Inget strösslande med namnpubliceringar - En kvalitativ intervjustudie av sportredaktioners etiska förhållningssätt kring namnpublicering av dömda idrottare

Abstract

Title: “Inget strösslande med namnpubliceringar” - En kvalitativ intervjustudie av sportredaktioners etiska förhållningssätt kring namnpublicering av dömda idrottare.

Subject: Undergraduate research paper in journalism studies, Department of journalism, media and communication (JMG), University of Gothenburg.

Purpose: The main purpose of this study is to examine Swedish sports editorial offices’ ethical approach to the publication of names of convicted athletes.

Method: Qualitative in-depth interviews with four Swedish heads of sports, representing four different newspapers.

Procedure: We have interviewed four heads of sports, representing the sports editorial offices of four different Swedish newspapers, and transcribed and analyzed them based on theories about media ethics, news values and intermedia agenda setting.

Results: The Swedish sports editorial offices have a restrictive ethical approach to the publication of names of convicted athletes. The editors emphasize showing consideration to the sanctity of private life. Why an athlete’s name could be published when convicted with crime is partly because of its informal power as a role model.

The results show a structured way of working with these questions. It is a complex subject and therefore the sports editorial offices also work to prevent unethical publications and improve their ethical way of working. Regarding the differences between morning- and evening press, they both have a fairly equivalent approach to these questions, only finding Dagens Nyheter being a bit more restrained in one or two questions.