Fria Tider och Samtiden

On the 13 of April 2019, the Swedish evening newspapers, Expressen published an article on the refugee situation of Filipstad. The small municipality had received a large number of refugees compared to its size. The chairman of the municipal council was cited that the economy was strained, the unemployment numbers were high, and the municipality was applying for bankruptcy.

The medial effect was immediate, and several newspapers, television and radio channels reported on the subject. Also, two alternative media, the Fria Tider and Samtiden published several articles on the situation.

There is a lack of research on the far-right alternative media in the Swedish context and especially how they frame their news. There is little or limited knowledge about the two far-right alternative medias the Fria Tider and the Samtiden. And as a result of comparing two different far-right alternative media this essay aims to broaden the research of two of the main far right alternative media in the Swedish context. Therefore, this essay aims to investigate how the Fria Tider and the Samtiden framed the story regarding to “the situation in Filipstad”

The method used in this study was a systematic text analysis comparing seven articles from the Fria Tider (3) and Samtiden (4) and how they framed the situation in Filipstad. The framing theories of Dennis Chong and James Druckman was used, as was the theory about far-right alternative media by Kristoffer Holt.

The analysis revealed that the Fria Tider framed the situation in Filipstad as a direct effect of immigrants related to their skills, while the Samtiden framed the situation as a result of migration policy and bad municipality decisions.

Conclusively, the analysis revealed that the Fria Tider and Samtiden framed the “situation in Filipstad” differently where Samtiden resemble how the traditional media framed the news and the Fria Tider is a polarizing/anti system alternative media.