AbstractTitle: “Heat without passion and caution without fear”: celebrity journalism and press ethics in Aftonbladet – a text analysisNumber of pages: 48Author: Moa ThorssellTutor: Martin FredrikssonCourse: Media and Communication Studies CPeriod: Fall 2009University: Department of Informatics and Media, Uppsala UniversityPurppose/Aim: Analyzing how the Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet writes about celebrities on a daily basis; the quality of the journalism and how they follow the press etics.Material/Method: Qualitative textual analysis of seven newsarticles about celebrities published in Aftonbladet, November 9th to November 15th 2009.Main results: Of the seven analyzed articles six could be considered as less good journalism. In the other cases, considering the journalistic ideal to have several sources, were rarely the case. Most of the articles were poorly based on facts and quotations. Sometimes the reporter had not even spoken to the person in question. The lack of information in the articles was compensated with dramatic titles and preambles. Even in the rest of the text the journalists used dramatical words to make the story bigger than it was.The articles also revealed the personal life. Around fifty percent of the articles were based on people who were difficult to define as public or private figures. Though they had participated in a reality show on tv, Aftonbladet decided to define them as celebrities. With defining them as celebrities the paper had less restrictions press ethically for what it could write. However, in reality the articles involved people who were not used to the media’s attention, but who most likely would do a lot to stay in the spotlight. Something that the media, with not following the press ethics, could easily take advantage of. But also with the person who were more easily defined as celebrities, the articles went far into the personal life.My analysis states that when it comes to news about celebrities the press ethics is less important, even though it concerns the private life of others. One also felt like it was less requirements for journalistic quality in these cases. Moreover all the articles could be classified as articles with a high news value. In conclusion a high news value did not automatically mean high quality journalism. Rather the high news value had to do with that it was articles about celebrities opening up their private life.Keywords: Celebrity journalism, public/private figure, press ethics, tabloid.

Master's Thesis focuses on current position of ethics in the Czech media. The main subject is the code of ethics (or code of conduct). The first part of the thesis offers a theoretical background of the topic. I am pursuing the terminology referred to the media ethics topic. Together with scholarly resources I provide definitions of terms such as ethics, morality and code of ethics in media. Summary of relevant Czech codes of conduct is essential for this thesis. First, I present the codes in a brief list and table, more detailed analysis follows. The focus is on differences and specification of each of them. After that I present an analysis of ethical rules valid in foreign countries - European states and the United States in particular. Theoretical part is followed by practical part of the thesis. It is based on interviews with experts which are semi- anonymous and semi-structured. I interview eight employees of Czech media after formulating several hypotheses. I chose experts who have been working in media for many years - mainly chief editors or top managers in press, TV, radio or online media. One of the most important chapters is the confirmation or refutation of the stated hypotheses. Based on the conclusion of the interviews, I create a universal code of ethics that might be applicable on...

Syfte: Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur journalister rapporterar om barnmord. Dels handlar det om hur de tillämpar de pressetiska reglerna i rapporteringen samtidigt som de förhåller sig till nyhetsvärderingskriterierna. Dels handlar det om att studera om det finns en balans mellan dessa perspektiv. Tre fall där 10-åriga flickor var offer under olika år analyserades. Åren var 1992, 2000 och 2008. Metod och material: Metoderna som tillämpas för att analysera materialet är kvantitativ innehålls-analys och tematisk textanalys. Den kvantitativa innehållsanalysen tillämpas på totalt 467 analysenheter. Den tematiska textanalysen som är kvalitativ tillämpas på 18 av de totalt 467 analysenheterna. Materialet bestod av artiklar från lokaltidningarna Östersunds-Posten, Barometern och Södra Dalarnes tidning. Dagens Nyheter dagspress och Expressen kvällspress. Huvudresultatet: Resultatet från de båda analyserna, oavsett tidningstyp, visar att journalisterna i viss mån agerar oetiskt utifrån de pressetiska reglerna. Resultatet kunde tolkas som att de kommersiella faktorerna och nyhetskriterierna var viktigare för journalisterna att beakta istället för att värna om de pressetiska reglerna och därmed de anhöriga. Detta tolkas dels utifrån att tidningarna publicerade information som kunde identifiera gärningsmännen, dels att de rapporterade detaljrikt om hur flickorna hade blivit bragda om livet. / Purpose: The purpose of the study is to investigate how Swedish journalists covered murders in which children were victims. The main question of the study is whether in reporting there was a balance between following the professional ethical rules and the news values. The study follows the coverage of three cases where female children were murdered in small Swedish towns (in 1992, 2000 and 2008), and traces the dynamics of how the reporting has changed.   Method and material: The study applied quantitative content analysis and thematic text analysis to analyse the material. The material of the study was comprised of articles published in the morning newspaper Dagens Nyheter, evening newspaper Expressen and local newspapers Östersund-Posten, Barometern and Södra Dalarnes tidning. 467 units were analysed in the quantitative part, and 18 units – in the qualitative part.   The results: The analysis shows that regardless of the type of the newspaper, the journalists often do not follow the professional Code of Ethics when reporting on murders where children are victims. All the newspapers in all the three cases published information that could allow for identification of the perpetrator and provided the reader with (often unnecessary) details about the murders of the girls. The study shows that the frequency of reporting has increased from the beginning of the 1990s, however, in all the three cases, the media rather based their descriptions of the murders on the news values than on the professional ethical rules. This can potentially be explained by the newspapers’ orientation at commercial benefits rather than protection of the next of kin to the murdered.

Denna studie är en Foucaultdiansk diskursanalys av Facebookgruppen Journalistbubblan som ämnar undersöka vad gruppens medlemmar tycker är god journalistik, med särskilt fokus på att undersöka särskiljande och utestängande praktiker. En teoretisk grund av Foucaults teorier om diskurser som kontrollerande system tillsammans med pressetiska regler och riktlinjer tillämpas. Resultaten visar att god journalistik kräver en politisk identitet och gärna i vänsterpolitik för att uppfattas positiv av medlemmarna i gruppen. Det framgår även att avvikande från de publicistiska reglerna kan försvaras med en viss politisk ståndpunkt. / This study is a Foucaultdian discourse analysis of the Facebook group Journalistbubblan that aims to examine what the members of the group regards as good journalism. A certain focus was laid on researching the use of systems of exclusion. A theoretical perspective of Foucaults theories about discourses as a system of control together with guidelines and rules of the press is applied. The results show that good journalism as seen by the members of the group requires a political identity and more often than not a left-wing identity to be seen as positive. It also shows that straying from the path of the stipulated publishing rules can be defended by having a certain political view.

The aim of the study was to examine how the newspaper Aftonbladet reported the accusation on the journalist Fredrik Virtanen concerning sexual harassment and rape. He was at the time of the accusations employed at Aftonbladet as a chronicler and columnist. Aftonbladet has been criticized for inadequate coverage of the case. The main questions this study examined are: How and what did Aftonbladet report regarding one of their own journalists being accused for sexual harrassment? And how did the reporting comply with the editorial policy at Aftonbladet? The method of the study was a case study and critical discourse analysis, with the aim to examine news and whether the newspaper followed its editorial policy. The main theme listed in the texts published by Aftonbladet was that an Aftonbladet employee was accused for rape. Additional themes where discourses regarding the work environment at Aftonbladet and a moral discourse regarding the ethics of publishing names and reporting openly about the accusations. Other accusations than rape are not mentioned in Aftonbladet, except in one article regarding an interview with Fredrik Virtanen. Further, the published texts mainly consists of opinions and interviews of management at Aftonbladet, including Fredrik Virtanen. Thus, Aftonbladet has reported the case one-sidedly. The message mediated in texts regarding press ethics and news prioritation is that the case was primarly treated as a staff issue rather than news. The criticism directed against Aftonbladet regarding lack of news reporting and openness has been answered by Aftonbladet with reference to the fact that the newspaper follows the press ethics and publishing rules.  However, it can be determined that Aftonbladet, despite its reference to press ethics, did not follow its own editorial policy when reporting the case.