Title: From fish flu to corona crisis – a quantitative content analysis of front pages from Dagens Nyheter and Aftonbladet during the coronavirus outbreak. The aim of this essay was to examine the reporting and framing of the coronavirus on DN.se and Aftonbladet.se's front pages, between January 7, 2020 and April 30, 2020. In order to do so, we chose to examine front page teasers on both newspapers front pages online. We define front page teasers as the package of text and pictures on the front page, which then takes the reader to the actual article. We formulated three questions to concretize the aim: How much space is given to the front page teasers about the coronavirus on Dagens Nyheter and Aftonbladet's front pages, in terms of number, size and location? How do the front page teasers frame the coronavirus on Dagens Nyheter and Aftonbladet's front pages, regarding to framing and perspectives as well as calming or alarming signals? And, what differences and similarities can be found between Dagens Nyheter and Aftonbladet’s front page teasers about the coronavirus, regarding to space and shape? The method chosen for this study was a quantitative content analysis, which was supported by theories about news values, media logic and narration, as well as the agenda setting theory and the framing theory. The results of the analysis stated that front page teasers about the coronavirus was given more space on both newspapers’ front pages during the majority of the selected time period, than front page teasers about other events. This could be explained by multiple theories about how threats, risks and crises, as well as sensational news, stand a better chance of making it to the front page, than other news. The analysis also showed that Dagens Nyheter chose to frame the coronavirus based on themes such as healthcare and economical consequences, while Aftonbladet chose a more human perspective. We speculated on how these results could affect the readers and their picture of reality – in this case the coronavirus – and came to the conclusion that Aftonbladet’s readers might feel more of a closeness to the coronavirus, than the readers of Dagens Nyheter. So, regarding to space – both in number and size – as well as theme, actor and signal, but also the newspapers’ own choice of words, our study made it possible for us to see how the “fish flu” gradually turned into a corona crisis.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:umu-172277 |
| Date | January 2020 |
| Creators | Aginger, Saga, Håkansson, Nellie |
| Publisher | Umeå universitet, Institutionen för kultur- och medievetenskaper, Umeå universitet, Institutionen för kultur- och medievetenskaper |
| 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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