Jakten på den unga publiken. En kvalitativ intervjustudie om målgruppsanpassningar i förhållande till journalistiska praktiker och ideal

Abstract

In the past few years, a new phenomenon has developed in Swedish local newspapers. It revolves around making a younger audience, often twenty- to forty-year-olds, more prominent in the news coverage. This shift can most easily be explained as an extension of the audience orientation – relying on today’s ability to measure exactly how news are consumed and by whom. Previous research shows both conflict and unity between audience orientation and professional ideals. The aim of this thesis is therefore to examine different views on how this narrower audience orientation is approached in Swedish local newspapers. Two different perspectives are in focus: how journalists perceive the implementation of target audience focus on practical everyday work as well as its viewed relation to professional ideals. These viewpoints are researched using theories about news valuation, media logic, professional ideals and social responsibility. The method applied is semi structured qualitative interviews. The study shows that target audience orientation is perceived to impact both practical, everyday work as well as the perception of professional ideals to a certain degree. Overall, the audience’s interests appear to be mirrored in most of the journalist’s practical work, from news valuation to choice of format and interviewees. The practice of target audience orientation is mostly seen as aligned, but sometimes in conflict, with professional ideals. However, the study indicates that journalistic ideals may have been reformulated due to financial pressure. Therefore, we find it necessary to further study how the current professional ideals are expressed.