14th – July 15th) and women’s world cup in France 2019 (June 7th – July 7th). The gender of the reporters who wrote the articles were also part of the analysis, to conclude if the different genders are reporting differently regarding the framing. I used a quantitative content analysis as my method to answer my research questions. With this method, I was able to implement an analysis where I found out how many articles were written about the respective national teams, and which articles that were written by which gender. The results of my quantitative content analysis showed that the men’s national team got more articles written about them during their world cup, compared to what the women got in theirs. It also showed that both the women’s and men’s team are written about in a gender stereotypical manner in more than a third of the total amount of articles written. Although, the articles written without gender stereotypes were majority in total, with around half of all the articles. The results also showed that female and male journalists writes similarly about both national teams, with the only significant difference being that, when they used gender stereotypes, female journalists used female stereotypes more often than anything else, and male journalists used male stereotypes. The studie also came to the conclusion that Sportbladet writes in a positive way more often towards the women’s team, which was a surprise considering the historic aspect with female athletes being written about in a negative way throughout most of the 20th century.

This study is an attempt to comprehend how Palestinians and Israelis perceive the conflict and the peace process. It identifies the channels and dynamics related to the shaping of their perceptions on the individual, community, and political levels. The main objectives of this study are to probe the degree of homogeneity between these levels for both Palestinians and Israelis as well as the degree of discord between them on the same levels and to pinpoint intervening factors that contribute to carving out the ultimate perceptions that individuals hold. Unlike previous work, this study employs a multi-method approach to measure and benchmark of the topic at hand. To bridge further gaps, a developed matrix extends the analyses on temporalspatial dimensions of individuals’ cognitions, affections, and behaviors pertaining to the conflict. This study falls within the descriptive research that seeks probing the effect of macro-level factors (the media, and political parties/leaders) on microlevel ones (the audience cognitive processing), and is involved in describing and identifying its elements and components through the collection and analysis of data. Interpretation of data is based on a combination of content analysis for eight major newspapers, two public opinion surveys and a document analysis affiliated to the main four political parties. The analysis of the Palestinians and Israelis’ perspective of the conflict and the peace process revealed that the actual conflict has three main dimensions: First, the struggle between individuals, which is full of self-contradictions, as each party describes a conflict in a way different than the other. It is a conflict, in which the past and present of the two sides of the conflict are different - the bitter past itself with different narratives, yet the motives are the same but conducive to different results. Whereas each party is blaming the other on these three levels, the conflict is rooted in different forms, but intertwined with one another. Both nations differ entirely in prioritizing the core issues of the conflict. For example, the study reveals that for Palestinians the issue of Jerusalem ranks first, followed by the issue of releasing of prisoners. The issue of the refugees ranks third, and paradoxically recognizing Israel as a Jewish state ranks last according to Palestinians. As for the Israelis, the issue of security and safety ranks first, the recognition of the Jewishness of their state ranks second, followed by the issue of Jerusalem that comes in the third place, whereas and at loggerheads with the Palestinians’ aspirations, the establishing of a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders ranks last on their part. The same applies to the proposed solutions of the conflict. The future is fuzzy, and everyone sees the most appropriate solutions that fit their own interest, as a part of the zero-sum game. Both peoples yearn for peace, and both peoples are tired and bored of the conflict, but the majority in both sides, however, are not willing to make concessions towards this end and consequently are not optimistic in reaching peace in the near future. Furthermore, each party does not view the political leadership of the other party as a partner for peace. Secondly, a media conflict, where the analysis illustrates a similarity in the issues raised in the Palestinian and Israeli newspapers, but there were distinct statistical differences in the extent of coverage and in the display of those issues and their interpretation between the Israeli and Palestinian media, the matter which is clearly reflects on the individuals’ view on the causes of the conflict, its consequences and solutions. Regarding the third level of the conflict i.e. the conflict between political leaders and parties, a strong statistical relationship has been established between political affiliation to a particular party and the perspective of both, the Palestinian and Israeli peoples, on the most significant issues of the conflict. This is reflected in the homogeneity degree of the priorities of the parties and political leaders in the analysis of documents and media, in the analysis of the content with the order of priorities in the Palestinian and Israeli mindset. The statistical results have particularly shown a strong reciprocal correlation between the angles of this triangle. The relationship boosts wrong inherited notions and beliefs, which necessitates their eradication and adoption of new strategies on the part of political stakeholders. In that case, the media will publish them in a positive way that serves the peace process and bring the Palestinian-Israeli conflict to an end. Finally, on the basis of the results and conclusions of this dissertation a model was developed that illustrated how these interactions frame realities into new realities that let the peace process sink even more day by day.

Aim: The purpose of this study is to investigate if Sweden's public service radio channel, Sveriges Radio, coverage of the Black lives matter movement was framed and/or affected by whiteness. They received internal criticism for their lack of knowledge of the subject and that they had too few employees that were in the minority groups.Theoretical Framework: The theories used in this study are the framing theory and thetheory of whiteness. Those theories will help us see how the coverage was performed, if it was framed to fit a certain agenda and if a supposed lack of diversity among the journalists could affect the reporting. Method: To further analyze how the Swedish public service, radio channel Dagens Eko reports Black lives matter in Sweden. By doing qualitative research we can answer how the news media has been following the movement and answer the critique they have received about the lack of diversity and knowledge in their reports.The result of this study proves the radio channel Dagens Eko has had an objective view on covering the Black lives matter movement. Viewing over hundred of their radio reports on both the movement and the death of George Floyd we have found that there are no tendencies of racist or insensitive reports from the radio channel.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate how Dagens Nyheter and The New York Times are framing the climate crisis in their news reporting during the period 1-30 November 2020. The thesis is based on Robert Entman’s theory on framing, Shanto Iyengar’s theory on episodic and thematic framing and Maxwell E. McCombs and Donald Lewis Shaw's theory on agenda setting as a metatheory for discussion. The research questions are: (1) Which frames are being used by Dagens Nyheter and the New York Times in their news reports on the climate crisis during the period 1-30 November 2020?, (2) To what extent are these frames being used in each newspaper? and (3) To what extent do the newspapers use thematic and episodic frames?. The material consists of 26 articles from Dagens Nyheter, and 35 from The New York Times. By using both a quantitative content analysis and a qualitative content analysis, we analyzed the chosen material. Research question (1) showed that the frames that were being used were politics, environmental impact, weather/natural disasters and economy. Research question (2) showed that politics/government and responsibility were the dominant framework in both newspapers, followed by environmental impact, weather/natural disasters and economy. Research question (3) showed that the majority of the articles in both newspapers had a thematic framework. One of the differences that was identified between the newspapers was that The New York Times used thematic frames to a greater extent than Dagens Nyheter. Based on Iyengar’s theory it is therefore reasonable to assume that The New York Times portrayal of the climate crisis might have a greater effect on the public opinion than Dagens Nyheter. Dagens Nyheter, however, used episodic frames to a greater extent, which according to Iyengar often evokes stronger emotional reactions from the recipients.The study’s chosen theories proved to be a good fit for describing and explaining how climate related articles are being framed in the papers.

This bachelor thesis examines how Swedish Television frames news about gang violence and explains which actors that appear in news articles on this field. News about this societal problem have started to appear more frequently in media publications during the last years which motivates the implementation of the study.   The analysis reveals that news about gang violence to a large extent is being framed as a question for politics. This is demonstrated in articles where the problem is framed as a conflict between political parties which proposes different solutions. Gang violence is also framed as something that the government should take responsibility for and therefore not a societal problem that individuals can solve themselves. Most of the articles are framed in a thematic, more general than specifik, perspective and episodic frames do not get that much coverage. There are mostly politicians that occur in articles about gang violence and thus the actors who have the opportunity to set the media agenda.  News articles published on the online edition of Swedish Television in September 2020 have been used as study material. This was a period during the year of 2020 where most news articles about gang violence were published. The method applied was a combined quantitative and qualitative content analysis. The theoretical framework consists of McCombs & Shaws agenda setting theory and also three framing theories formed by Entman, Iyengar and Semetko & Valkenburg. The frames used in the study are the conflict frame, human-interest frame, economic consequences frame, responsibility frame, morality frame, thematic frame and episodic frame.