Vi och “svenskarna”. En kvantitativ innehållsanalys av hur grupptillhörigheter påverkar skildringar i högeralternativa medier

Abstract

This thesis aims to determine if there is a difference in how right-wing alternative media portrays perpetrators and victims based on their ethnicity, and how this potential difference manifests itself. The study’s framework is based on theories surrounding news selection, agenda setting, and framing. It is also grounded in previous research on discursive discrimination, the press ethical system, alternative media, crime reporting, and crime statistics. The thesis is based on a quantitative analysis of articles from the three most used right-wing alternative media outlets in Sweden: Nyheter Idag, Fria Tider, and Samhällsnytt. 999 articles from the last five years were analyzed, which equals approximately eighteen percent of the total number of articles related to our search word, “crime”. The results show that the studied right-wing alternative media outlets much more frequently reported on perpetrators depicted as foreign, with the most commonly depicted ethnicities being Middle Eastern, African and Asian. They also reported more often about foreign victims than Swedish victims, although the difference was not as pronounced as with the perpetrators. The articles that depicted the perpetrator or victim as foreign often contained judgemental language, and some commented on the perpetrator’s or victim's skin colour/ethnicity and/or religious/cultural affiliation.