Gang crime is one of the hottest topics in the Swedish public debate today. At the same time, people’s trust in how the media reports on the topic is low. Trust in news media is important in any democratic society. Understanding how trust in news media is affected by the reporting on a controversial issue is therefore important in maintaining a functional democracy. This paper examines how politically active young adults perceive news on gang crime in Sweden, and how it correlates to their own trust in news media. Also, we study potential differences between two political youth wings, and what role the sender plays in the perception of – and trust in – news on gang crime. Through ten interviews, we find that the sender is paramount in the interviewees’ evaluation of trust in an article on gang crime. However, the information, what sources are quoted, and descriptions are also contributing attributes. Further, we discover that people develop personal strategies to assess their trust in a news piece on gang crime. Applying the theoretical frameworks of Kohring and Matthes (2007) and Strömbäck et al. (2020), we develop an understanding of how attributes contributing to trust in individual news pieces can be viewed in the context of more general trust in news media. In line with previous research, this study highlights the difficulty of defining general trust in terms of distinct factors. We propose that attributes affecting trust in individual articles can be attributes affecting general trust in news media, if occurring as prolonged trends, but call for further research on this hypothesis. In a societal context, this paper also shows that there is still consensus on what makes news trustworthy, even on a topic as highly politicized as gang crime.

Vår studie undersöker fenomenet ekokammare och hur den manifesterar sig på svenska nyhetsmediers Facebooksidor. Vårt material består av fem opinionsartiklar från fem olika dagstidningar, samt kommentarsfält tillhörande dessa opinionsartiklar. Studiens teoretiska ramverk består av två huvudteorier: selektiv exponering och Faircloughs kritisk diskursanalytiska teori. Faircloughs kritiska diskursanalys utgör också vår huvudmetod, som vi använder för att analysera den diskursiva praktiken som sker i opinionsartiklarna och dess tillhörande kommentarsfält. Resultatet visar att en ekokammare går att tyda på nästan alla kommentarsfält, vilket kan tyda på en politisk polarisering i hur läsare konsumerar svenska nyhetsmedier. / Our study examines the phenomenon echo chamber and how it manifests itself on Facebook pages of Swedish news media. Our material consists of five opinion articles from five different Swedish newspapers, as well as the comments section connected to the opinion articles. The study’s theoretical framework consists of two main theories: selective exposure and Fairclough’s theory of critical discourse analysis. Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis also constitute as our main method, which we use to analyse the discursive practice used in opinion articles and comments sections connected to them. The result shows that an echo chamber is observable in almost all of the comment sections, which indicates a political polarization in how readers consume Swedish news media.

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.