Krisgestaltning på lokal och nationell nivå. En jämförande kvantitativ innehållsanalys av nyhetsrapporteringen kring skolskjutningen i Örebro

Abstract

The aim of this thesis was to examine how local and national Swedish newspapers framed the school shooting in Örebro. Furthermore, we aimed to compare local and national newspapers’ framing of the shooting to analyze what similarities and differences there are, and to determine what functions they fulfill depending on if they are local or national. This purpose has been achieved by a quantitative content analysis of 143 articles from two Swedish national newspapers and 184 articles from the local newspaper in Örebro. The study draws upon Entman's (1993) Framing Theory, while incorporating more recent as well as field specific research. This has allowed us to get a more extensive understanding of the use of frames, specifically in crisis journalism carried out by national and local newspapers. The operationalization of the theoretical framework has been carried out in a cumulative manner and is largely based on already established frames and operational indicators, originally identified and designed by Semetko and Valkenburg (2000). The frames examined in this thesis were: human interest, morality, attribution of responsibility and conflict. In addition to these frames, the material was examined to determine if the coverage was episodic or thematic. Our findings suggest that the local and national papers tended to use similar frames in the reporting of the school shooting in Örebro. The human interest and morality frame, as well as episodic framing were the most protruding frames for both newspapers. We could however observe tendencies suggesting that the local newspaper was more inclined to use these frames. In a similar manner, the national newspapers were more inclined to use the attribution of responsibility and conflict frames as well as the thematic frame than the local newspaper.