Misstänkta mörderskor i svensk press
En kvalitativ studie om hur media gestaltar de misstänkta kvinnorna i Tove-fallet
Abstract
There is an ideal picture of how women should be, and female offenders deviate from these
conceptions linked to normative femininity (Lander, 2003). Women who commit murder are
therefore considered unusual and often attract extensive media-coverage. Previous research in
the field shows that the media's portrayal of criminal women has been based on a
stereotypical picture of women.
This study is based on a Swedish case where a young woman disappeared in Vetlanda in
October 2022. Later, two young women who were acquaintances of the victim were arrested
for the murder. The aim of this study is to examine the media's reporting about the case from
a gender perspective. The study's research questions are:
- How are the perpetrator's character-traits described by the media?
- How are the suspected perpetrators' motives for the crime described?
- How is the perpetrator's background described by the media?
- How is the perpetrator's relationship to the victim described?
- Are there differences in how Vetlanda-Posten, Göteborgs-Posten and Aftonbladet
report on the perpetrators from a gender perspective?
- Is there any difference in the portrayal of the suspected perpetrators over time?
This study was executed by using a qualitative method called Ethnographic Content Analysis,
made by David Altheide. This study's results are based on three different newspapers. The
newspapers used in the study were Vetlanda-Posten, Göteborgs-Posten and Aftonbladet. We
divided the descriptions of the perpetrators based on five different themes: character-traits,
relationships, motive, background and expert-opinions.
The conclusion of the analysis in this study is that women are described in a stereotypical
manner, and the descriptions of women closely align with normative femininity.
Degree
Student essay
Student essay
Collections
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Date
2024-02-28Author
Bergström, Jennifer
Karlendal, Joseph
Vogel, Sandra
Keywords
Journalism, Gender, Crime, Ethnographic Content Analysis, Case Study
Series/Report no.
KH23-10
Language
swe