The aim of this study was to examine how sports journalists used religious metaphors when covering football during the time span of the study, and how the athletes were portrayed as a result of the usage. The aim was also to study if the usage differed between the two newspapers chosen for the study, one of which is a morning paper (Dagens Nyheters sport section) and one which is an evening paper (Sportbladet). To answer our questions we used a quantitative and a qualitative method, the later of the two was based on a metaphor analysis. The quantitative method consisted of a content analysis where different variables were examined. The time span of the study is articles from one year. The results show that the religious metaphors were used in many ways. Some religious metaphors, such as ones including the word miracle, were more prominent than others. What is notable is that the more prominent metaphors also tended to be conventional, that is, used in a way that they are no longer looked upon as metaphorical. Many of the texts in the study were chronicles and reportages, genres where the language is more creative. This could explain why the religious metaphors were more frequent in these genres. A majority of the religious metaphors referred to individual athletes and were most of the times a part of positively angled texts. However, just as the athletes can be celebrated one day they can as easily be named scapegoats the next. As a result of the usage of religious metaphors athletes were portrayed as humans with extraordinary powers. The metaphors were used to intensify their performances. The two newspapers shared many similarities, but also showed some differences. The evening paper tended to have the religious metaphors in the headline and the introduction much more often than the morning paper. The morning paper also tended to use the religious metaphors in critical texts more often than the evening paper did.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:lnu-32125 |
| Date | January 2014 |
| Creators | Sörensen, Joakim, Arvidsson, Stina |
| Publisher | Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för medier och journalistik (MJ), Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för medier och journalistik (MJ) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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