Social media has contributed to a democratization of public discourse. The down side is that it also means a dependency of social media where the logic of different platforms governs the public discourse. The purpose of this study is to widen the understanding of how Swedish politicians relate to social media through the dimensions of media logic, political logic and strategic use. Through interviews with members of the Swedish parliament, we seek to answer which logic they are governed by in their use of social media and if they are strategic in their use. Political logic and media logic, with a clear distinction between network media logic and mass media logic, constitutes the theoretical framework. The conclusion is that the politicians are governed by political logic, but are highly aware of the logics of different social media. They adapt to the logic of different social media in some ways but also actively choose to not adapt, with the motivation that their goal is to spread knowledge about their political issues. They show different levels of strategy in their usage. However, through the example of Twitter/X and the changes the platform has gone through recently, we identify that the politicians are bound to platforms and their logic even if they don’t want to be. Therefore, we classify the politicians as strategic victims. This study constitutes one piece of the bigger puzzle in understanding the impact of media logic on political logic by exploring the phenomenon in a Swedish context.

The aim of this study is to explore how three Swedish media outlets adhere to mass media logic and social media logic in articles on their websites and the corresponding Facebook posts on their Facebook pages. The media outlets are SVT (Sveriges Television), Dagens Nyheter and Expressen. They represent a public service broadcaster, a daily newspaper and a tabloid in a Swedish context. The samples of the study consists of the headlines and leads of the articles and the text in the corresponding Facebook posts. The articles and the corresponding Facebook posts cover the news event of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on the 24th of February 2022. The samples are analysed with the method of critical discourse analysis and the theoretical frameworks of mass media logic and social media logic. The main findings of this study are that the samples adhered to the mass media logic elements of coverage of events, staging experts and media personalities; and the social media logic elements relating to connectivity. The further implications of this study may be that media as an institution is impacted by social media platforms, such as Facebook, and that news distributed on Facebook is adapted to the platform. The findings of this study are an example of how media outlets in Sweden adhere to mass media logic and social media logic, when covering a news event in articles on their websites which they share on their Facebook pages.

In this paper I explore how participatory journalism is changing organizational structure and production practices at the publicly funded Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in Toronto (CBC). Using practical action research I examine two sites of study that offer unique strategies on incorporating everyday citizens into the news production process: the use of citizen bloggers to supplement CBC’s coverage of the G20 summit in Toronto shows how diversifying storytelling improves the overall quality of news content; the mandate of Connect with Mark Kelly to democratize daily news by using ordinary people as sources and breaking traditional rules of production reveals a survival strategy for daily news shows. Through the lens of media logic, using the theories of convergence culture and the public sphere, I develop strategies to involve more citizens in the newsmaking process, thus invigorating public discourse and subverting news production that is designed to entertain instead of inform.

The aim with this essay is to examine how two Swedish newspapers, Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter, have framed Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton during the US presidential election in 2016. The goal with this essay is to contribute to research on how politicians are described in the news media and how politicians’ gender affect this description. The research questions are as follows:  1. How did the Swedish newspapers Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter frame Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton during US presidential election in 2016? 2. What similarities and differences can be seen between the two candidates, in how they were framed? 3. Were there any similarities and differences between the two newspapers, in how they framed the candidates?    In order to answer the research questions, we conducted a quantitative content analysis, in which we analyzed 160 news articles. The articles were published between February first and November eighth in 2016. Through, first, a strategic, and then, a systematic selection 80 articles for each candidate were selected. For the survey three theoretical fields were chosen; framing theory, media logic (focusing on personalization) and gender theory. The quantitative content analysis coding scheme is based on these theories.   The results show that game and strategy framing was the most prevalent form of framing in both newspapers, about half of all the articles were framed as game and strategy. The most common topic of the articles was “the election, opinion polls and media”. The result also showed that Trump often was termed as evil, as a loser, and the articles were often negatively angled towards him. Clinton was more often termed as good, as a winner and the articles were more positive towards her. However, Trump got the most attention in both papers. The survey also shows a higher degree of personalization against Clinton and she weren’t quoted in the articles as much as Trump. No major differences were seen between the newspapers in their use of frames and the degree of personalization.

Att fotbollsspelare representerar en nation när det spelas världsmästerskap är givet. Dagens landslag i fotboll ser numera inte ut som de gjorde för 100 år sedan. Migration har förflyttat människor kors och tvärs över landsgränser. Dagens landslag utgörs inte endast av infödda spelare, utan även första – och andragenerationens invandrare tar plats i olika startelvor världen över. Detta är ett faktum som idag väcker debatt och skildrar stundtals en tydlig uppdelning i åsikter, ett exempel är Ryssland sommaren 2018 där världsmästerskapet i fotboll spelades. Den 23 juni ägde mötet Sverige-Tyskland rum. Den svenska spelaren Jimmy Durmaz gjorde under slutminuterna en miss som indirekt ledde till att Tyskland gjorde mål och Sveriges avancemang i gruppspelet försvårades avsevärt. Jimmy Durmaz, som har assyriskt ursprung, fick efter matchen utstå mängder av rasistiska påhopp på sociala medier och tumult utbröt i hela fotbollssverige. Det blev också politiska diskussioner efter att Schweiz kammat hem vinsten i mötet med Serbien eftersom de schweiziska målgörarna var av kosovoalbanskt ursprung. Deras ursprung gick inte obemärkt förbi då båda målgörarna stolt genomförde sina politiska målgester kännetecknandes den albanska örnen. Givetvis rörde detta upp känslor eftersom Kosovo länge varit en autonom provins i dåtidens Jugoslavien och landet har sedan balkankrigen en mycket infekterad politisk relation till Serbien. Som svar stod majoriteten av serbiska fans på andra sidan och skrek rebelliska ramsor som kommit till under tiden då serbiska gerillor mördade massvis med civila albaner och bosnier. / The overall aim of this study is to critically analyze how the newspaper articles from the Swedish sport news, Sportbladet portrays or represent "the other" from the 2018 World Cup, an international football tournament. Today’s society is influenced of immigration that has changed and moved people across the world. Therefore many soccer players have a different ethnicity than the nation they represent. In this study, the newspaper articals will be analyzed by using a critical text analysis that is connected to a discourse analysis. According to the media logic the news journalism and the news media should not benefit anyone more than anyone else. However, news reporting tends to be ethnocentric on numerous occasions. During the 19th century, the sports movement developed throughout Europe, and nationalism and patriotism developed enormously within the framework of sport. Today, it is strongly reflected during a World Cup. The ethnocentric perspective may be a form that legitimizes that the nationalist expressions are welcomed in mass media. The central part of the study is to see if the ethnocentric perspective in news reporting can contribute to create an “identity” representant ”the other”.

This study aims to explore how the Danish grassroots movement #hvorerderenvoksen is shaped through the usage of Facebook as their primary communication tool. Using the embedded case study method, this thesis describes in detail how and why the movement arose and explains the role of Facebook’s features, primarily groups and sites, for the movements external communication. As such, it will become clear that using Facebook is not merely a means to an end. Being an activist on Facebook means using and being used, it entails the acceleration of mobilisation, but also disciplining activist action in accordance with Facebook’s terms and conditions. This thesis will draw upon modern communication theories such as mediatization and network media logic and analyse #hvorerderenvoksen as a digital social phenomenon. As will become clear, digitalisation and even more so datafication processes play a role when critically examining contemporary activism. To sum up, this thesis aims to show how an activist movement is mediatized and strongly emphasizes the role of digitalization and media hybridity in this process. It suggests that future research will focus more on the influence datafication, and especially the collection of human data and its untransparent processing, has on mediatized activism.

This paper examines the mechanisms of “successful” communication in matters of political leaders’ability to gain public trust and credibility during large scale crises. Even though political actors andother stakeholders tend to be very proactive to promote their views, news media also play an activeand important role in framing public policy issues and crises.1 Thus, this thesis involves both politicalactors and media in the context of framing and crisis communication. Their interrelation and itsimportance for explaining successful crisis communication is demonstrated by producing a case studyof the Norwegian government’s communication efforts during and after the terrorist attack in Osloand the island of Utöya 22/7 2011. This paper argues and demonstrates that the active use ofpositive frames, that are cultural congruent and resonate with the media shaping, is a necessity tocreate a favorable context for winning praise and support in times of crisis. In line with previousresearch, framing strategies in crisis communication is demonstrated to be central to the crisisresponse and determines whether a responsible stakeholder is able to create momentum, maintainand even gain increased public support or not.

Granskning av makt och makthavare är ett av mediernas viktigaste uppdrag och i en jämställd politisk miljö bör uttalanden och ageranden bedömas utifrån lika villkor. Det för ingenting gott med sig om medierna gör en orättvis skillnad på kvinnor och män i deras rapportering om politiska skandaler. Det finns många påståenden om en genusdimension i mediernas rapportering, men relativt få vetenskapliga belägg för detta. Syftet med avhandlingen är att undersöka i vilken utsträckning det förekommer likheter och skillnader i hur nyhetsmedier rapporterar om kvinnor och män i svenska politiska skandaler samt bidra med en förståelse för förekomsten av dessa eventuella likheter och skillnader. I en kvantitativ innehållsanalys analyseras 4345 tidningsartiklar fördelade på 92 svenska skandaler med förtroendevalda politiker på den nationella och den europeiska nivån mellan åren 1997 och 2010. Utifrån teoretiska antaganden om mediernas dagordningsmakt, gestaltningsmakt och medielogik undersöks nyhetsmedierna Aftonbladet, Dagens Nyheter, Expressen och Svenska Dagbladet. Studiens resultat visar på flera stora könsskillnader som är till kvinnornas nackdel, men i datamaterialet framträder också många likheter. Som grupp betraktat missgynnas dock kvinnor i flera avseenden gentemot män vilket kan innebära att kvinnor kan få sämre möjligheter till att hantera och överleva politiska skandaler än män. En slutsats är att huvudpersonens kön är en viktig aspekt i strävan efter förståelse för hur politiska skandaler tar sin början, utvecklas och kommer till avslut.

The main aim of this thesis was to examine the ‘Men Going Their Own Way’ (r/MGTOW) community on Reddit. This aim was carried out by exploring (1) the themes perpetuated in the community, (2) how r/MGTOW fits in the contemporary ‘manosphere’, (3) the linguistic identity of its users, (4) the presence of hegemonic and inclusive masculinity, and lastly (5) the role of social media logics on r/MGTOW. The theoretical framework was comprised of theories about the characteristics of the manosphere, linguistic identity, hegemonic masculinity theory and inclusive masculinity theory, discourse, and social media logics.The analysis was comprised of research tools from Thematic Analysis, Content Analysis, and Foucauldian discourse analysis. The Content Analysis was facilitated by qualitative and quantitative software, WordStat. Through the use of these tools it was found that female nature, feminism, masculinity, society, and self-improvement were common themes in the community. Furthermore, masculinity, the dismissal of femininity, and a distinct lingua franca were elements that created a common antifeminist identity among the r/MGTOW users. Alleged scientific theories and beliefs about female nature and feminism were used as means to justify the position of men as victims. And lastly, most of the ideals of hegemonic masculinity, except for stoicism, were accepted.Taking social media logic into account, we see that users on certain platforms can boost certain content. This principle also applies to Reddit, which is the platform that hosts r/MGTOW. Therefore, research should further explore if online platforms can be held accountable for user-generated content. Additionally, further research should look into other methods for conduction the analysis, such as interviews, and should consider cross-fertilization of ideas between different manospherian communities. And ultimately, concepts such as victimization and identity formation online ought to be examined in this setting to acquire a broader understanding of the manosphere. The limitations of this thesis are the short timeframe of study and the lack of data triangulation.

This thesis reports findings from a content analysis of 720 newspaper articles and 3,052 newspaper article cases focused on the issue of print media bias. Sunday editions of three major newspapers were drawn from the six-year period 1998-2003 for analysis. Prior research has uncovered print media bias in reporting of religious groups, and this thesis examines the substance of those claims pertaining to both established religions and new religious movements. Research findings show that established religions and their members are typically described in favorable or neutral terms, while new religious movements and their members are consistently described with pejorative terms. However, specific established religion members received the overwhelming majority of negative religion member descriptors. Articles focusing on established religion members were found to contain the bulk of visual aides accompanying the articles. Newspaper articles discussed incidents of violence by and/or against specific religious groups of both types of religion with a high frequency. Also, newspaper article themes and angles were found to be important for conveying the content of the articles. Additionally, an appendix is included that analyzes the treatment of religion, established religions and their members, and new religious movements and their members in sociology textbooks.