Viktiga män och oviktiga kvinnor? En kvantitativ innehållsanalys om könsrepresentation gällande mjuka och hårda nyheter i fyra av de största nationella tidningarna i Sverige

Abstract

Title: “Viktiga män och oviktiga kvinnor?” - En kvantitativ innehållsanalys om könsrepresentation gällande mjuka och hårda nyheter i fyra av de största nationella tidningarna i Sverige Authors: Hanna Andersson, Kajsa Andersson och Tuva Biel Erlandsson Level: Bachelor thesis in Journalism Term: HT 2024 Supervisor: Jenny Wiik Aim of thesis: The purpose of this thesis is to examine the extent to which socially structured gender norms influence the Swedish media landscape. This will be investigated by analyzing the representation of hard versus soft news in the Swedish media, the distribution of topics between female and male reporters, and how this may affect the visibility of different individuals in the media. Theoretical framework: For the theoretical framework used in this thesis, we have chosen three different theories. The first one focuses on the concept of gender and how researchers have long defined gender as a social construct that distinguishes men and women from each other. Secondly, we have chosen to apply Louise North's (2014) theory of Hard and Soft News to our thesis. This theory highlights the differences between various types of news and the distribution of these types depending on the reporter's gender, as well as the consequences of this distribution. Finally, we also apply the theory of media logic to our thesis to gain a deeper understanding of how media is structured and the underlying thought processes behind its organization. Method: The method used in this study is a quantitative content analysis which we have used when coding articles from four of the largest digital newspapers in Sweden. Results: The results that have emerged from this study confirms that hard news is the most frequently reported category of news. Furthermore it shows that men and women report about the same news, to the same extent. The difference, however, lies in the fact that men appear more often as a news subject than women. Men also get to talk, and get talked about in a wider range than women do.