This essay examines the appearance of Håkan Juholt, former party leader of the swedish social democratic party, in the norwegian/swedish talk show Skavlan, during Juholt’s crisis of confidence in the autumn of 2011. In this appearance it is clear that Juholt is badly treated by the host Fredrik Skavlan, and his guest, writer and journalist Linn Ullmann, while the audience seems to applaud and laugh at Skavlans and Ullmanns criticisms. The purpose of this essay is to investigate how, and why Juholt is treated in this way, and which rhetorical strategies Skavlan and Ullmann employ to create community between them selves and their audience. To understand this occurrence it is important to study Juholt’s rhetorical situation, and which conditions his lack of confidence creates for his appearance in Skavlan. Thus, I will perform two comparative analyses, by using cluster criticism, on one hand on how Juholt was spoken of in the media, and on the other hand on how Juholt is spoken of in his appearance in Skavlan. The goal of the first analysis is to determine how Aftonbladet are valuing Juholt, and how Aftonbladet are framing the ethos of Juholt. The goal of the second analysis is to identify how Skavlan and Ullmann are valuing Juholt, versus how Juholt is valuing himself. The purpose in doing this way is to identify a pattern, a common denominator, on how Juholt was framed in Aftonbladet and how Skavlan and Ullmann are responding to Juholt. This would show that Skavlan and Ullmann are valuing Juholt the same way as Aftonbladet did, i.e. negatively, and that their valuation are a result of Aftonbladets framing of Juholt, while Juholt is valuing himself positively. The results show a pattern in that both Aftonbladet and subsequently Skavlan and Ullmann are valuing Juholt negatively, and that both Skavlan and Ullmann are treating Juholt with suspicion and distance. First of all, the results show the persuasive effect Aftonbladet’s framing on Juholt had on Skavlan’s and Ullmann’s way in relating to Juholt. Secondly, the results show Juholt’s inability to adapt his communication to the situational constraints that surrounds both his crisis of confidence and the talk show as a medium. Thirdly, the results point to humour as an important rhetorical strategy to achieve identification and differentiation. Finally, this essay points to the talk show’s role as an admittedly important platform for consensus-building politicians, however, this requires an understanding of the rhetorical situation, and which cultural constraints that are inherent in both the audiences’ expectations on talk shows as a medium, and the host’s attempt at making an entertaining programme.

The aim of this study was to examine how women and men are presented in the public service entertainment journalism, and more exact how they are presented in the Swedish-Norwegian television talk show Skavlan and what roles they are assigned to in Skavlan. The main question for this study was “What roles are assigned to women and men in Skavlan?” With roles, I mean roles that are connected to the aspect of power between women and men that can be found in gender-theory. To answer the main question and the purpose of the study I analyzed four interviews from the latest season of Skavlan where both men and women are being interviewed, using critical discourse analysis according to Fairclough.  The result of the study shows that women and men are assigned to different kind of roles in Skavlan and the roles are gender stereotyped. Men are assigned to roles such as authoritarian and knowing and women are assigned to roles such as responsible and high-performance. Men are also presented as superior to the woman and in the majority of the interviews men are using verbal suppression techniques against each other and against women. Sometimes it can also be perceived as if women are using verbal suppression techniques, even if it’s more obvious that men are using it.

The purpose of the study is to examine how female and male guests are portrayed in two talk shows that belong to public service, Carina Bergfeldt, and Skavlan. Research questions including examining characteristics, topics and roles of the various guests are also applied in the talk shows. The theories applied are framing, gender and discourse to answer the questions of the study. The primary issue aims to find out how the two talk shows differ due to studying gender equality and media representation.  The method is a critical discourse analysis that examines how language is used concerning power relations between the sexes. The study results show that the two tv programs differ in several ways, but they are also similar in others. In one of the talk shows, women and men are assigned roles that agree with the gender stereotypes that exist today. In the program Skavlan, women talk about emotions while men get questions related to their careers. Stereotypical characteristics also occur. The topics covered in the interviews also differ; some even agree well with typical gender stereotypes. The study's conclusion discusses how the primary question has been answered or not. Using the study's theories, they have explained how the two talk shows, Carina Bergfeldt and Skavlan, differ. In summary, this study has contributed to further knowledge about gender in television and how women and men are portrayed. Also, how a female presenter and male select and formulate their interview questions. There is a clear difference between the two talk shows, but they are also similar in many ways.

Den här studien ämnar undersöka fenomenet intervjuteknik med utgångspunkt att studera interaktionsmönstret hos två av Sveriges främsta Talkshowvärdar, Carina Bergfeldt och Fredrik Skavlan. Genom att analysera deras intervjutekniker i respektive Talkshowprogram, Carina Bergfeldt och Skavlan, avser studien att identifiera eventuella skillnader respektive likheter i deras tillvägagångssätt att genomföra en intervju. Studien utgår ifrån de två frågeställningarna 1) Hur är Carina Bergfeldt och Fredrik Skavlans intervjutekniker utformade, och hur påverkar deras tillvägagångssätt intervjuprocessen och dess resultat? 2) Hur anpassar sig Carina Bergfeldt och Fredrik Skavlan till olika intervjupersoner, och hur påverkar detta deras förmåga att skapa en givande interaktion? Ett analysschema baserat på tidigare forskning och teorier inom ämnet har använts för att studera inspelat material ifrån de två programmen. Med hjälp av samtalsanalys har åtta avsnitt segmenterats och transkriberats för att analysera programledarnas intervjuteknik. Resultatet visar att Carina Bergfeldt och Fredrik Skavlans intervjutekniker skapar en dynamisk miljö där en balans mellan allvar och humor upprätthålls, detta för att skapa ett underhållningsvärde för publiken.