The Swedish forests have a broad history characterized by conflicting interests, exemplified by the conflict regarding forestry, the methods of which have been subject to criticism for decades due to their environmental consequences. This thesis constituted a case study centered on the modern forestry conflict. Using methodology primarily based in foucauldian discourse analysis, the study aimed to understand the discourse and discursive conflicts surrounding an informative SVT program series named Slaget om skogen, that focused on portraying the forestry conflict in Sweden. In addition, the study aimed to understand how subject positions are included, excluded and portrayed in the discourses and how they are positioned into different perspectives of sustainability. The results showed how certain discourses advocated increased protection of forests and reduced forestry, while conflicting discourses typically considered modern forestry sustainable and necessary. The analysis of 15 texts resulted in discursive conflicts characterized by different portrayals of the program series’s credibility, as well as which subject positions represent forestry in the discourse: private forestry on the family level, or large scale forestry companies. Due to this mixed portrayal of forestry, positioning of subject positions from a sustainability perspective displayed variation: with some seeing forestry primarily as an economic interest, while others see private forestry from the perspective of social justice and environmental sustainability. Due to the limitations of a case study, additional studies on the topic of conflicting discourses in forestry are deemed necessary to better understand the broader forestry conflict.

Studien genomfördes som en enkätundersökning av tittarna till programserien slaget om skogen. Studien undersökte tittarnas källkritik, deras förtroende för utgivarna, om tittarnas åsikt förändrats efter att ha tittat på programserien samt hur respondenterna upplevde att programserien presenterat och speglat det svenska skogsbruket. En kombination av kvalitativa och kvantitativa data samlades in genom en enkätundersökning där totalt 168 respondenter valde att besvara enkäten, 49 respondenter besvarade den frivilliga frågan. Resultatet av studien visade att respondenterna hade ett lågt förtroende för public service och till viss del valde respondenterna att källgranska informationen i programserien. Respondenterna kände sig inte påverkade av programserien och hade inte ändrat åsikt om det svenska skogsbruket efter att ha tittat, de anser inte heller att det svenska skogsbruket presenterades och speglades representativt.