The majority of the Swedish political organizations use social media today since it allows them to quickly and directly communicate with potential voters. By sharing personal content on the side of politics, politicians have contributed to create a digital landscape where they no longer depend on traditional media to reach out with their agendas. Political communication on social media, and especially Instagram, is in need of further exploration in order to develop a wider understanding of communicative strategies on the platform. This thesis is based on two posts each from five of the biggest Swedish political party leaders individual user accounts on Instagram. The time period of one month before the former election of the year 2022 is defined to limit the analysis during a period when the political communication is particularly intense. The purpose of the thesis is by the use of a qualitative multimodal analysis as a method investigate how the party leaders frame their Instagram posts in order to represent themselves through pictures with the belonging captions, and at the same time analyze how they frame their professional and/or personal persona in the very same posts. At last resemblances and/or differences in the posts are investigated in order to identify whether or not there might be certain patterns in the political communication to be acknowledged during the election campaign.   The thesis is mainly found from Erving Goffman's theory about dramaturgical perspectives, and uses specific terms from its papers such as ‘frontstage’ and ‘backstage’ to describe what kind of persona (professional and/or personal) the party leaders intend to portray in each post. Serge Moscovici's theory about social representations is also used to better understand the usage of for example cultural symbols in the posts, but the theory is only used to a certain extent to complete where we found Goffman’s theory to lack perspective.  The results from the analysis of the party leaders' posts were that they still used the same kind of strategic communication to portray themselves as hard working politicians, as former studies showed they did before the election of 2018. Although some leaders showed a bit more content from their backstage/personal life than others, it turned out that none of the posts was non-political, hence every post was set out to be performed in their professional role as political party leader. This means that the Swedish party leaders still use Instagram as a platform to mainly communicate political agendas, and not to show themselves off as celebrities or influencers which some media have contributed them to be portrayed as.

This study investigates the rhetorical strategies used in Jimmie Åkesson's first AI-translated speech on immigration and integration, targeting Arabic-speaking communities in Sweden. It examines how Åkesson frames issues concerning Arabic immigrant minorities through various framing techniques and persuasive appeals and assesses the impact of these strategies on social identity dynamics. The theoretical framework encompasses framing theory and social identity theory, offering insights into rhetorical strategies, and social identity construction. Through qualitative rhetorical analysis, Åkesson's speeches reveal the strategic use of ethos, logos, pathos, and doxa, emphasizing emotional appeals and ingroup-outgroup dynamics. The findings suggest a narrative that reinforces Swedish national identity while potentially marginalizing immigrant communities. However, further examination is needed to assess the nuanced effects of AI-translated speeches on rhetorical choices and audience perceptions. These insights have implications for strategic communication in politics and raise ethical considerations regarding the use of AI in shaping public opinion on immigration.

Theorizing about variations in trust in the news across contexts rely on assumptions about expectations of accuracy and impartiality on behalf of eager, rational democratic citizens (Stromback et al., 2020; Fawzi et al., 2021). However, comparative studies investigating variations in news media trust across countries stemming from quality issues (partisan/biased/sensationalist news) have yet to accommodate assumptions from a strand of scholarship that has long investigated the origins and consequences of bias in the news from a social psychological intergroup perspective — the hostile media effect (Perloff, 2015). Compelling evidence in favor of this social identity mechanism driving the HME (Reid, 2012; Hartmann & Thanis, 2013; Ariyanto et al., 2007) poses important and unexplored questions for comparativists who are interested in studying variations in trust as being influenced by such perceptions. Perceptions of how social identities beyond partisan or ideological identities like national, regional, gender, class, and ethnic identities are represented in the news media can also influence how individuals trust in the news (Saleem et al., 2019; Tsfati & Cohen, 2005). This proposed link between social group identity and trust in the news is investigated using data from large-scale multi-country surveys in three ways. Data from the Reuters Institute’s Digital News Report 2021 which includes data from 35 countries is used to show how perceptions of fairness towards social groups one is a member of (political, ethnic, gender, age, class) is related to generalized trust in the news. Data from Wave 7 (2021) of World Values Survey and the Eurobarometer (2018) are used to show the correlation of identification with national group on generalized trust and regional group identities on trust towards national news. / Media & Communication

Diploma thesis The Rate of Negativity in Miloš Zeman's and Karel Schwarzenberg' Reflection in Media during Presidential Election in 2013 analyses the rate of negativity in the news production of three national newspapers - Mladá fronta Dnes, Lidové noviny and Právo - about these presidential candidates. Time range setting is one month before first round of presidential election and one month after first round of presidential election. The presidential election in January of 2013 was completely different from previous presidential elections. People voted in a direct presidential election. It was very important event, in which the media were very interested. Press, television and radio broadcasting were filled with presidential election, candidates, debates and many reflections. Media have taken it a bit contradictory. Apart from the ordinary information that were important for the public knowledge, the media resorted to the kind of media storm. There were a hight rate of negativity in the news against Miloš Zeman. On the contrary, Karel Schwarzenberg was reflected as an ideal president. The public was separated into two groups by media. First group was supporters of Miloš Zeman and the second one was supporters of Karel Schwarzenberg. The aim of this diploma thesis was to find out, how much...

This thesis examines political culture in London, 1500–1550, by looking at different forms of political communication between the civic government and the city’s inhabitants, and at how these acts were situated within the urban environment. Based on the records of the civic government, the body of the work is divided into two halves addressing those acts conducted by the authorities – proclamations, processions, public punishments – and those directed towards the civic government by others, such as petitions, libels, and seditious talk. The study of these acts reveals two important things: first, that they were not only pragmatic attempts to communicate information, but also performances designed either to construct or contest particular images of authority; secondly, that these performances were spatially structured and that the urban environment was an integral aspect of the city’s political culture. It is then demonstrated that, just as political communication was inherently performative and spatial, so the urban environment was itself a medium of political communication. These observations highlight the importance of political communication to an understanding of the city’s political culture as depicted in the historiography of early modern London. At the same time, recent scholarship on the later sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries has identified an increasingly distinctive culture in towns typified by attitudes to political authority as communal and contingent, and to social identity as performative and self-fashioned. In London in particular, historians have pointed to a radical transformation in the city’s political culture in reaction to dramatic urban growth after 1550. The spatial aspect of this, however, has been neglected. It is argued here that the inherently political nature of urban space and its communicative potential, already in existence, was integral to changing urban values and part of what made rapid change in London after 1550 a politically traumatic and transformative process.

This practice-based research addresses the challenges that face the animation practitioner in the Arab region. In engaging with this topic it highlights the contrast with international animation producers, and also seeks to analyse how Arab animation cinema is represented and understood in the West. It introduces Arab animation history, and the animation industry as it currently exists in the Middle East. I suggest the reasons why there have been so few animated shorts and feature-length films successfully produced in the Arab world, in spite of their being a rich literary and cultural heritage. This study reveals a number of cultural, religious, political and economic issues related to Arab animation cinema, both in relation to its history and in regard to its place domestically and internationally. This research explores how YouTube and other social media became the main platform for Arab animation artists to distribute their political works during and since the 'Arab Spring' in the Middle East. The immediate consequence of this is an explosion in the exposure of Arab animation artists and their work to the world, in comparison to the very limited opportunities and freedoms of the past. Moreover, this study seeks to open up a conversation about the possibility of showing animated films that include Arabic content to Western audiences. This is complex in the sense that the place and presence of Arab animated stories are affected by how the representation is perceived within its production context and conditions of exhibition. My research will result in original knowledge, to be made available to Arab filmmakers, the Arab film industry and international academics addressing and championing animation, by engaging with conceptual questions, creating a critical practice methodology, and applying research-led practice methods.

This case study evaluates government communication practices at Superfund sites. I describe agency communication practices in Superfund communities, paying particular attention to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Seven Cardinal Rules of Risk Communication and its role as a model for federal agencies engaged at these sites. Situating the study within a theoretical milieu that includes sensemaking and symbolic interactionism, I examine whether current practices deepen divisions among stakeholders, reducing the possibility for communicative convergence. I implement textual analysis and narrative inquiry to examine written and spoken communication about the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant National Priorities List Superfund site. Through crystallized analysis of media coverage, public comments, focus group transcripts, and local blogs, I address the following research questions: RQ1: How does the enactment of accepted agency risk communication practices affect relationships among stakeholders, specifically: • how do stakeholders (including federal agency personnel) characterize past and present agency risk communication practices, and • how do stakeholders (including federal agency personnel) characterize each other in relation to these communicative practices? RQ2: What are the related implications for improving agency risk communication approaches? The study concludes with recommendations for improving existing agency risk communication guidelines, as well as the creation of a new communication model to promote convergent communication at Superfund sites.

<p><strong><strong><p>This thesis has its focus</p>on media portrayal of a large political institution; the European Union. Articles from two nations daily newspapers have been analyzed in order to examine how the European Union is described and framed for their readers. The newspapers that was chosen for this study and from which the material was collected, were the Swedish newspaper <em><em>Svenska Dagbladet </em></em>the American newspaper <em><em>The New York Times</em></em>. The material was taken from three periods of time, and by this the results did not only serve a presentiment on how the media reports about the subject, but also an idea over the media’s coverage character over time. Also, by analyzing articles from newspapers from different countries, the material could give an answer to whether there is any difference in media reporting and coverage about the European Union over nation borders. </strong></strong></p><p>Theories that have been under observation for this study, and which have functioned as tools for the analyzing process are: the agenda-setting theory, media ideology, framing, media logic and political communication. Further inspirations that have been under consideration and of values through the development of this thesis are thoughts from the modern theorist Jürgen Habermas, and earlier studies that have been made on the subject in matter, for example ones by Lars Palm and Vanni Tjernström.</p><p>Results from this study showed that there were differences between the two nations way of reporting about the subject, and also that changes over time have occurred. Mostly, it was the Swedish news reporting that showed evident change over the three investigated periods. This can be explained by the countries over all changed relationship towards the European Union. Further did results from this study show that the American articles included more actors and subjects, compared to the Swedish articles. This can be a factor of the American articles longer character.</p>

Magistro darbe nagrinėjamas politikų komunikacijos ir įvaizdžio formavimo procesas tinklaraščiuose, analizuojant skirtinguose valdymo lygmenyse: Europos Parlamente, Lietuvos Respublikos Seime bei vietos savivaldos institucijose piliečių interesus atstovaujančių politikų tinklaraščius. Tyrimu buvo siekiama patikrinti dvi pagrindines darbe formuluojamas hipotezes: 1) Lietuvos politikai tinklaraščiuose komunikuoja pasyviai bei formuoja personalizuotą politiko įvaizdį; 2) politiko veiklos aplinka lemia politiko tinklaraščio komunikacijos pobūdį: Lietuvos piliečių interesus Europos Parlamente, Lietuvos Respublikos Seime bei vietos savivaldos institucijose atstovaujančių politikų komunikacinės bei įvaizdžio formavimo strategijos skiriasi. Tyrimas buvo atliekamas keliais etapais. Pirmiausia, buvo aiškinamasi, kaip aktyviai tinklaraščiuose komunikuoja politikai. Šiame etape kiekybiškai ir kokybiškai tirti šešių politikų tinklaraščiai. Tyrimo metu siekta nustatyti politikų tinklaraščiuose vyraujančias komunikacijos ir įvaizdžio formavimo strategijas. Turinio analizės duomenys toliau buvo analizuojami remiantis penkiais pusiau struktūruotais kokybiniais interviu su skirtingo valdymo lygmenyse piliečių interesus atstovaujančiais politikais, kurių komunikacijos ir įvaizdžio formavimo strategijos nėra aiškiai apibrėžtos, ir ekspertais: elektroninės ir politinės komunikacijos specifiką tyrinėjančia mokslininke bei aktyviu tinklaraštininku, politikų tinklaraščiais besidominčiu politikos... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / This MA thesis focuses on the process of politicians’ communication and image formation in blogs and analyses different administration levels, i.e. the blogs of the politicians representing citizens’ interests in the European Parliament, the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania and local municipal institutions. The goal of the analysis is to test the two main hypotheses enunciated in the paper – 1) Lithuanian politicians communicate passively and embody a personalised politician’s image in their blogs; 2) the environment of a politician’s activity preconditions the nature of the politician’s blog – communication and image formation strategies of politicians representing citizens in the European Parliament, the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania and local municipal institutions differ. The analysis consists of several stages. The first stage is an investigation of how actively politicians communicate in their blogs. This stage contains a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the blogs of six politicians. The goal of this research is to determine the communication and image formation strategies dominating in the politicians’ blogs. The data of the content analysis is further analysed based on the five half-structured qualitative interviews with the politicians representing citizens on various administration levels whose communication and image formation strategies are not clearly defined; the experts, a scientist analysing the specifics of the electronic and political... [to full text]

The diploma thesis "Framing of euroscepticism in the Czech daily press" deals with political communication about the European Union realized in the czech daily press (namely MF DNES, Právo and Hospodářské noviny) during three events which were essential fot the Czech republic. It was referendum (2003), signing of Lisbon Treaty (2009) and signing of ESM (2013). It focuses on quality and europeanisation of public debate and its changes within this events. It also investigates how eurosceptic actors and and oponions are represented. It is trying to examine what are their possibilities of participating in public debate and identify attitudes of individual tituls. Research methods are quantitative analysis plus frame analysis. It also treats (in theoretical part) concepts like political communication (generally and on the european level), european public sphere and also euroscepticism itself.