<p>The purpose of the study is, through literature and interview studies, to analyze and draw attention to critical mindedness regarding news features in a multilateral way. In the interview 16 participants got to see three SVT news features with lack of criticism. Great importance was given to the spontaneous reasoning of the participant. The study is explorative and has given a number of hypotheses and ideas for further research concerning the subject. Among other things the study shows that previous beliefs affect the critical mindedness of the individual, that individuals have the ability to think critically if reminded and that the trust of the source and medium affects the critical mindedness of the individual.</p>

The purpose of the study is, through literature and interview studies, to analyze and draw attention to critical mindedness regarding news features in a multilateral way. In the interview 16 participants got to see three SVT news features with lack of criticism. Great importance was given to the spontaneous reasoning of the participant. The study is explorative and has given a number of hypotheses and ideas for further research concerning the subject. Among other things the study shows that previous beliefs affect the critical mindedness of the individual, that individuals have the ability to think critically if reminded and that the trust of the source and medium affects the critical mindedness of the individual.

This essay examines which news sources gets to talk about Sweden in American news features about events in Sweden and if they give a positive or negative image of Sweden. I opted to examine three of the main news channels in the USA: PBS, FOX and CNN.  I examined, more specifically, the sources gender, nationality and ethnicity, and which social position and status they had. Furthermore I also examined whether the sources were verbal or non-verbal and if they were visible or anonymous. Lastly I did an analysis of whether the sources gave a positive or negative image of Sweden in the news features. To execute the study I used the quantitative content analysis as my method.   The results of the study show that the majority of the sources, used in American news features about events in Sweden, were Swedish professional males, who gave a negative image of Sweden. The majority of the sources were also visible and verbal. A small amount of the sources were anonymous, and PBS only used visible sources. The result did not differentiate much between the news channels, except when it came to if the sources were verbal or non-verbal. Every source used in PBS were verbal and the majority of the sources in FOX were verbal. In CNN’s news features, however, the majority of the news sources were non-verbal.