“Ingen kommer ihåg vem som var först, men alla kommer ihåg vem som gjorde fel” - En intervjustudie med svenska kriminaljournalister och ansvariga utgivare

Abstract

Aim of thesis: The main purpose of this study is to investigate how Swedish publishers and journalists reporting on crime relate to and discuss media ethics in their daily work and how the digitalization has influenced their work. To fulfill this aim, four questions were constructed: 1. Does the digital media landscape create own ethical problems? How are these handled? a) Regarding the methods of gathering material b) Regarding the content and publication 2. What ethical problems signify the work of crime reporters? a) Regarding the methods of gathering material b) Regarding the content and publication 3. How do publishers discuss media ethics today? 4. What are the differences between different type of media regarding ethical problems and the methods of gathering material? (Morning paper, evening paper and public service)

Theoretical framework: Media ethics, digitalization, commercialization.

Method: Qualitative in-depth interviews with Swedish criminal journalists and publishers. 18 interviews were transcribed and analyzed.

Results: The results of this study show that the main ethical problem is whether or not to publish names. The respondents also indicate that the digitalization has simplified their work in many ways. However, they also emphasize how the increasing pressure in the industry can affect the quality of their work negatively. This is due to the high publishing rate that is now industry standard because of recent digitalization.