The aim of this study is to examine how journalists in public service relate to objectivity and neutrality in their private social media. With respect to the requirements from the organization that the journalists should see themselves as a part of the organization and always try to maintain its credibility. We choose this theme primarily because the relevance of the subject. Social media is growing fast and there is a fine line between being personal and transparent and at the same time maintain the credibility of the organization by being objective and neutral. For journalists it can be a struggle to preserve a good balance between these requirements. We start our analysis primarily in theories about the ideal of objectivity and the social- and work identity. Out of these theories and our framing of the question we formed a survey that we sent to journalists at the six biggest Sveriges Radio and Sveriges Television newsrooms in Sweden. Our results show that the journalists tend to keep up with the ideal of objectivity and neutrality of the profession not only in duty, but also in their private life in social media. Partly because of the strict policies that public service have formulated for the journalists to follow and partly because of the results of our survey.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the shares of original material compared with the shares of rewrites and agency material in the Swedish printed national daily press. We want to see how it differs today from 20 years ago. We did this to see whether or not the shares of rewrites and news agency materials have increased over time. In addition to this the study examines what kind of materials are rewritten and bought from news agencies. Through a quantitative content analysis we have examined two trendsetting Swedish newspapers, Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter. We have examined a synthetic week for each of the two newspapers from both 1995 and 2015 and analyzed a total of 1646 news articles. Through our study we came, among other things, to the conclusions that the proportion of original material for the entire group is 55 percent today, which is the same level as in 1995. However, the composition of the material that isn’t produced by the newspapers own editorial staff has changed. The proportion of rewrites for the whole group has doubled from 6 to 12 percent, while the amount of news agency materials have dropped from 39 to 33 percent. We then proceeded with examining and comparing the evening and the morning newspapers and the differences then became more remarkable. The changes in general have become more prominent in Sweden’s leading tabloid, Aftonbladet, where the proportion of the internal news output has increased slightly. The most dramatic change, however, is regarding the proportion of rewrites that has more than doubled since 1995. These increases have occurred at the expense of material from news agencies. In Dagens Nyheter, Sweden’s largest morning newspaper, the trend has been slightly different. Here we have seen a constant amount of rewrites, but an increase of the material from news agencies at the expense of their internal news output. In this essays concluding part we use theories regarding tabloidization, digitalization and news evaluation to attempt to explain the changes we have identified.

This study will examine the occurrence of the Swedish epicene pronoun “hen” in the newspaper Aftonbladet between January 2013 and November 2015. Furthermore we want to investigate the meaning the word obtains when it is used by journalists and in what kind of journalistic subject area it occurs. The study has three questions constructed around the main purpose: 1. To what extent did the pronoun hen occur in Aftonbladet between the years 2013 to 2015? 2. What different kinds of meanings does the word obtain when it is used and to what extent are these meanings occurring? 3. In what kind of context does the word occur and to what extent? To analyze our findings, theory of sex-marking and agenda setting were used. Previous research has mainly been concentrated around 2012, during this period a widespread debate about the word’s existence in the Swedish language had started to culminate. The time span for this research is the three years following after the “hen-year” 2012 to see if the use of the word had evolve to become a part of the common Swedish language, rather than just a subject for discussion. A total of 590 occurrences of the word were analyzed in the newspaper Aftonbladet. Observations were made to see if journalists were male or female, in what journalistic genres it occurred, in what types of articles it was mostly used and if the articles were based on the journalists own opinions or not. The study showed that the occurrence of the pronoun increased during 2013 until mid-2014 when it started to decrease until the end of 2015. In relation to the complete time span it became evident that the word started out as being mainly used as a subject but later evolved to be used with is basic functions as a pronoun or a noun. The results regarding the different contexts showed that the word was more often used by men than women regarding articles based on opinion and culture/entertainment. The results give an insight in how the use of the word hen has evolved since 2012, a period that has mostly been overseen by other studies. In conclusion it is evident that the word has begun to become a part of the common Swedish language, by being used more frequently.

This bachelor thesis examines photojournalistic images in contemporary Swedish press from a gender perspective. Gender inequality is reproduced through news content every day. Behind all photojournalistic images is the photographer, a person who makes decisions regarding the angle of the picture, its composition, environment and light. In addition, the photographer is often able to influence the body language, posture and facial expression of the person portrayed. Through these daily choices of the photojournalist, the media have the power to strengthen or challenge the gender hierarchy by selecting and publishing certain images (Jarlbro 2013:65). Previous studies on media content show that gender stereotypes of women and men are so common that they often go unnoticed (Fagerström & Nilson 2008:125-127). Taken that media shall function as an interactive venue where all individuals are seen on equal terms, stereotypical representations of men and women in the news should be considered a democratic problem (Jarlbro 2013:19, 92). By applying a qualitative content analysis, our aim is to investigate how photojournalistic images can strengthen or infract typical gender patterns, where men and women are represented differently due to inequal norms and values in society. This study includes six different photographs from the Swedish local morning paper Göteborgs-Posten. The photographs were analyzed by examining aspects such as body language, facial expressions, picture angle and context. The main findings of this study show that both women and men in the analyzed photographs are represented in stereotypical ways in terms of gender. In most cases, men are portrayed as active, powerful and independent in a way that enhance their masculinities, whereas women act passively in a way that confines and victimizes them. Two of the photographs partly challenge this gender order by portraying men in situations where they appear weak or exposed. Representations of women on the other hand do not conflict with the gender order. Still, none of the photographs challenge the hegemonic masculinity (Connell 1995:76-80). Through our results we also want to highlight how the consequences of stereotypical gender representations obstructs the development of gender equality in news content and in society. By applying Entman’s theories (1993:51-52) to our analysis it is possible to conclude that the framing of media content inevitably influence our ideas and expectations of men and women in society. In conclusion, stereotypical representations of men and women in turn contributes to the strengthening of gender stereotypes in media content as well as in society.

In our study, we have examined the presentation of gender in the Swedish programs Modellpojkar and Modellflickor. Reality documentary programs about swedish models, produced for Swedish Public Service. Our theoretical point of departure was gender theory found in the literature by Anja Hirdman and Raewyn Connell. They presented the term gender as a non-biological take on how we as men and women are expected to act in different situations in life. We have also compared the material with Maria Nikolajeva’s theories about stereotypes and other research material regarding gender presentation in media and commercials in general. We approached the material using qualitative method. To increase empirical validity we used both a textual analysis and a semiotical analysis. The textual analysis was used to examine the dialogue and how the models spoke about their private life, profession and body ideal et cetera. The semiotical analysis was used when watching five photo sessions in order to discover gender presentation in a visual context. The result showed us that gender is reproduced in terms of body ideal much due to current demands in model industry. At the same time, the boundaries of gender roles are somewhat being modified