I samband med den befintliga medieutvecklingen har fenomenet cancel culture ökat i aktualitet. Det växte fram på sociala medier men sker idag både inom digitala och traditionella medier. Ett uppmärksammat svenskt fall av cancel culture skedde våren 2020 då Paolo Roberto genomförde köp av sexuella tjänster. Han erkände offentligt på Instagram, vilket skapade en nyhetsstorm som ledde till att han blev cancellerad. Studiens syfte är att undersöka om nyhetsmedier kan bidra till cancel culture. Det genom att studera svenska nyhetsmediers sätt att rapportera om fallet Paolo Roberto. Två artiklar från tre olika svenska nyhetsmedier analyserades: Aftonbladet, Dagens Nyheter, och Expressen. Det med hjälp av kritisk diskursanalys. Sedan applicerades teorierna kritisk teori samt gestaltningsteori på resultatet. Studien fann att rapporteringen bidrar till cancel culture genom inramningarna i nyhetsmedierna. Likheter och skillnader mellan artiklarna kunde urskiljas, exempelvis gällande neutralitet och formuleringar. Vidare påvisades tendenser i de studerade artiklarna som bidrar till cancel culture, bland annat genom citat, rubriceringar och infallsvinklar. Alla nyhetsmedierna uppvisade dessutom ett bakomliggande ekonomiskt intresse och moraliskt ställningstagande. / In relation to the current media development, the phenomenon of cancel culture has increased in relevance. It emerged on social media but takes place in both digital and traditional media today. A well-known Swedish case of cancel culture occurred in the spring of 2020 when Paolo Roberto purchased sexual services. He publicly confessed to it on Instagram, which generated attention from news outlets that led to his cancellation. The purpose of the study is to investigate if news outlets can contribute to cancel culture. This will be done by analyzing Swedish news outlets’ way of reporting about the case of Paolo Roberto. Two articles each from three different Swedish news outlets were analyzed: Aftonbladet, Dagens Nyheter, and Expressen. This was done using critical discourse analysis. We then applied the theories critical theory and the framing theory to the result. The study found that news outlets contribute to cancel culture through framings. We found both similarities and differences between the articles, for example regarding neutrality and wording. Furthermore, we found tendencies in the reporting that could contribute to cancel culture, for example through quotes, headings, and framings. Moreover, all the articles showed an underlying economic interest and moral standpoints.

On the 14th of may 2020, the Swedish TV- personality and entrepreneur Paolo Roberto was captured by the police when he bought sex from a prostitute. The next day he went out on television and apologized to the people and described himself as a victim by blaming the purchase of sex on his self-harming behavior. This announcement became a scandal and the result was that all of the newspapers started to write about it. This case study’s purpose was to see how Paolo Roberto’s purchase of sex was framed, how the prostitute and also how prostituion was framed in two tabloid newspapers, Aftonbladet and Expressen, from a scandal perspective. This case study also studied if the newspapers describe the sexbuyers position or the prostitutes situation.  Framing analysis was the method that was used in the case study of 20 news articles, 10 from each newspaper.  The results of this study shows that the sexbuyer Paolo Roberto is framed as the “fired entrepreneur” and all of the focus was on his company that fired him and ended their cooperation with him. Another two frames included “Lack of personality” and “Loss of sexual norms”. In this frames actors and well known persons were interviewed and they talked about his punishment, that he didn`t understand the sexual norms, and his lack of personality. The prostitute was framed as a “victim” when she got mentioned in the newspaper, which wasn´t much. She also got a frame for “not mentioned at all” and another frame when she was mentioned she got “The women from one of Europe's poorest countries”. There was no other information about her, so the reader gets no more information about who she is more than a “poor woman” or just a “woman”. This left the reader to construct the prostituted woman by themself. The frame of prostituion was when it was mentioned, which wasn’t much, to “Fight prostitution” and means that all focus is to catch the sexbuyers. Another frame that was discovered was “Is there any prostituion?” because prostitution is not mentioned in the news articles. This was because Paolo Roberto’s sex purchase got all of the attention with his companys and other people´s opinions.

Studien “Jag är helt enkelt en parasit som ska utrotas!” ämnar analysera TV-profilen och entreprenören Paolo Robertos kriskommunikation i samband med den förtroendekris som uppstod när han greps för sexköp i polisoperationen Insats torsk våren 2020. Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur en offentlig svensk person hanterar och kommunicerar en kris som drabbar det personliga varumärket och personens image. Undersökningen är en kvalitativ retorisk textanalys och utgår från teorier som image repair theory och retorikens appellformer ethos, pathos och logos. I studien analyseras totalt sex uttalanden av Paolo Roberto som berör krisen. Fem av dessa uttalanden gjordes i direkt anslutning till krisen och ett uttalande skedde ett år efter händelsen.  Resultatet av studien visar att Paolo Roberto tillämpar flera olika försvarsstrategier och retoriska övertalningsmedel i sin kriskommunikation. Analysen visar att Roberto använder fem av totalt 14 image repair-strategier: ta på sig hela skulden, tillrättaläggande, provokation, hänvisa till ett högre syfte och minimering. Ta på sig hela skulden är den strategi som förekommer oftast i Robertos uttalanden men det är endast i ett uttalande som han faktiskt ber om ursäkt. Strategierna provokation och tillrättaläggande används också frekvent i kriskommunikationen. Studien visar också att Roberto tillämpar retorikens appellformer i syfte att stärka sin argumentation och återfå förtroende och anseende. Alla uttalanden präglas starkt av pathos och Roberto försöker väcka känslor av sympati och framställer sig själv som ett offer i situationen. Det finns även inslag av ethos i kommunikationen. Logos förekommer endast i ett uttalande. Utifrån analysen går det dessutom att konstatera att kriskommunikationen, till viss del, förändrats över tid. Strategin minimering används exempelvis enbart i det sista analyserade uttalandet som ägde rum ett år efter händelsen . / The study ”I am simply a parasite to be eradicated!” aims to analyze the television personality and entrepreneur Paolo Roberto´s crisis communication in relation to the crisis of confidence that occurred when he was arrested for purchasing sexual services in the police operation Insats Torsk in the spring of 2020. The purpose of the study is to investigate how a public Swedish profile handles and communicates a crisis that affects the personal brand and the image of the person. This study uses a qualitative rhetorical text analysis and emanates from theories like image repair theory and the rhetorical appeals ethos, pathos and logos. In the study, six statements made by Paolo Roberto in relation to the crisis are analyzed. Five of the statements were directly issued in relation to the crisis and one of the statements was made one year after the incident. The result of the study shows that Paolo Roberto applies several different defensive strategies and rhetorical persuasion methods in his crisis communication. The analysis shows that Roberto uses five out of 14 in total image repair-strategies: mortification, corrective action, provocation, transcendence and minimization. The strategy that is used the most in Roberto´s statements is mortification, but it is only in one statement he actually apologizes for his actions. The strategies provocation and corrective action are also frequently used in the crisis communication. The study shows that Roberto uses rhetorical appeals with the aim to strengthen his argumentation to be able to regain trust and reputation. All statements that were made are strongly influenced by pathos and Roberto tries to induce emotion of sympathy and draws a picture of himself where he is the victim of the situation. There are also some elements of ethos used in the communication. Logos only occurs in one of the statements. From the analysis it can also be ascertained that some parts of the crisis communication have changed over time. The strategy minimization is for example only used in the last statement that was analyzed, which occurred a year after the incident.

This study has examined how the celebrities Paolo Roberto and Margaux Dietz were portrayed in the Swedish newspapers Aftonbladet and Expressen in connection with their scandals in 2020 and 2022. The purpose of the study is to investigate whether there are gender stereotypes in the way Roberto and Dietz are portrayed in newspapers, and to see what similarities and differences can be observed in the representation of the celebrities in text and image. The theoretical framework of the study is based on framing, theories of gender, theories about scandals and media logic. The method used in the study is a quantitative content analysis. The results show that Dietz was portrayed in a more negative way than Roberto, who was portrayed more neutral. The results also showed that Roberto was primarily discussed from a professional perspective, while Dietz was more often discussed from a private perspective. When the celebrities were represented in images, the results showed that Dietz was more frequently shown smiling and looking into the camera. Based on the results, we can conclude that Roberto and Dietz are portrayed differently in the reporting of their scandals in newspapers, both in text and image. We see that these gender stereotypes that have emerged in previous research largely agree with this study. Through a gender perspective, many of the differences can be linked to the gender stereotypes and structures of masculinity and femininity that have long existed in our society.