The aim of this thesis was to explore and analyze the sponsored debates on Newsmill, so called seminars. How does the sponsor use Newsmills seminars for marketing purposes? Who is allowed to write in Newsmills seminars? To answer these questions we used both a quantitative survey and a qualitative survey. To examine how the sponsors use Newsmills seminars for marketing purposes we conducted a qualitative analysis which included three of the eleven seminars - a total of 26 articles. We examined how the sponsors conveyed the picture of themselves and if the written content in Newsmills seminars contained any hidden marketing. We could see that the sponsor has a great deal of influence on the seminars and also used them to market their brand with hybrid messages. Sponsors often tried to relate their brand to a public issue in order to camouflage their commercial purposes. The quantitative survey aimed to map the seminars and answer the question “Who is allowed to write in Newsmills seminars?”. We observed how many of the writers were male/female, had a Swedish/foreign name, had a certain position in society and if the writer had any connection to, or wrote about, the sponsor. We examined all articles ever published in Newsmills seminars, up to the day of the survey. A total of 164 articles in 11 different seminars. Our result showed that female writers are a minority group in Newsmills seminars. So are people with foreign names and people who lack a position which grants them authority.

<p>The aim of this thesis was to explore and analyze the sponsored debates on Newsmill, so called seminars. How does the sponsor use Newsmills seminars for marketing purposes? Who is allowed to write in Newsmills seminars?</p><p>To answer these questions we used both a quantitative survey and a qualitative survey.</p><p>To examine how the sponsors use Newsmills seminars for marketing purposes we conducted a qualitative analysis which included three of the eleven seminars - a total of 26 articles. We examined how the sponsors conveyed the picture of themselves and if the written content in Newsmills seminars contained any hidden marketing. We could see that the sponsor has a great deal of influence on the seminars and also used them to market their brand with hybrid messages. Sponsors often tried to relate their brand to a public issue in order to camouflage their commercial purposes.</p><p>The quantitative survey aimed to map the seminars and answer the question “Who is allowed to write in Newsmills seminars?”. We observed how many of the writers were male/female, had a Swedish/foreign name, had a certain position in society and if the writer had any connection to, or wrote about, the sponsor. We examined all articles ever published in Newsmills seminars, up to the day of the survey. A total of 164 articles in 11 different seminars.</p><p>Our result showed that female writers are a minority group in Newsmills seminars. So are people with foreign names and people who lack a position which grants them authority.</p>