Today, the mass media is playing a key role in reinforcing globalisation, providing people with information that can make them more enlightened about the world. But apart from being an efficient tool for spreading information and a possible ”window on the world” the media can also produce preconceptions and create distance between people and places. This is a study on how African countries are portrayed in the Swedish Television news. The aim of the study is to describe, analyse and compare how Africa was described in 2003 and how it is described ten years later, in 2013. The analysis is based on foreign news reports in one of the main Swedish public service broadcasters, Sveriges Television (SVT). The theoretical framework primarily consists of theories on media logic and news values, representation, identification, globalisation and cosmopolitanism. One of the main conclusions is that although the amount of news on Africa has increased, the character of the news reports is still dominated by negative events such as wars, conflicts and suffering. Alongside this stereotypical and highly negative portrayal of Africa exists another story that focuses on economic development and success – An image that both brings new insights and creates new stereotypes.

The aim of the thesis is to investigate the experiences of mourners of participating in news reports about grief in connection with crime and accidents. There are two overarching research questions. How do the bereaved experience their encounters with, and treatment by, journalists - what do they think of journalists’ motives, strategies, methods and ethics? How do the bereaved use journalism, i.e. what are their motives and strategies for participation, and how do they perceive their relations with journalists and the consequences of having been interviewed? The theoretical underpinnings are provided by scholarship on source relations, (encounters with and negotiations between journalists and news sources), news constructions (narrative components and patterns in grief journalism) and journalistic ethics, with a particular focus on an ethics of proximity, i.e. the ethical dimensions of people’s relations and encounters. The empirical material is comprised of qualitative interviews with 22 respondents who featured, in their capacity as mourners, in Swedish news reports of deaths connected with crime and accidents. A strategic sample was made with the aim of attaining as much variation as possible among respondents above all in their relationship to the deceased and cause of death, but also in terms of the attention given to the event in the media, the number of contacts with journalists, and how contact was made. The perception of the respondents is that journalists wanted to talk to them because the event had news value and was of general interest. In dramatic cases, the victim’s next of kin, in particular, felt that journalists also had commercial motives. As the respondents see it, the strategies used by journalists can involve trying to persuade the bereaved to participate, and steering them so that the news interview and text can be shaped in accordance with established narratives of grief journalism. Some respondents said journalists had shown them respect, while others felt they had been treated with a lack of consideration. The findings are ambivalent in that journalists’ methods were experienced positively by some respondents and negatively by others. Involvement in news reporting can offer redress, giving respondents a chance to pay tribute to the deceased. It can also provide comfort, as it can be incorporated into the mourning process and make it possible to share one’s grief both with people one knows and with strangers. The study also found that respondents have strategies of their own. In their dealings with journalists, they can negotiate for control by insisting on reading the text before publication or favouring journalists they perceive as more sympathetic and resisting those they dislike. Respondents’ relations with and perceptions of journalists can be conflictual or consensual, and characterized by a passive or active attitude. Journalists can be seen as allies and potential assets, or as enemies and a source of insecurity. If the death was dramatic and attracted considerable media attention, relations become more conflictual, with respondents who feel cornered liable to ‘attack’ journalists. This can be triggered by shock. However, shock can also numb close relatives emotionally, making them indifferent and their attitude one of passive acceptance.

One of the main tasks for journalism is to provide people with the information they need to be able to make independent decisions that can help them improve their lives. In order to know that the media fullfils this task it is important to study how the information is received by the audience. This thesis aims to investigate if, and if so how, a selected group of people in Dar es Salaam use news media to inform themselves on problems regarding healthcare, and how they value the information on these topics.A minor field study was carried out in Dar es Salaam in April 2014. The study was limited to Dar es Salaam, the economic capital of Tanzania, because it holds the majority of the media. Three different residential areas were chosen for the study, these were Mwananyamala, which is a low-income area, Sinza, middle–income and Mikocheni, high–income. A survey questionnaire was distributed in each area, 30 in Mwananyamala, 31 in Sinza and 30 in Mikocheni, and in every area four interviews was preformed.According to the selection group there is plenty of healthcare information in the media that is useful to the audience but it is not seen to be very varied. Most information is about malaria and HIV/AIDS, which are two of the most common diseases in Tanzania, but many call for a broader reporting on health issues. Media is however a useful source of information, according to most of the respondents, and especially radio and television has a big impact since it reaches out to a large part of the population. This is a good thing as long as the information is factual and accurate, but several of the respondents believe that this is not always the case.

Uppsatsen syftar till att undersöka kulturtidskrifternas roll och status i det svenska samhället idag, bland annat genom intervjuer med verksamma redaktörer på olika kulturtidskrifter. Som problembakgrund presenteras den paradoxala situation som kulturtidskrifterna ställs emot: de anses som viktiga för yttrandefrihet, demokrati och mångfald men blir ändå försummade och underprioriterade inom politik och forskning. Utifrån detta formuleras tre frågeställningar: Hur ser redaktörerna på den politik som drivs kring kulturtidskriften? Vad anser redaktörerna att kulturtidskriften har för roll och status i samhället? Hur kan kulturtidskriftens roll och status tolkas utifrån de intervjuade redaktörernas svar, den rådande kulturpolitiska diskussionen, kulturteorier och tidigare forskning? Dessa frågor analyseras utifrån intervjusvaren, tidigare forskning, Horkheimer och Adornos teoretisering av kulturindustrin, Habermas teorier om det offentliga rummet samt Bourdieus fältteori och teori om ekonomiskt och kulturellt kapital. Uppsatsens metodologiska utgångspunkt är i kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer med tio verksamma redaktörer på olika kulturtidskrifter. I slutsatserna bekräftas den inledande problemformuleringen – kulturtidskrifterna är viktiga men försummade. Statens kulturråd har stor makt över kulturtidskrifterna eftersom de styr över ett årligt tidskriftsbidrag. Få kulturtidskrifter klarar sig enbart på prenumerant- och annonsintäkter, vilket gör det statliga stödet livsviktigt för många. Kulturtidskrifterna har flera viktiga roller i samhället. Framförallt har de som roll att fördjupa och vidareutveckla det offentliga samtalet och bidra till så att obundna, oetablerade och alternativa röster kan komma till tals som inte är påverkade av kommersiella intressen. I förlängningen kan man säga att det leder till en ökad mångfald, yttrandefrihet och demokrati. Kulturtidskrifternas har generellt sett låg status bland allmänheten, vilket leder till att den får låg status i andra sammanhang också, bland annat inom kulturpolitiken. Den låga statusen verkar hänga ihop med uppfattningen om att kulturtidskrifterna är finkulturella och exkluderande snarare än lättillgängliga och kommersiella.

Vi har i arbetet med denna uppsats studerat hur och i vilken utsträckning före detta studenter från Södertörns högskolas fyra journalistprogram etablerar sig på den journalistiska arbetsmarknaden.  Med hjälp av en enkät har vi intervjuat 149 personer två respektive fem år efter att de avslutat sina studier. Snarlika undersökningar har genomförts vid tre tidigare tillfällen, och vi har även kunnat använda resultaten av dessa i vår analys. Vi har undersökt många olika faktorer, till exempel vilket program respondenterna gått, hur gamla de är, och i fall de studerat något annat utöver journalistik. Vi har också ställt frågor om vilka kompetenser respondenterna själva upplever sig ha nytta av i sitt journalistiska arbete, och huruvida de önskar att utbildningen hade innehållit mer eller mindre undervisning inom dessa områden. Vi har även studerat vilka elever som etablerar sig inom de till journalistik närliggande branscherna PR och kommunikation. Vi har kunnat konstatera ett antal olika samband. De tillfrågade som gått programmet Journalistik och multimedia (förkortat JMM) har journalistiskt arbete i betydligt högre utsträckning än övriga. Allra lägst etableringsgrad har de som vid intervjutillfället var äldre än 35 år. En annan faktor som påverkar är ifall respondenten har erfarenhet av andra eftergymnasiala studier än de som ingår i utbildningsprogrammet. Är så fallet är sannolikheten mindre att personen arbetar journalistiskt. / In this thesis we have studied how and in what extent former students at Södertörn University’s four journalism programs establish themselves in the journalistic labor market. This is accomplished through a survey of 149 students that graduated from these programs two respectively five years ago. Similar studies have been done three times before and we have also been able to use those in our analysis. Many factors have been studied, e.g. what program the students attended, the age of the students and if they have studied any subjects other than those at their journalistic program. In our survey the respondents have answered what kind of knowledge they think is most useful to them and what knowledge they feel they would like to have acquired more or less of from the journalistic program. We have also studied which of the students who establish themselves in the labor markets of public relations and communication. Several correlations between these variables are established in this thesis. Those who have attended the program Journalism and multimedia establish themselves in the journalistic labor market in a higher extent than students in the other programs. The students who are over 35 years of age at the moment of the survey are established at a considerably lower extent than younger students. Another factor that affects in what extent the students establish themselves is if they have studied any subjects other than those at their journalistic program. In those cases, the probability of those people working with journalism is considerably lower.

Diss. Göteborg : Göteborgs universitet, 2006.

<p>The aim of this thesis has been to examine how the risk for the swine flu was represented in the Swedish Radio news broadcast Ekot 16.45 during different phases of the pandemic in 2009. We wanted to study how the risk was described in different discourses and periods? Were the participants in the reporting calming or warning the listeners in relations to different aspects of the swine flu? What consequences for the community were reported in the broadcasting?</p><p>To find the answers to our questions, we analysed 13 features about the swine flu broadcasted in Ekot’s main news broadcast Ekot 16.45. We used critical discourse analysis inspired by Norman Fairclough.</p><p>We identified four types of discourses in our text, a journalistic discourse, a medical discourse, a nationalistic discourse and an authority discourse. The main discourse was the medical one. We also discovered power relations in each discourse but also between them.</p><p>We noticed that the media transmitted the information from the authorities like a megaphone, rather than handling it in their traditionally critical way. In addition most people interviewed were representatives from the authorities and not ordinary people, manifesting the above mentioned authoritative perspective/discourse and leading to an absence of descriptions on effects at an everyday level. We also observed that the risk was talked about in various ways depending on if the feature belonged to the warning or acute phase of the pandemic. In the way the features were presented, it was clear that the presentations of the swine flu also had effects on the community, the healthcare and the whole nation as if preparing for an outbreak.</p>

<p>The aim of this Master thesis was to examine news journalism covering expressions of mourning related to violent or unexpected deaths. What rituals for mourning are brought out in media and do media present guidance to how mourners should behave?</p><p> </p><p>The questions examined were: What characterised news events that leaded to texts on expressions of mourning? How was grief framed? Which narrative patterns were there in the texts? How was the deceased represented? How were the mourners represented?</p><p> </p><p>165 texts, from Swedish daily newspapers, covering 93 different news events were analysed. The methods were mainly discourse analysis with focus on identities and relations, but also semiotic analysis with focus on staging and symbols and narrative analysis with focus on patterns for storytelling.</p><p> </p><p>The result showed that a news story about ordinary people expressing their feelings of grief has elements of melodrama. The news story is based on the myth of the victim, and formed as a typical story where equilibrium is disturbed when the inconceivable happens and the mourners can by their actions restore equilibrium. The paradigms behind are the opposites</p><p>life – death and good – evil. </p><p> </p><p>The deceased is represented as a victim in a mythic sense. The most important qualities of a victim are youth, innocence and goodness. The victim is framed as a person we could sympathise and identify with. The mourners in the texts praise the victim and sanctify the place where the victim died with candles, roses and notes. The mourners are essential to the story; they create identification and an identity that include us as readers in a community and a discourse of mourning and mourners. The ordinary people who appear as mourners in the texts are relatives and close friends of the victim, but also mourning tourists, media chosen friends and anonymous women who are represented, in a stereotypical way, as the professional female mourner who weep over the deceased. In some texts celebrities appear as mourners of ordinary people, and they personalize how the distinction between public and private is erased in popular journalism. They also might give a kind of legitimacy to the way media frame the story about ordinary people mourning the innocent victim.</p><p> </p><p>Some texts had a partly diverging story. If the victim, in some aspect, could not be framed as innocent the paradigm good – evil became problematic. When victims or mourners had foreign origin the contrast us – them was added.  In some texts the ethical code for Swedish journalists was disregarded, mainly by publishing information on ethnicity or by interviewing children and people in shock</p>

The Swedish prime minister, Olof Palme was murdered in the middle of the street in the heart of Stockholm, by an unknown perpetrator on the 28th of February 1986. Even though it has been 32 years since the death of the former prime minister, a keen interest of the murder within the media still exists and has not decreased over the years. By conducting a qualitative text analysis, this paper examined how the murder of Olof Palme is described in an alternative medium; Fria Tider. The aim of this study is to problematize citizen journalism in Sweden. With the basis of the framing theory and agenda setting, eight texts were chosen from the alternative medium Fria Tider, an online newspaper. The authors conducted a framing analysis to identify which frameworks were most prominent in the way of describing the murder. The result of this study showed that three frames dominated; a conspiracy of several actors, the police's responsibility, and the solution is near. The authors found that Fria Tider produced several individuals and institutions as suspected of the murder of Olof Palme in these frameworks. While these frameworks can be seen as problematic, this study cannot conclude that it is problematic to read opinions other than what traditional media give. Therefore, this study cannot problematize citizen journalism.

Begreppen rädsla och trygghet användes frekvent under 2018 års svenska parlamentariska valrörelse, både av politiker och journalister. Den här uppsatsen är en undersökning av hur journalister från sju av de största traditionella medierna i Sverige använder sig av dessa begrepp i sin kritik mot politikernas brist på ideologisk politik. Med avstamp i bl.a. Michael Foucault teorier om diskurs, Sarah Ahmeds affektteorier, och Murray Eldmans kondenserande symboler gör jag en textanalys av de knappt 500 artiklar från tryckt press som mina sökningar rädsla+politik och trygghet+politik i Mediedatabasen gav. Fokus riktas mot de diskursivt semantiska betydelserna, text och symbolik, i begreppen rädsla och trygghet. Eftersom det är en genusvetenskaplig uppsats tillämpas även ett intersektionellt analysverktyg på materialet, där bl.a. de olika posterna skillnad, samband, makt och sociala kontexter lyfts fram. Analysen är uppdelad i fyra teman; Rädslan som politisk retorik, Från folkstyre via välfärd till nationalstat – Socialdemokratins kappvändning, Hotet mot den fria pressen, och De andra. Under vardera rubrik besvaras frågeställningarna: Hur tar sig begreppen rädsla och trygghet i uttryck i sju av Sveriges största traditionella dagstidningar under de sex sista månaderna i 2018 års svenska valrörelse? Producerade och/eller reproducerade detta någon ”större mening” i förhållande till kön, klass och ”ras” och, i så fall, på vilket sätt gjordes det? Resultatet av undersökningen är att begreppen uttrycks som avgörande i valet om den parlamentariska demokratins och den fria pressens överlevnad i Sverige, samt att detta både producerar och reproducerar köns-, klass-, och rasstereotyper. Och att det sistnämnda görs genom samma användning av kondenserande symboler som journalisterna kritiserar politikerna för att använda. Slutsatsen är därför att politik och demokrati inte enbart bygger på rationella val utan måste hanteras i relation till symboler och känslor.