During the past couple of years, shootings in Malmö have been given considerable amount of attention and not the least by the news media. The tabloids have often been dominated by headlines which indicate an increase of violent shootings in Sweden’s third largest city. Comparing shootings in Malmö to other cities in Sweden is a difficult task as the local police collects data based on different criteria, nevertheless comparisons are frequently made. The objective of this project is to examine how newspapers portray shootings in Malmö by analyzing articles from major newspapers in Sweden. This thesis focuses on the language that is used and in the light of moral panics theory it is discusses whether the news articles in question are instigating moral panics. It is evaluated what discourses are produced and reproduced by the language used in the context of shootings in Malmö through critical discourse analysis (CDA). The main findings reveal that news media tend to promote certain ideas about the severity and the circumstances regarding shootings in Malmö that are symbolic for the instigation of moral panics. In the context of shootings in Malmö the most frequent points that are raised is that shootings are “symptomatic”, shootings are becoming normalized and shootings pose a threat to “normal people” as well. The main implications from this project is that future research is needed on the subject of how data regarding shootings is collected by to police in order to conduct research similar to this. There is a need of a uniformity within the police regarding the definition and classification of shootings in order to facilitate research that compares shootings across the nation. As a follow up to the current project it would be beneficial to investigate the social reactions to the style of journalism discussed in this paper.

A moral panic erupted during the 1980s among the American public when stories about crack cocaine saturated the media. In this thesis I analyze how discursive productions of deviancy operated in the CBS news documentary: 48 Hours on Crack Street (1986) and other print news sources at that time. Three salient characters that appear in news media discourse during the panic are "crack mothers," "crack babies," and "Black male dope dealers." The news media frightened the public with such representations (among others) and the public urged politicians to get tough on drug crime to control the so-called crack cocaine plague. Politicians responded with omnibus drug reforms that established mandatory minimum sentences and the controversial 100:1 sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine. The enforcement of the draconian drug laws that were passed in response to the crack cocaine panic continues to be a contributing factor to America's current prison crisis. Moreover, the laws are enforced in ways that disproportionately punish the poor and African-Americans. I conclude that the criminal disenfranchisement of millions of people since the 1980s relates to the media's representation of the crack cocaine "epidemic" and the legislation that was passed to control illicit drugs such as crack cocaine.

The artificial intelligence (AI) technology has developed unexpectedly fast for the last five years. There is an ongoing discussion about whether the technology should be seen as a contributing tool that could make life easier for people or if it is a risky innovation threatening human systems, particularly among journalists. The different opinions of AI within the journalism profession contributes to the interest in studying how artificial intelligence is written about in newspapers. Despite this, there is a lack of studies that investigate the portrayal of artificial intelligence in Swedish news. This paper examines the depiction of artificial intelligence in the most read daily newspaper in Sweden to contribute to this research gap. It also offers a comparison of the portrayal for the year 2018 and 2022. The study is based on Entman´s framing theory and explores the framing of AI within different subjects, perspectives of time and the representation of AI as an aid or a risk. The study also applies theorized concepts of media panic and technological optimism to enable a deeper analysis and discussion of the results. The analysis was conducted through qualitative content analysis of twentyone news articles from Dagens Nyheter. By analyzing significant words and sentences the results of this study shows that AI is mostly framed along the following subject categories: ethics and culture. Further on the results show a predominantly framing of AI as a contributing aid and a discussion from a present or future perspective of time. The comparison between the portrayal of AI during 2018 and 2022 presented a rather similar result. The most noticeable differences are that more subjects, such as economics, politics, education and climate, were identified in articles from 2018 and that articles from 2022 tend to discuss risks of AI to a slightly higher extent. Due to the predominant framing of AI as an aid, there could be traces of technical optimism in the empirical data but there is nothing in the material to clearly indicate this.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how children involved in gang crime are portrayed in the media and how the Social Services are expected to work with these children, according to the media. Focus lies on the wave of gang violence in Sweden that increased during the fall of 2023. Cohen’s theory of moral panic was applied to shed light on how the media portrays the problem. The theory additionally allowed us to study what reactions, that characterizes moral panic, was present in the media during the time studied. The empirical material is based on 23 news articles from four different newspapers during the increase of violence. The data was examined using qualitative content analysis. Four themes appeared in the process of coding the material. The result shows that children are portrayed as both victims and perpetrators, occasionally at the same time. As a result, a role conflict could be identified. Recurring criticism and dissatisfaction with the actions of Sweden’s Social Services prevailed in the articles. In summary, moral panic is prevalent in the media. As studies show, this tends to affect how actors and various situations are depicted. Lastly, the conditions of the work done by the Social Services seems to, based on the articles, benefit from alterations.

School shootings in the United States have garnered significant attention. Since 1999, several high-profile school shootings have taken place across the U.S. in Connecticut, Virginia, Florida, etc. The phenomenon of school shootings and the resultant moral panic is explored by examining media coverage to understand how the media contributes to public responses to these tragic incidents. Although school shootings tend to receive attention, we do not know how this attention can differ across school shootings. This study uses the moral panic framework to assess how national newspaper coverage portrays the Sandy Hook Elementary and Robb Elementary school shootings. I find that the media discourse differs between the two shootings considerably when assessing each attribute of the moral panic framework. This is important as school shootings are reported differently, thus changing public perception. I argue that the level of panic we’ve seen after previous school shootings such as Columbine has decreased.

This study was conducted in the Indian state Kerala, among 15 physical education (PE) teachers. The aim of this study was to investigate intergenerational touch in the daily work of Indian PE teachers, and more precisely whether or not the teachers thought intergenerational touch was an issue and what their views on this subject were. The data was generated through semi-structured interviews with teachers from Keralan primary, secondary and upper-secondary schools. Collected data was analysed by using Michel Foucault’s theoretical concepts of discourse, power/knowledge, bio-power, governmentality, normalisation and panopticism. The study identifies a number of different discourses, in which physical interaction emerged as a dilemma for Indian PE teachers. Two of the most distinct ones were, what we refer to as, the “no touch”- and “risk”-discourses. Based on the findings of this study we conclude that the gender of the PE teacher plays a crucial role in whether a teacher choose to physically interact with their students or not. Societal norms have a great influence on PE teachers’ actions concerning intergenerational touch, which in this context cohere around no touch.

This paper aims to examine the different portrayals in Swedish journalism about a case with a controversial topic. The analyzed case in this study focuses on the provocative rapper Mr Cool and his song about sexual intercourse with a child and the following mediated debate about freedom of speech and morality. The research questions examined were: How does the media frame the meta-debate about Mr Cool? We picked 16 articles and analyzed them with a qualitative content analysis method using framing theory and argumentation techniques in order to be able to examine how the debate were portrayed by the media. We also used the moral panic concept to get a deeper understanding of the mechanics of topics the society is concerned with. We have found that the participants of the debate handled the subject differently and with different strategies, depending on which side they would support. The central discussion was about personal taste, boundary making and the consequences of silencing what is thought to be offensive. The results of the analysis agrees with previous studies and theories in the field when it comes to moral panics and fear as a natural part of our society. History is likely to repeat itself but with other motives and other fears.

Na década de 1980 o sistema brasileiro de segurança pública experienciou mudanças, no contexto da transição democrática. Foi nesse momento que se buscou efetivar, em São Paulo, a agenda política conhecida como Políticas de Humanização dos Presídios. Trataremos aqui de uma dessas experiências: um canal de comunicação e de representação de presos no sistema penitenciário paulista chamado Comissões de Solidariedade. Analisaremos como tais Comissões foram deslegitimadas publicamente por meio de uma denúncia: a existência de um grupo criminoso, organizado por presos no interior da Penitenciária do Estado, e que teria se infiltrado nas Comissões de Solidariedade. O grupo foi anunciado como Serpentes Negras. Desta forma, pretende-se descrever a tentativa de efetivação dessas políticas e como a disputa de interesses afetou os rumos das reformas, se refletindo nas praticas internas às prisões; busca-se também recuperar os efeitos produzidos pela denúncia e, com isso, o debate público em torno das políticas de segurança e dos Direitos Humanos no período, bem como a formação e a circulação de um novo discurso sobre o crime organizado em São Paulo, cuja atualidade não pode ser desprezada. / In the 1980s the Brazilian public security system experienced changes in the context of democratic transition. It was at this moment that the political agenda known as \"Humanization Policies of Prisons\" was sought to be implemented in São Paulo. We will deal with one of these experiences: a channel of communication and representation of prisoners in the prison system of São Paulo called Commissions for Solidarity. We will analyze how these Commissions were publicly delegitimized by means of a complaint: the existence of a criminal group, organized by prisoners inside the State Penitentiary, and which would have infiltrated the Solidarity Commissions. The group was announced as Black Serpents. In this way, the intention is to describe the attempt to put these policies into effect and how the dispute of interests affected the direction of the reforms, being reflected in the internal practices of the prisons; It also seeks to recover the effects produced by the denunciation and thus the public debate on security and human rights policies in the period, as well as the formation and circulation of a new discourse on organized crime in São Paulo, whose actuality can not be overlooked.

Na década de 1980 o sistema brasileiro de segurança pública experienciou mudanças, no contexto da transição democrática. Foi nesse momento que se buscou efetivar, em São Paulo, a agenda política conhecida como Políticas de Humanização dos Presídios. Trataremos aqui de uma dessas experiências: um canal de comunicação e de representação de presos no sistema penitenciário paulista chamado Comissões de Solidariedade. Analisaremos como tais Comissões foram deslegitimadas publicamente por meio de uma denúncia: a existência de um grupo criminoso, organizado por presos no interior da Penitenciária do Estado, e que teria se infiltrado nas Comissões de Solidariedade. O grupo foi anunciado como Serpentes Negras. Desta forma, pretende-se descrever a tentativa de efetivação dessas políticas e como a disputa de interesses afetou os rumos das reformas, se refletindo nas praticas internas às prisões; busca-se também recuperar os efeitos produzidos pela denúncia e, com isso, o debate público em torno das políticas de segurança e dos Direitos Humanos no período, bem como a formação e a circulação de um novo discurso sobre o crime organizado em São Paulo, cuja atualidade não pode ser desprezada. / In the 1980s the Brazilian public security system experienced changes in the context of democratic transition. It was at this moment that the political agenda known as \"Humanization Policies of Prisons\" was sought to be implemented in São Paulo. We will deal with one of these experiences: a channel of communication and representation of prisoners in the prison system of São Paulo called Commissions for Solidarity. We will analyze how these Commissions were publicly delegitimized by means of a complaint: the existence of a criminal group, organized by prisoners inside the State Penitentiary, and which would have infiltrated the Solidarity Commissions. The group was announced as Black Serpents. In this way, the intention is to describe the attempt to put these policies into effect and how the dispute of interests affected the direction of the reforms, being reflected in the internal practices of the prisons; It also seeks to recover the effects produced by the denunciation and thus the public debate on security and human rights policies in the period, as well as the formation and circulation of a new discourse on organized crime in São Paulo, whose actuality can not be overlooked.

<p>"The choreography of fear" is a discourse-analysis study which focus at how young men speaks about fear, threat and violence in the public everyday life. The study adopts socialcontructionism as theoretical approach and also uses theories about gender, hegemony masculinity, fear as a social constructed phenomenon and moral-panic. The study is based on qualitative interview whit young men in age 18-30 and the method is mainly discourse-psychology. The section of Analysis discuss subjects as what and whom the young men consider to be a threat and which areas in the public space they consider to be dangerous and how they choose to handle the menace. The Analysis also focuses on how the informants speak about fear, how they define fear and what they consider arouse fear.</p>