The norm shift in mediated scandals A comparative study of how the norm-breaking acts behind a mediated scandal have changed from the 1990s to the 2020s. This study aims to discover how the normbreaking actions described in mediated scandals have changed from the 1990´s to the 2020´s, whilst also analyzing how actors with different attributes, man or woman, are being portrayed in the mediated scandals. The topic was chosen due to the lack of research made on tabloid-articles in the field of mediated scandals. Previous research focuses primarily on scandals including political actors. A fact that this study aims to change. The study uses a theoretical framework of sociological theories by Durkheim and Douglas, which provides the tools nececcary to analyze social norms. The analysis is strengthened by a complementary theory by Lull & Himerman, involving criteria for mediated scandals. These criteria assisted in the selection process of empiricism and in the analysis. The twelve articles, based on four cases composed of two actors, one woman and one man, have been analyzed with an adjusted version of Camilla Gervides critical discourse analysis. The results shows that the journalists' role in mediated scandals have changed since the 1990´s. From sharing their own opinions then, to using experts to exemplify normbreaking behavior today. Beyond that there's also a wide gap between genderdepictons in the material. Women are treated more harshly and are defined as prime examples of bad social movements. Whilst the men, who share many attributes with the women, are treated with a professional distance. These depictions risk creating norms which put unfair expectations on women.

The aim of this analytical research is to find out if there is a difference in how many articles that were published regarding the ministers Maria Borelius, Cecilia Stegö Chilò, Tobias Billström and Anders Borg, during the period 6/10 - 6/12 2006 in Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter. The study also aims to examine if there is a difference in how the ministers are framed and portrayed in a selection of the articles. The study combines both quantitative and qualitative methods. Initially, articles were gathered from Mediearkrivet Research Retriever. Then, a selection of the empirical data was analyzed qualitative from the theoretical perspectives of the framing theory and the agenda-setting theory, with a tool of analysis from Bromander (2012). The empirical material consists of 12 published news-articles from two of the most powerful public newspapers in Sweden: Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter. The result shows that there is a difference in the number of published articles regarding the female ministers, compared with the male ministers. It also confirms previous research that female and male politicians’ frames and describes differently: the female ministers are more often described as liars and portrayed next to their families. The articles regarding the female ministers are more likely to investigate their private life, while the articles about the male ministers only refers to their professional life as politicians.