This study examines the attitude towards news from young, Swedish students in the age between 13 - 15 years old. To regularly take part in news reports and be interested in what is happening in the world is important to be a part of a democratic society. The aim of the study, was with the help of the users and gratification theory and the news values theory, investigate the news habits and attitude towards news among the students with the age of 13 - 15 years. This study has been performed through a quantitative survey, where 330 students participated and answered 16 questions.  The result of the study shows that young students know the importance of following the news, but they don’t prioritize it in their daily use of media. Even if they spent more than three hours per day on their phone - the most frequent answer was that they read or watched news content less than ten minutes per day. With the knowledge of the users and gratification theory, the basic needs become more satisfied with the use of social media and entertainment content instead of news. Young students consume news from social media, Youtube and TikTok - but they do not trust them as much as they trust traditional media. The most common news source is through family and friends, which shows that young people rarely search for news themselves. Instead they let the news find them, which could be problematic in the future.

Studiens syfte är att förstå hur nyhetskonsumenter med olika nivå av institutionaliserat kulturellt kapital uppfattar innehållet i traditionella medier, högerpolitiska alternativmedier och högerextrema alternativmedier för att se hur dessatolkningar kan ge upphov till annorlunda sätt att se på en och samma företeelse med skilda vinklingar. Tidigare studier inom fältet har fokuserat på vilka typer av medier nyhetskonsumenter med olika bakgrund konsumerar men inte så mycket på hur innehållet uppfattas. Det är något som denna studie bringar klarhet kring. Studien är en kvalitativ intervjustudie där sex nyhetskonsumenter med olika bakgrund, beroende på utbildning och yrke, fått läsa och svara på frågor om tre olika nyhetsartiklar som behandlar samma händelse, attacken mot Notre-Damekatedralen i Nice den 29 oktober 2020. Intervjuerna har sedan analyserats utifrån encoding/decoding-perspektivet och ett klassteoretiskt perspektiv. Resultatet visar att den allmänna uppfattningen av artiklarna är relativt likartad respondenterna emellan. Resultatet visar även att varken traditionella medier eller alternativa medier uppfattas som objektiva eller trovärdiga. Det klassteoretiska resultatet visar att respondenter med ett högre kulturellt kapital applicerar ett mer kritiskt förhållningssätt genom att i större utsträckning applicera sina egna åsikter på de iakttagelser som görs. / The purpose of this study is to understand how news consumers with different levels of institutionalized cultural capital perceive traditional and right-wing alternative media in order to see how these interpretations may give rise to different ways to view the same phenomenon with different angles. Previous studies within the same field have focused on what types of media news consumers with different backgrounds consume, but not so much how the content is perceived. How the content is perceived is something this study brings clarity to. This is a qualitative interview study where six news consumers with different backgrounds, depending on education and occupation, are asked to read and answer some questions regarding three different news articles. These articles cover the same story, which is the attack against the Notre-Dame cathedral in Nice on October 29th in 2020. The interviews have been analysed through the encoding/decoding-perspective, as well as class theory perspective.   The result showcases that the general perception of the articles is relatively similar between the different respondents. The result also shows that neither the traditional nor the alternative media is perceived as objective or trustworthy. Furthermore, the result from a class theory perspective also shows how respondents with a higher cultural capital applies a more critical approach by applying their own opinions to a greater extent on the observations that are made.

Covid-19 pandemin har påverkat många länder runt om i världen. Folkhälsomyndigheten i Sverige införde restriktioner och rekommendationer för att skydda samhällets befolkning från att smittas av viruset. I samband med pandemin har det uppkommit ett överflöd av nyheter gällande covid-19 inom både traditionella och digitala medier. Syftet med studien är att undersöka om Folkhälsomyndigheten har påverkats utifrån de olika nyhetsmedier som informerat om covid-19 men även om det finns ett samband mellan studiens fynd och Folkhälsomyndighetens kommunikationsinsatser. Studien har använt sig av source credibility (Hovland et al. 1953) och media credibility (Westley & Severin, 1964; W.Roper, 1959; Bucy, 2003) teorierna som teoretiskt ramverk, relevanta forskningsstudier inom trovärdighet och medier och Folkhälsomyndighetens pandemiberedskapsrapport. Det empiriska underlaget i studien utgår från tolv semistrukturerade intervjuer som genomförts med respondenter inom två åldersgrupper, 20–25 år och 65–70 år. Det har genomförts en tematisk analys för att hitta likheter och skillnader mellan respondenternas svar vilket utformat teman, public service och trovärdighet, nyhetskomsumption, källhänvisning och trovärdighet, språk och det visuella i samband med trovärdighet, respondenternas bild av Folkhälsomyndigheten, massinformation, Folkhälsomyndighetens påverkan av nyhetsmedier, digitala och traditionella medier och Folkhälsomyndighetens expertis. Studiens resultat visar att det uppkommer en svårighet med att mäta respondenternas trovärdighet till Folkhälsomyndigheten genom nyhetsmedier då det uppkommer andra faktorer som är mer påtagliga än faktorerna expertis och tillförlitlighet inom source- och media credibility teorierna. Dessa faktorer är respondenternas livsstil, vanor, journalistik, visuell påverkan, källhänvisning och public service. Det fanns samband med faktorerna och Folkhälsomyndigheternas sex kommunikationsstrategier och genom att myndigheten tar hänsyn till åldersgruppernas faktorer för trovärdighet kan det gynna deras risk- och konsekvensbedömningar inom kommunikationsarbetet inför kommande pandemier. Slutsatsen är att Folkhälsomyndighetens bild inte har påverkats av nyhetsmedierna. Digitala och traditionella medier har inte varit avgörande för respondenternas uppfattning av Folkhälsomyndighetens trovärdighet. Studien belyser även komplexiteten med trovärdighetsbedömningar då respondenterna hade svårigheter med att särskilja avsändaren, meddelandet och mediet. / The Covid-19 pandemic has affected many countries around the world. The Swedish Public Health Agency introduced restrictions and recommendations to protect society's population from being infected by the virus. In connection with the pandemic, there has been an abundance of news regarding covid-19 in both traditional and digital media. The purpose of the study is to investigate whether the Swedish Public Health Agency has been affected based on the various news media that informed about covid-19, but also whether there is a connection between the study's findings and the Swedish Public Health Agency's communication efforts. The study has used the source credibility (Hovland et al. 1953) and media credibility (Westley & Severin, 1964; W. Roper, 1959; Bucy, 2003) theories as a theoretical framework, relevant research studies in credibility, media and the Public Health Agency's pandemic preparedness report. The empirical basis of the study is based on twelve semi-structured interviews conducted with respondents in two age groups, 20–25 years and 65–70 years. A thematic analysis has been carried out to find similarities and differences between the respondents 'answers, which designed themes, public service and credibility, news consumption, source reference and credibility, language and the visual in connection with credibility, respondents' image of the Public Health Agency, mass information, Public Health Agency's influence on news media, digital and traditional media, and the Swedish Public Health Agency's expertise. The results of the study show that there is a difficulty in measuring the respondents' credibility to the Public Health Agency through news media as other factors arise that are more obvious than the factors expertise and reliability within the source and media credibility theories. These factors are the respondents' lifestyle, habits, journalism, visual impact, source reference and public service. There were connections with the factors and the Public Health Authorities 'six communication strategies, and by the authority considering the age groups' factors for credibility, it can benefit their risk and impact assessments in the communication work before future pandemics. The conclusion is that the Public Health Agency's image has not been influenced by the news media. Digital and traditional media have not been decisive for the respondents' perception of the Public Health Agency's credibility. The study also highlights the complexity of credibility assessments as respondents had difficulty distinguishing between sender, message and medium.