Doctoral Theses / Doktorsavhandlingar Institutionen för journalistik, medier och kommunikation

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TV-rummets eliter. Föreställningar om kön och makt i fakta och fiktion
(2006) Edström, Maria
Katastrofens öga. En studie av journalisters arbete på olycksplats // The Eye of the Disaster - A Study of Journalists' Work at Accident Scenes and Disaster Sites
(2008-09-04T13:18:45Z) Englund, Liselotte
The thesis is an occupation study that combines perspective and theory from mainly journalism and crisis psychology. It covers journalists (reporters and photographers) - a work group with a professional mission in an extreme situation, as eyewitnesses to disaster, and their editors. An essential part of the knowledge base rests on research on previous accidents and disasters, particularly studies on the reactions of rescue workers while working during serious events. The research is a case study of the 1998 fire disaster in Gothenburg, which ultimately took 63 young people’s lives and injured another 213, thereby becoming the largest Swedish fire disaster in modern times. Those who died in the fire were of 19 different nationalities, which contributed to the tragedy receiving massive news coverage both locally and internationally. The ensuing media reporting brought up questions concerning how this type of journalism actually comes into being. How is the reporting influenced when journalists themselves are indirect victims and are struggling to master their own reactions to the crisis? How does the accident scene function as a workplace for unprepared and shocked journalists? What coping strategies do reporters use to manage to carry out their mission? And what can we learn in the future from our experiences with these types of events? The study is based on literature studies, content analysis and interviews. In the thesis, journalists’ experiences of their own reactions to working at an accident scene have been related to three factors: the person – the human being who is a journalist; the occupation – the journalistic mission and the journalist role; and the situation – the traumatic event and site. A further dimension of the mission, reflection – the need for crisis support as well as self-evaluation and learning – has also been presented. In the categorizing of the journalists’ coping strategies during their work at the accident scene in Gothenburg, four journalist roles have crystallized, namely The Witness, The Weasel, The Hack and The Rescuing Angel. These roles have arisen from the individual ways of reacting to the crisis situation and through the coping strategies that came to be dominant in different individuals. The roles have also been affected by how the conflict between good human being and good journalist was handled, the balance between the roles and the dominance of one or the other. The results can also be placed in a learning context with the help of theories on professional skill and competence. Such a view of journalistic work at traumatic events can hypothetically make it easier for journalists to prepare themselves and understand their own reactions in an extreme situation. It is also conceivable that supervisors could be helped by this view, in their aspiration to choose appropriate employees for a mission whenever possible. A reasonable goal is for the employee assigned to witness and report on a trauma to have sufficiently good aggregate competence. In addition to the well-recognized forms of formal, practical, prescribed, situational and applied competence, the thesis has generated a new form called coping competence. This is the individual’s ability to master his or her crisis reactions during work at a traumatic event. The thesis is concluded with recommendations for ten new work norms for media reporting in connection with serious events and potentially traumatic experiences. The Swedish journalist corps’s press ethical rules of play should, according to the results of this thesis, benefit from being complemented with the aim of achieving sufficiently good disaster or trauma journalism.
Företags ansvar/Marknadens retorik. En analys av företags strategiska kommunikationsarbete
(2008-09-11T11:20:52Z) Fredriksson, Magnus
The aim of this study is to analyse what rhetoric of responsibility Swedish corporations presents and the structural determinants fur such presentations. Corporate identity is the managerial use of rhetoric and other symbolical means to (re)present the corporation’s values, self-understanding and the interpretations made of the world. A returning element in this rhetoric is the idea of responsibility, as in Corporate Social Responsibility. A number of corporations have chosen to explicitly or implicitly include normative aspects in their rhetoric of responsibility. In this study the analyses rests on theories on reflexive modernity and the structural transformation of social orders driven by the implosion of modernity’s dualisms, the increasing threats to organizational operations caused by factual risks or the fear for assumed risks, the medialisation of politics and business, the globalisation of economy, politics and everyday life, the increasing competition and standardisation of products and services and the individualisation of opinions and values often expressed in the realm of sub-politics. The empirical study includes all corporations listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange 2004 and content analysis is used to categorise the voluntary sections of the annual reports and the sustainability report if available. The results show that economy is the predominate area of responsibility included in corporate rhetoric. A smaller group consisting of large, well known corporations diverges from this by giving ethical aspects greater importance. Two structural dimensions are of greater importance to understand the different strategies; visibility and risks. The more visible the corporation is and the more risks the corporation produces the more ethics it includes in its rhetoric. Based on the results the study also raises questions about the validity in corporations’ statements on ethical responsibility
Journalister och deras publik. Förhållningssätt bland svenska journalister
(2009-10-05T10:59:23Z) Andersson, Ulrika
Journalists and their audience aims to explore and explain journalists´ approach to the audience. Fulfilling the normative assignment as advocates of the audience usually means balancing between professional ideals and audience-demands. But do journalists emphasis more of a profession-orientated or an audience-orientated approach to the audience? The study defines journalists' approach to the audience as a combination of the perceptions, attitudes, interest and knowledge that journalists express in various matters relating to the audience. This approach is analysed through four dimensions: audience-perceptions, audience-contacts, audience-orientation and audience-knowledge. The study is based on a national survey of journalists and managing editors in Sweden, conducted by the Department of journalism and mass communication, University of Gothenburg. The study also includes a complementary survey of Swedish newspaper journalists. The method used is quantitative analysis. Four types of approaches are revealed among Swedish journalists: "audience-orientated journalists", "audience-aware journalists", "indeterminate journalists" and "profession-orientated journalists". Important factors to take into account when explaining journalists´ approach are position at the editorial office, gender, and generation. The results reveal that managing editors and younger females are inclined to be most audience-orientated. The gender difference is regarded as a mark of gendered journalism. The study also finds some age-differences – especially among female journalists, differences that are explained from a perspective of experience and generation. This outcome is regarded as an indication of changing values among younger generations.
Transforming Audiences. Patterns of Individualization in Television Viewing
(2009-12-11T10:37:41Z) Bjur, Jakob
TRANSFORMING AUDIENCES is an enquiry into Patterns of Individualization in Television Viewing. Central to the enquiry being performed is the linkage between television, as technological and cultural form, and television viewing behaviour as a social everyday practice. How does a raised abundance of specialized choice structures transform television viewing as a habitual, social and referential act? People Meter data 1999 to 2008 is employed to map out detailed viewing behaviours of a large panel of Swedish households on a minute-to-minute basis. This type of data is today of worldwide use as a currency on the television market for trade in advertising space. The methodological strategy is being developed to refine and induce increased social and cultural meaning to these data. This will achieve a more nuance delineation of the social, habitual and referential character of television viewing behaviour. This brings to blossom a world where individualization rules and where the common and social is shattered into increasingly unique, solitary and heterogeneous patterns of individual action and consumption.
Otrygghetens landskap. En kartläggning av otryggheten i stadsrummet och en analys av bakomliggande orsaker, med fokus på mediernas roll
(2010-01-08T10:03:31Z) Sandstig, Gabriella
The aims of the dissertation are to explore and map the fear and insecurity in urban public spaces and to analyse the underlying causes behind the sensations of fear and insecurity in these spaces, with focus on the role of the media. The study is mainly based on survey data collected through regional samples of the population of West Sweden between the years of 2001–2007. But also data collected though quantitative content analyses of the two leading newspapers in the region 1950–2003. On a general level half of the threats expressed by people as the most serious to their own security concern crime, in particular crimes of violence. But an equally large part concern threats associated with social problems, different aspects of society, health and the environment and also international conflicts. On the specific level, people name the same types of places that are found in the theoretical frame by Koskela (1996) used to grasp the sensations of fear and insecurity in urban public spaces. The respondents mainly experience fear and insecurity when alone in spaces that are desolate. It does not seem to matter whether these types of spaces are of open or closed physical character. What is important is whether there are people there or not. The expressed degree of sensations are lower in open types of spaces like streets and squares, and even lower in spaces that are both open and populated like shopping centres and stations/terminals. People experience the least fear and insecurity in populated and physically closed spaces, such as restaurants and cafés. Hardly surprising the sensation is much lesser when together with friends and acquaintances, but more remarkable is the fact that the sensation is almost as low in all spaces, as long as there are many people there, which indicate that urban safety to its character is anonymous. The analysis suggests that there is a correlation between the degree of social control in the urban public space and the sensations of fear and insecurity. The lower the degree of social control, the higher is the degree of fear and insecurity. The analysis of underlying causes is done partly through hypothesis testing and partly through the use of regression analysis of the independent effects of three types of experiences of threats and risk and individual predispositions. Among the types of experiences victimisation of crime or other threats have the largest independent effect on the sensation of fear and insecurity in public spaces. But the effects are similar from having observed others become victims. Also of importance, especially in populated spaces, is having heard of threats and risks from friends or acquaintances. Experiences through the media are of minor importance for the independent effect on the sensation of fear and insecurity in public spaces, but the three ways of experiences combined enhance the sensation of fear and insecurity in public spaces. The main role of the media is through the perceptions the respondents have on media coverage on crime and media influence on their own and others experiences of threats and risks. Those that believe that media coverage on crime is underrated and/or believe that media influence experiences of threats and risks, have to a greater extent experienced fear and insecurity than those that believe that medias coverage of crime is coherent with reality or overrated and/or doesn’t believe in media influence. Sex and age together with third-person-effects have the largest independent effects on the sensation of fear and insecurity in public space, but age in another way than expected. It’s mainly the young rather than the elderly that have experienced fear and insecurity. But also personal anxiety and lack of generalised trust play an important role in the sensations, but neither independent of the context. All of the factors that influence the sensation are either added on or are subtracted from the sensation of fear and insecurity in the urban public spaces.
Journalism in Transition. The professional Identity of Swedish Journalists
(2010-02-12T12:13:18Z) Wiik, Jenny
Is journalism going through ‘de-professionalization’ or is it just entering a new phase – taking a different shape? And what is the meaning of professional ideals such as scrutiny and autonomy in these processes? In my thesis, “Journalism in Transition”, I discuss these matters, focusing on the case of Swedish journalists. Empirical support is drawn from a national survey conducted five times since 1989 on the Dept. of Journalism, Media and Communication at the University Gothenburg (JMG). Questions about journalists’ perceptions of various ideals offer excellent opportunities to explore possible homogenization vs. fragmentation, and what the attitudinal dimensions actually say about the professional content of Swedish journalism. The results are analyzed by the conceptualization of Bourdieu’s field theory, along with current professional theory, and point at a possible separation of professional levels where a few ideals constitute an over-arching professional identity, while the flora of attitudes below is more diverse and dependent on factors of organizational affiliation, gender and age. Professional ideals may furthermore be regarded as a form of symbolic capital, used as legitimizing tools in journalism’s struggle for maintaining status quo. A main conclusion is that journalism is not de-professionalizing on ideological level, but going through a re-formation. Traditional journalistic ideals have attained increasing support over time and the efforts to fix professional boundaries are fierce. These boundaries are, however, subjects of negotiation: In the professional identity formation of Swedish journalists between 1989-2005 I also detect and increasing orientation towards liberal- and market values, which I interpret as the incorporation of organizational values into the professional identity – thereby legitimizing those. A second conclusion is that social attributes such as gender, age and formal qualifications mean less to the professional identity formation in 2005 than they did in 1989. The reason for this is the increasing homogenization of journalistic ideals – all journalists think increasingly alike, no matter social background. Factors still being highly relevant, though, are gender, journalistic training and place of work. Those factors determine journalists’ positions in the field and consequently form their professional identities into various shapes.
Bilden av psykiatriområdet. Nyhetsrapporteringen i Rapport 1980-2006
(2010-02-19T10:11:24Z) Magnusson, Ann-Sofie
In Sweden, as in many other countries in the Western world, care and support to people with mental illness have undergone major organizational changes. The aim of the thesis is to describe and analyse the image of the psychiatric field that Swedish newscast gives from a long-term period of view and in the perspective of the great changes that have occurred in the psychiatric field. The research questions are: What image has the Swedish news coverage of the psychiatric field shown in a broad and long-term perspective? And how does the news image correspond to societal context? “The psychiatric field” encompasses both an individual as a societal perspective on mental illness. A model based on the idea of the psychiatric field as “reality” is used to study the news image. The model consists of psychiatric field actors and questions, their properties and relationships. The study of news content in the news program Rapport, “Sweden’s largest news media”, is used to answer the first research question. To answer the second research question, the news image is studied in relation to events in the psychiatric field and to government statistics. The psychiatric field becomes more newsworthy during the 27 years examined. It occurs more often; gets more space in the broadcasting and more impact as headlines. Four out of ten news items of the psychiatric field is about health care and legislation, while barely one third is related to violence and criminal activities. News about health care and legislation occupies more space, news about violence is more likely to be headlines. The changed news image corresponds to the actual circumstances, where comparisons have been possible to do. The thesis discusses possible explanations for why the news images looks like they do, partly on the basis of interviews with journalists. The results of the interviews show a professional dilemma where the journalists wants on the one hand to contribute to nuance depictions surrounding mental illness, on the other hand protect the fragile and inexperienced interviewers. Change in the news reporting about the psychiatric field over the period studied is probably caused by the interacting factors in society and journalism.
Cross-media News Work - Sensemaking of the Mobile Media (R)evolution
(2011-12-22) Westlund, Oscar
This dissertation makes a longitudinal study of transforming tensions in media production processes. It focuses on the thoughts and actions of new and mobile media in the interplay between staff from editorial-, business and IT departments in an organization coupled with the old newspaper medium. It makes the story of change processes in a relatively typical large regional newspaper organization in the Western world (Göteborgs-Posten, Sweden). This case-study from Sweden, a country with high newspaper and ICT-diffusion, contributes to expand the geographic gaze of research into journalism, business and technology in a digital era. The aim of the dissertation is to study sensemaking of mobile media over time, which has been done through numerous in-depth interviews with a broad selection of media workers from 2008 to 2011. The sensemaking approach conceives interpretations and actions to take place in heterogeneous and circular patterns, and make possible for studying how media workers make sense by structuring and constructing unknown matters such as mobile media. Deriving from previous research on transforming news media organizations, the dissertation has considered four particular tensions in order to grasp important and contemporary contours of change. This involves investigating how tensions come into play between different actors, namely how media workers from the editorial, business and IT departments make sense of and negotiate their inherent boundaries. It also focuses how the tension between old and new comes into play, as these media workers of a newspaper organization (the old) make sense of mobile media (the new). Two particularly important tensions are being reshaped when it comes to their role as a news media producer. The first concerns producer vs. user, namely how their former relationship to users as linear is potentially being refashioned to accommodate for participation. The second concern humans vs. machines (technology), that is, how media producers relate to machines carrying out tasks previously performed by journalists. The study bear witness not only on how mobile media was shaped in a formative phase of development, but also how this work transformed how journalism, business and technology was approached and perceived. Newspaper journalism used to be tangled with print, but relatively disentangled from commercial and technological forces. Now, journalism is becoming decoupled from the upside of commercial contributions, and simultaneously is becoming increasingly blended with technology and commerce in its production, presentation and distribution. These transformations deserve further attention.
The Practice of Newspaper Ownership: Fifty Years of Control and Influence in the Swedish Local Press
(2012-05-28) Ohlsson, Jonas
This dissertation deals with a perennial theme in both public and academic debate: how ownership is exercised in the news media. It does so by exploring the main agency through which ownership control is expected to be exerted in the individual media firm: the board of directors. Establishing the board as an intermediary between owners and the executive and editorial management, the study addresses a number of questions pertaining to the role of media boards: who is elected to the boards; which decisions are made in the boardroom, and which are not; who influences them, and who does not. The empirical results come from a historical study of the Swedish newspaper industry. The Swedish press has long been characterized by close ties to the political arena. A more recent characteristic is the growing dominance of not-for-profit foundations as owners of newspapers. It is the consequence of this particular ownership form that is the main focus of the dissertation. The study analyzes the boards of three local, foundation-owned newspapers between 1955 and 2005. The newspapers are Barometern (Kalmar), Borås Tidning (Borås) and Sundsvalls Tidning (Sundsvall). The study builds primarily on two sources: minutes from over twelve-hundred board meetings and meetings of shareholders, and interviews with twenty-three former and current board members. The study shows that the governance processes, including both the role played by the individual board and the relative autonomy of the editorial department, have differed significantly between the three cases. The distinct characteristics have been reinforced not only by the fact that the newspapers are old and exceedingly mature institutions, but also as a result of a very slow circulation of members of the top echelons of the newspaper organizations. Consequently, the most noticeable shifts in the activities and power structures of the companies have followed from the entering of new decision-makers into the organizations. A basic conclusion is thus that there is no single answer concerning the ramifications of foundation ownership in the press. As a result of an increasingly competitive market situation, the companies have since the early 1990s nevertheless come to be increasingly dominated by professional managers and board members, making the traditional governance features less distinct. The process has been spurred by the fact that all three newspapers have been transformed from independents to parts of expanding newspaper groups. As a result, much of the allocative control previously enjoyed by the local boards has been transferred to central levels of the corporate hierarchy.
The Personalisation of Swedish Politics. Party Leaders in the Election Coverage 1979-2010.
(2012-11-22) Bjerling, Johannes
In The Personalisation of Swedish Politics: Party Leaders in the Election Coverage 1979-2010, the question of whether Swedish news media focus increasingly on the party leaders is thoroughly examined. All in all, five formats are studied: Broadsheets (Dagens Nyheter, Svenska Dagbladet), tabloids (Aftonbladet, Expressen), public service television (SVT), public service radio (SR) and commercial television (TV4). Analytically, personalisation is conceived of as a concept with three dimensions: personification, orientation towards personae and intimisation. The multidimensionality of the concept is a most fundamental aspect to consider, not least since different dimensions can be related to different processes and developments: whereas personification, essentially, reflects a development of (increased) individualisation, orientation towards personae and intimisation are both related to a development in which personal characteristics are becoming increasingly important. On a theoretical level, a contribution of the study is that it relates the question of increased personalisation not only to changes within the news media system; also changes within the political system are considered. And here, three developments are central: increased interdependence, increased complexity and decreased party identification. Against this theoretical background, the author questions a view where (increased) personalisation is automatically condemned. Given that the political system has changed, the author argues that a prospective and party-centered model may have become somewhat obsolete; with citizens’ information needs in mind, information about the party leaders’ personal characteristics may well have become increasingly important. With regard to the empirical results, it is shown that claims of an increasingly party leader oriented coverage must be more nuanced than they usually are. Of the five formats that are examined, a general trend of personalisation can be found only for the tabloids. For all other formats, the overall evidence is really quite mixed.
What’s the Use of a Free Media? The Role of Media in Curbing Corruption and Promoting Quality of Government.
(2013-11-15) Färdigh, Mathias A.
Free media have traditionally been seen as vital to democratization and economic development. International actors, such as UN, the World Bank, the EU, Transparency International, the OECD and the research field in its entirety regard free media as one of the main means of curbing corruption. Numerous policy proposals and recommendations stress the importance of media freedom. Nevertheless, our knowledge of how effectively media actually perform to combat corruption is still limited – albeit growing. What’s the Use of a Free Media? presents three independent empirical studies that contribute to an understanding of this role, analyzing the media’s importance in curbing corruption and in promoting and generating high quality political institutions. The research design and robust empirical approach broaden the analytical scope of earlier studies and stressing the need to look beyond simple models of direct effects of media freedom. The dissertation problematizes and elaborates the specifications of both media freedom and quality of government, thereby helping to bridge the gap between theory and the equivalent empirical world.
Bruised by the Invisible Hand. A critical examination of journalistic representations and the naturalization of neoliberal ideology in times of Industrial crisis.
(2016-09-12) Jacobsson, Diana
Abstract This dissertation revolves around questions that are central to the field of media and journalism research, questions about journalism and ideology, about journalistic agency and autonomy, and the room for maneuver and vulnerability of journalism today. The purpose of the study is to examine how neoliberal discourse operates in news media reporting of industrial crisis. Departing from critical theory and critical discourse analysis, the study suggests that how neoliberal discourse operates in the journalistic understanding of the relationship between state, labor and capital, becomes visible in the way that questions of rights and responsibilities connected to workers, politics and the business elite are shaped in a situation where mass unemployment is the expected outcome. The study therefore focuses on the negotiation and correspondence between the neoliberal and journalistic logic and comprises three empirical analyses of the journalistic representation of the working class, politics and business elite in the news coverage of the closing of a large Swedish factory in the early 2010s. The first substudy makes a historical comparison with news coverage during the textile industry crisis in the late 1970s and draws attention to how news journalism today dismantles the working class by the construction of discourses that prevent political and collective action. The second substudy identifies a firm neoliberal posture promoted by the right-wing government in conjunction with the first signs of crisis – and the disappearance of the question of political responsibility in the later news coverage concerning the closure of the factory. The third substudy illuminates how the clear labor perspective in the journalistic construction during the textile industry crisis in the 1970s is replaced by a dominant market perspective and a very lenient journalistic posture towards the economic elite in today’s news reporting. Taken together, the study suggests that the way the relation between state, labor and capital is understood and expressed in the representation of the working class, politics and the economic elite indicates a naturalization of the neoliberal ideology with few avenues for another understanding of rights and responsibilities in an industrial crisis. The study points to an ideological closure where alternative interpretations and representations seem to be beyond the reach or ability of mainstream journalism.
Battling the 'Invisible Nets'. Gender in the fields of journalism in sub-Saharan Africa
(2017-05-04) Zuiderveld, Maria
Battling the ‘invisible nets’ studies journalism as a gendered practice in sub-Saharan Africa. This thesis analyses the gender logic in the field of journalism by examining how structures of gender, class and race interact to create barriers and opportunities for black women journalists and media managers. The empirical focus is on South Africa but also includes Zambia, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Uganda. The theoretical framework is inspired by French socio- logist Pierre Bourdieu and the appropriation of his theories by Toril Moi. Inspired by an ethnographic approach, five empirical studies examine the lived experiences of black women journalists. The thesis also examines how gender logic operates in the field of journalism in South Africa on a detailed level by analysing reporting and editorial discussions concerning a specific gender-sensitive topic during the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The results of the thesis show the South African context is unique in the way it shapes opportunities and obstacles for women in the field of journalism, and how black women journalists act in order to navigate the ‘invisible nets’ and succeed in the field.
FASHIONABLE POLITICS The discursive construction of ethical consumerism in corporate communications, news media, and social media
(2018-09-14) Arnesson, Johanna
This thesis investigates the discursive construction of ethical consumerism – a notion that encompasses both ‘conscious’ consumption choices and responsible’ corporate activities – in mediated discourses about fashion and clothing consumption in Sweden. Drawing on the discourse-historical approach within critical discourse analysis, the study provides an empirical examination of discursive elements in corporate communications, newspapers, and social media, which construct the market as the best solution to social injustice and climate change. The analysis focuses on how specific identities or practices are established as ethical, authentic, and legitimate, and investigates both the promises and the limits of discursive ethical consumerism in late capitalism. The thesis shows how corporate and journalistic discourses can be depoliticising, as they focus on consensus and collaboration rather than on conflicts of interest, and on individual responsibility and consumption choices rather than on political policy. However, the convergence of consumption and politics also becomes highly political when these issues are discussed by the audience. The approach places the thesis within a tradition of critical studies of branded politics and the neoliberalisation of contemporary societies, while still taking the reflexive awareness of politically motivated consumers into account.
The private life of a nation in crisis: A study on the politics in / of Greek television fiction
(2018-10-24) Aitaki, Georgia
The private life of a nation in crisis offers in-depth studies of the fictional reconstruction and negotiation of moments of heightened societal tension that take place throughout the life of a nation. Its constituent papers focus on the role of television fiction in representing and shaping either critical moments, events, or periods that disrupt the normal pace of life, or unresolved societal tensions that become part of everyday life. What is more, the papers investigate the socio-cultural consequences of representations, in terms of the interpretative lenses television fiction provides for understanding the events as such. The empirical focus is placed on television fiction produced and broadcast in Greece, a country that has recently received a large share of publicity because of its protagonistic role in the late 2000s Eurozone crisis and, at the same time, a media landscape with multiple aspects that still remain uncharted. The thesis contains case studies from different periods of Greek television fiction, from 1989 – the year of the launch of the first private channels in Greece – onwards, in an attempt to connect the overall project to the production context characterizing commercial television, another aspect of European television in the process of continuous exploration. Through a close analysis of specific television programmes, as well as a complementary study of the production culture of private television in Greece, this thesis aspires to contribute to the general question regarding the role of the media in critical, uncertain, or tumultuous times, with an emphasis on television fiction’s potential to recode their meaning and to reflect back on society.
#InFlux. Journalists’ adoption of social media and journalists’ social roles
(2019-08-16) Hedman, Ulrika
#InFlux investigates journalists’ adoption of social media and social network sites (SNS) from the theoretical perspective of journalistic roles. It shows how the social roles of journalists are situated along the axes of formal–personal and news media logic–social media logic: skeptical shunners and activists, lurkers and networkers, news hubs and celebrified marketers, coordinators and ambassadors, professional marketers and pragmatics, entrepreneurs and journalists in incognito mode. The emergence of a social news media logic has implications for journalistic ethics and possibly brings a de-professionalization of journalists. This thesis also shows that social media and SNS had an immediate impact among Swedish journalists and are now regarded as highly valued professional tools. Over time, the initial hype has faded – the general use can now best be described as pragmatic, while the high-end users use social media and SNS strategically for networking, audience dialogue, and personal branding. Journalists’ core professional ideals are not affected by the adoption of social media and SNS. The statistical methodological approach applied – a mixed design with surveys (cross-sectional and panel data) and content analysis of Twitter data – allows for a generalization of the findings to the national population of journalists in Sweden as well as for comparisons between groups of journalists, and shows a way of how to find a representative sample of journalists on Twitter and other SNS and how to make best use of the data collected.
Being political in the media – Political identities in journalistic and Twitter discourse
(2019-08-30) Persson, Gustav
This thesis is about the role of media discourse in shaping the political identities of those who want to be heard in public. The ways in which people are able to speak, know, and feel in political situations have important implications for how we conceive of the possibilities to be engaged in contemporary democracy. This thesis offer four empirical studies of how political identities are constructed through journalism and social networking services in cases in which people have decided to make their voices heard. Identities constructed through mediated participation have important implications for how we understand the possibilities to act politically in public, a public that that is characterized as having a multifarious media ecology. Methodologically as well as theoretically it is bound together by a discursive approach to political identities, which means that it is at the discursive level of mediation that identities are analysed as a means to open up for discussions about the limits and constraints of what it means to be political today, what kind and now the media facilitate political engagement. Empirically it analyses print and radio journalism as well as emotional tweets and Twitter profiles to map out ways in which political identities are constructed in activist participation in and through the media. The four different studies contribute to discussions around what it is to be knowledgeable, emotional, subjective and able when you are communicating politics in media discourse. One of the main contribution is that political identities in the media are precarious and that research need to be careful about making too simplistic assumptions about those who make their voices heard in public or what they need to become in undertaking this, and there is a necessary precarious quality to becoming or emerging political in the media, which poses important challenges for social scientific studies that wishes to understand what and who those who act politically through the media.
Media Echo Chambers: Selective Exposure and Confirmation Bias in Media Use, and its Consequences for Political Polarization
(2020-12-17) Dahlgren, Peter M.
The new digital media landscape has created a high-choice media environment that has made it easier for people to find news and information that support their political beliefs and attitudes, and avoid news and information that challenge those beliefs or attitudes. How does this affect people’s selection of content and political polarization in the long run? This thesis investigates the relationship between different political preferences (political party, political interest and ideological leaning) and selective media use over time among the Swedish population, and whether this selectivity leads to political polarization (ideological polarization and affective polarization). The thesis uses longitudinal surveys with a cross-section and panel design, and also a survey experiment. The results suggest that selectivity has not increased to the point that people in general only select information that supports their beliefs or attitudes, nor that people in general necessarily avoid information that challenge those beliefs or attitudes. Political interest is also one key motivator for people to select news and information that challenge them politically. The metaphor of a media echo chamber, where the only voices people hear are more of the same, is therefore far from reality.
Under the influence? Understanding media’s coverage of opinion polls and their effects on citizens and politicians
(2021-01-14) Oleskog Tryggvason, Per
News media’s use of horse race polls is a defining feature of contemporary political reporting. This thesis investigates how the news media use these opinion polls and how this coverage can influence two of the most central actors in representative democracies: citizens and politicians. This is addressed in four studies, utilizing different kinds of news content data, a representative panel survey of Swedish voters, and a large-scale survey of more than 2400 politicians. The main finding from the first study is that journalists frequently fail to adhere to statistical uncertainties when covering and explaining changes that have occurred in the polls. In more than half of the cases when journalists provide explanations for changes in the polls, the difference could be the result of sampling error. The second study examines the impact of poll coverage on subsequent political news coverage. The main finding is that there appears to be a spillover effect of how well a party is faring in public opinion and how it is portrayed in subsequent coverage. Among other things, findings suggest that parties receiving positive poll coverage are more likely to be portrayed favorably in subsequent coverage. The third study focuses on the prevalence of a bandwagon effect of poll results. Using panel data, it demonstrates how perceptions of recent developments in the polls can be an important factor in understanding how voters assess political parties and their vote intention. Voters perceiving a party to have increased its support in recent polls are more favorable towards, and more likely to say they will vote for, thus party. The fourth study focuses on how political elites view the influence of news media’s poll coverage. It finds that poll coverage is seen as an important factor that can have a considerable impact on enthusiasm among party members, the vote choice of the public, and the image of their party in the news media. Moreover, the perceived influence attributed to poll coverage is in part a function of experiences related to poll developments for the politicians’ own party. Taken together, the four studies serve as important pieces in understanding the role of news media’s poll coverage in democratic processes.

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