Contemporary media research highlights the importance of empirically analysing the relationships between media and age, changing user patterns over the life course, and generational experiences within media discourse beyond the widely hyped buzz terms such as the ‘digital natives’, ‘Google generation’, and other digitally and technologically capable generation groups. This doctoral thesis seeks to define the ‘repertoires’ of news media that different generations use to obtain topical information and create their ‘media space’. It contributes to the development of a framework within which to analyse generational features in news audiences by putting the main focus on the cultural view of generations. This perspective was first introduced by Karl Mannheim in 1928. Departing from his legacy, generations can be better conceived as social formations that are built on self-identification, rather than equally distributed cohorts. With the purpose of discussing the emergence of various ‘audiencing’ patterns from the perspectives of age, life course and generational identity, the thesis presents Estonia – a post-Soviet Baltic state – as an empirical example of a transforming society with a dynamic media landscape which is witnessing the expanding impact of new media and a shift to digitisation.The thesis is based on data from two nationally representative cross-section surveys on media use and media attitudes (conducted during the 2002-2012 period) and focus group discussions, that are used to map similarities and differences among five generation cohorts born between 1932 and 1997 with regard to the access and use of the established news media, thematic preferences and spatial orientations of media use, and discursive approach to news formats. The findings demonstrate remarkable differences between the cohorts, suggesting that they could be merged into three main groups that represent the prevailing types of relations with the news media. Yet, the study also reveals that attitudes and behaviour (including media behaviour), are not necessarily divided by year of birth, but are more and more dispersed along individualised interests and preferences. / Audiences in the Age of media Convergence: Media Generations in Estonia and Sweden

Denna fallstudie presenterar forskning om vad som kan påverka framgången för internationella teknikföretag när det kommer till att etablera sig i det svenska medielandskapet. Sverige ses som ett nav för innovation och med globalisering samt framväxten av kommunikationsteknologier kan företag bedriva sin verksamhet på andra marknader än deras ursprung, vilket gör det viktigt att förstå vad som kan påverka framgången med att etablera sig i det svenska medielandskapet när man genomför kommunikationsinsatser. Denna fallstudie består av 7 semistrukturerade intervjuer med tre typer av medieproffs, (1) interna mediaproffs, (2) externa PR-specialister och (3) journalister. Resultaten visar att det finns sex faktorer som kan påverka framgången med att etablera sig i det svenska medielandskapet för internationella techföretag; (1) realistiska förväntningar, (2) bra timing, (3) nyheter kopplade till samhälleliga utmaningar och möjligheter, (4) en förståelse för hur medielandskapet fungerar, (5) lokala talespersoner och valid data, samt (6) relevans för målgruppen. / This case study presents research on what can affect the success of international tech companies establishing a presence on the Swedish media landscape. Sweden is seen as a hub for innovation and with globalisation and the rise of communication technologies, companies are able to conduct their business in different markets than their origin, making it important to understand what can affect the success of establishing a presence on the Swedish media landscape when conducting communications efforts. This case study consists of 7 semi-structured interviews with three types of media professionals, (1) in-house media professionals, (2) external PR-specialists, and (3) journalists. The results show there are six factors which can affect the success of establishing a presence on the Swedish media landscape for international tech companies; (1) realistic expectations, (2) good timing, (3) news connected to societal challenges and opportunities, (4) an understanding of how the media landscape operates, (5) local spokespeople and valid data, and (6) relevance for the target audience.

In this exploratory thesis project, I consider what emerging approaches we can take as social scientists to showcase and critically engage self-representations of diasporic individuals, who often lack visibility and legibility within the dominant cultural archive. Filmmaking as a social research practice can provide rich audiovisual data, physical and social access to materials for nonacademics, and opportunities to document and share subjects' comments and settings without the limitations of transcription. This is especially salient in the emerging media landscape of Web 2.0, where digital communications technology applications (such as Facebook, Skype, and Snapchat) are accessible by a global audience, and can act as tools for cultural identity production by diasporic individuals. This project documents the experiences of several first- and second-generation Bangladeshi American immigrants in relation to digital communications technology advances within the past decade, for the purposes of collecting and sharing stories of diasporic individuals, offering a venue for self-expression through empathetic interviewing and collaborative oral history methods, and contributing to the American cultural archive in the context of emerging media and academic landscapes. The full project is comprised of this text document, alongside a short documentary film containing portions of audiovisual data from interviews which can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oh9puazpdrw. / Master of Science

In 2020, the year the Covid-19 pandemic struck, the Swedish Covid-19 response differed radically from the general policy of total lockdown and strict enforcement of Covid-measures and regulations recommended by the WHO. Instead, Sweden strove early on to achieve herd immunity, with no mandatory measures to limit numbers in shopping malls, buses, and other public events, nor mask requirements. Hence, during the height of the pandemic, Swedish Covid-19 policy was a highly debated issue in the international media, within academia and the World Health Organization. The aim of this study is to examine the international media discourse on the Swedish Covid-19 strategy in the international print media. The focus has been on newspapers from the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The research has been done by investigating how Sweden’s Covid-19 strategy is discursively constructed, through major themes and sub-themes that have emerged. Additionally, the differences in discourse between Dutch, English and American media have been explored. As well as the use of language, ideologies, and linguistic devices within the international discourse have been investigated. A total of 178 articles, published between the period of 1 January 2020 until 6 February 2022, have been collected and analyzed. This study uses Qualitative Content Analysis (QCA) as main method and has been inspired by Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). A coding frame has inductively been created, by having used a sample of 20 newspaper articles in a pilot study. The software of NVivo has been used for the coding process. The major themes that emerged from my analyses of media discourses are: Anders Tegnell, Strategy, Trust and Image of Sweden and Swedes. My study found that media discourses on the Swedish Covid-19 policy are not positive. Rather these tend to be negative or at best neutral. Images of Sweden tend to vary in tandem with increase or decreases of Covid-19 infections and/or deaths. As the Swedish strategy became more or less aligned with the ‘norm’ of the WHO, the coverage of Sweden in media declined and lost its newsworthiness.