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In this section, Journalistica puts a spotlight on research methods used in journalism studies and/or journalism practice.

Amidst the shift from linear TV to streaming, public-service media face the challenge of reconciling commercial competition with their public obligation of informing society. This longitudinal content analysis investigates the curation and platformization of news on the front pages of the video-on-demand services of two Danish broadcasters, DRTV and TV 2 Play. Sampling four days annually from 2020 to 2022, we take a longitudinal approach to assess news curation (i.e., positioning and accessibility on the front page) and news platformization (i.e., video length, hard vs. soft news composition, and prevalence of streaming-first content). We did not find strong evidence of platformization overall. A main difference between the broadcasters was in terms of curation, with DRTV consistently prioritizing the news deck, while TV 2 exhibited a declining trend over time. This study contributes valuable insights into the treatment of news by broadcasters within the evolving context of streaming services.

In contemporary media environments, mainstream news media have become increasingly challenged by political alternative media. Even though research on how political alternative media cover politics and society has increased, there is still limited research comparing how political alternative media and mainstream news media cover key political events, such as election campaigns. To fill this gap, the purpose of this study is to compare election news coverage in political alternative and mainstream news media, drawing theoretically on theories related to mediatization and structural bias on the one hand, and politicization and political bias on the other. Empirically, the overarching research question is how election coverage in left- and right-wing political alternative and mainstream media differs. Findings suggest that political alternative media do function as an alternative to mainstream news media in that they offer more politicized coverage of election campaigns. However, left-wing, and right-wing political alternative media also constitute alternatives to each other in how the election campaigns are covered.

In this section, Journalistica puts a spotlight on research methods used in journalism studies and/or journalism practice.

In the current hybrid media environment, politicians have manifold opportunities to be in contact with voters during elections. Legacy news media still constitute an important campaign tool for politi- cians, but a range of social media have gained ground in electoral campaigning over the last decades as well. Against this backdrop, the aim of this study is to shed further light on politicians’ campaign practices in a hybrid communication environment, and whether the introduction of social media have introduced new dynamics into election campaigns. The study does so through a case study of Dan- ish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and opposition party leader Alex Vanopslagh’s social media campaigns and online news pres- ence during the 2022 national election. The study finds that Freder- iksen was more in the news during the election than Vanopslagh, but that social media was central in both campaigns. However, Van- opslagh was on a broader set of social media and to a greater extent capitalised on the platform affordances than Frederiksen.

The study explores the perspectives of political parties regarding news media coverage in election campaigns. By analyzing official post-election analyses produced by Swedish political parties from 2010 to 2022, the study offers a novel approach to the study of political party views of news media. The findings largely support the arguments proposed by mediatization literature, highlighting the significance of media in party communication. Parties display eagerness to attract positive media attention while expressing regret over inadequate or negative publicity. More surprisingly, there is a lack of references to media bias in the reports, suggesting that the hostile media effect is not a major concern among Swedish parties. Despite criticisms related to irrelevant reporting and perceived negative coverage, party perceptions towards the media remains predominantly neutral. The study contributes to the understanding of the complex relationship between political parties and news media in the context of election campaigns.

Blandt journalister er der en erkendelse af, at fagtermen ‘vinkel’ er præget af flertydighed. Flertydigheden udfordrer den, der skal tilegne sig den journalistiske fagterminologi – og dermed faglighed. Forfatteren kortlægger vinkelbegrebets betydninger ved at nærlæse passager, hvor begrebet optræder, i 30 nyere danske lærebøger i journalistik. Hun finder fire forskellige definitioner: Vinkel i betydningen fokus, synsvinkel, påstand og budskab. Forfatteren klarlægger definitionernes forskellige forståelsesrammer og viser, hvordan de hver især indfanger centrale journalistfaglige kompetencer i det praktiske arbejde med at vinkle en historie. Det leder til påstanden om, at det er mere produktivt at fastholde begrebets flertydighed end at begrænse den. Med afsæt i Wittgensteins sprogspilsteori argumenteres for, at de eksisterende definitioner hver for sig giver et brugbart svar på, hvad en vinkel er, og tilsammen indfanger den alsidighed af aktiviteter og refleksioner, der indgår i en systematisk journalistisk vinklingspraksis. Det omsættes til en ny, mere rummelig definition på vinkelbegrebet.

Introduction to special issue

The article introduces the Digital Story Model. The model is made with the ambition to improve and enrich digital stories done by journalism students, professional journalists and other kinds of digital storytellers . In the study we adopt an action-based research approach and test the model in an international classroom setting with 85 journalism students representing 35 countries. The findings of students' experiences with applying the model point to a number of strengths and shortcomings. Strengths include the model as a structuring and planning tool, as a way to benefit creativity, as a shared language in an international group and as an assistance in considering the potential story modalities. Shortcomings include the model preventing creativity and creating standardized stories, the model being mostly beneficial for inexperienced reporters and being too linear. The study concludes that there is a significant usefulness of the model when it comes to enriching digital storytelling but also a need to revise the model further and to alter the way it is presented in the classroom.

Tredjepersonsfortælleren er det naturlige førstevalg i fortællende journalistik, men påfaldende lidt studeret i journalistikforskningen. Hvor den journalistiske førstepersonsfortæller i flere nyere studier har været genstand for interesse i såvel nordisk som international sammenhæng, måske netop fordi ”jeg”-formen er et mere kontroversielt valg i journalistik, har tredjepersonfortælleren endnu til gode at tiltrække den samme opmærksomhed. I denne artikel introducerer vi derfor et retorisk-narratologisk blik på tredjepersonsfortælleren og dennes funktioner i fortællende journalistik. Med afsæt i tre eksempler på nyere nordisk fortællende journalistik viser vi hvordan tredjepersonsfortælleren kan træde mere elle mindre tydeligt frem i journalistiske fortællinger alt efter i hvilken grad fortælleren varetager fortællerfunktionerne at berette, fortolke og vurdere på henholdsvis direkte og indirekte vis. Artiklens begrebsapparat og analyser tjener til at tydeliggøre tredjepersonfortællerens betydning som narrativ ressource i fortællende journalistisk og dens samspil med de øvrige narrative ressourcer fortællende journalister har til deres rådighed.

This article zooms in on the sociotechnical imaginaries within the discourse on digital storytelling as journalistic innovation in the Netherlands. It analyzes how digital storytelling is discussed since 2015 on the online platforms of the Dutch Journalism Fund and the Dutch Association of Journalists, two central intermediary organizations within the Dutch journalistic landscape that play a vital role in the debate about journalistic innovation and journalism’s future. My analysis shows that this discourse provides a rather one-dimensional and uniform sociotechnical imaginary that presents the future as one in which digital-savvy news consumers can only be engaged through a more captivating way of reporting, allowing for more interactivity and forms of storytelling that draws them into the story on an experiential and emotional level. The techno-centric focus reinforces the already prevalent understanding of journalistic innovation as primarily a matter of mastering and exploiting the digital affordances of new technological tools and platforms without questioning or problematizing how this impacts journalism’s professional ethics and subsequently its cultural authority.

Alternative media are defined by their position as challengers of mainstream media and politics alike. However, recent studies suggest that they act out their opposition to mainstream media and their political partisanship in different ways. Against this backdrop, the study at hand investigates how 12 Danish alternative media construct and position themselves against the media- and political mainstream. The study identifies substantial differences regarding the outlets’ commitment to or rejection of the ethical rules and norms of professional journalism, whether they adopt or deviate from a neutral journalistic style, what ideological agendas they advocate, their political ties, and the media- and political criticism they voice. In doing so, the study adds to a growing body of research suggesting that alternative media are a heterogeneous group. Based on these findings, the study discusses the different potentials for impact that alternative media have on the media- and political systems they enter.

Hur ser berättelsen om svensk gängkriminalitet ut i tre aktuella reportageböcker och med vilken berättarteknik är den konstruerad? Med en blandning av narratologisk och medieretorisk analysmetod undersöker den här artikeln hur form och innehåll samspelar i Mammorna av Alexandra Pascalidou, Familjen av Johanna Bäckström Lerneby och Tills alla dör av Diamant Salihu. Två centrala frågor är vems perspektiv som lyfts fram och på vilka villkor samt i vilken omfattning berättartekniken används för att problematisera det förmedlade budskapet. Studien finner att skiftande berättarperspektiv är ett effektivt verktyg för att motverka ensidighet, samtidigt som narrativ medkänsla utan parallell narrativ inlevelse kan hindra läsarens möjlighet att föreställa sig de skildrade människornas situation. Dramatiserade händelseförlopp ökar närvarokänslan, medan en reporter som ifrågasätter sin egen auktoritet uppmuntrar läsaren till att undvika förenklande slutsatser. Till sist bidrar personbeskrivningar och urval av fakta i de tre böckerna till skilda budskap om hur gängkriminaliteten i dagens Sverige ser ut.

Journalistiske fortellinger om framtiden preger både norske og internasjonale nyhetsmedier. Men hvilke teknikker bruker journalistene til å fortelle sannferdig om noe som ennå ikke har skjedd? Artikkelen diskuterer hvordan narratologiske kategorier kan brukes til å forstå og diskutere framtidsfortellinger i vår tids journalistikk. Et sentralt begrep er foranstilt narrasjon, altså en fortellerposisjon der den rapporterte virkeligheten foreløpig ikke finnes, men kan komme til å oppstå. Et grunnleggende premiss er at journalistiske narrativer er noe mer enn den tradisjonelle oppfattelsen av narrativ journalistikk som tilbakeskuende reportasjer skrevet i en skjønnlitterær form. Også konvensjonell nyhetsjournalistikk har narrative elementer, og fortellingen behøver ikke handle om hendelser som er avsluttet. Klimakrisen, koronapandemien og krigen i Ukraina er eksempler på temaer som har generert journalistiske fortellinger om framtiden. Artikkelen utvikler et begrepsapparat for analyse av slike framtidsfortellinger. Vi analyserer tre ulike tekster som illustrerer forskjellen mellom det vi kaller fortellinger om framtiden, fortellinger fra framtiden og frammaninger av framtiden.

In this section, Journalistica puts a spotlight on research methods used in journalism studies and/or journalism practice.

Medierne spiller en afgørende rolle i forhold til at informere befolkningen om klimaforandringer. Forskningen peger imidlertid på, at dækningen af klimaet udgør en udfordring for nyhedsjournalistikken. Blandt andet medfører journalistikkens fokus på begivenheder, at dækningen i høj grad er bundet op på nøglebegivenheder, så som klimatopmøder. Denne artikel undersøger, om den daglige klimadækning også er begivenhedsstyret og bidrager derudover med ny viden om, hvad der kendetegner henholdsvis begivenhedsstyret og emnestyret klimajournalistik. Baseret på en kvantitativ indholdsanalyse af klimajournalistik i landsdækkende dagblade mellem 2018 og 2021 (n=367) viser analysen, at emnestyret klimajournalistik fylder en smule mere begivenhedsstyret, og at der er en forskel på de to typer journalistik. Hvor den begivenhedsstyrede klimajournalistik har mere fokus på politik, erhverv og politiske kilder, fylder artikler med mennesker i centrum og borgere som kilder mere i emnestyret klimajournalistik. Borgere er dog generelt underrepræsenterede i forhold til elitekilder. Artiklen konkluderes med en diskussion af definitionen af begivenhedsstyret journalistik og anbefalinger til en bredere klimadækning.

Journalism is considered to fulfil a societal watchdog role. However, research indicates that local news rarely lives up to established state-of-the-art definitions of investigative journalism. Therefore, this article argues that the assessment of local accountability journalism must include research on the extent to which it assumes a societal watchdog role in a more basic sense, namely by being critical of events and conditions in the local society in some way. A content analysis of approximately 1600 articles in three local Swedish newspapers shows that criticism, even in its mildest form, constitutes less than a fifth of the overall output, and that journalists themselves are the agents of criticism in less than 15 % of the critical articles, disregarding editorials, and that they more often criticize national than local power. In news articles, journalists are less often agents of criticism than both politicians, the public, and representatives of organizations. Actors in the public sphere are targets of criticism in 75 % of the critical articles, whereas those articles rarely target the private sector or civil society.

In this section, Journalistica puts a spotlight on research methods used in journalism studies and/or journalism practice. Listen to the Journalistica podcast episode about this article on Spotify.

The article proposes an analytical approach to the study of persona-driven journalism. Drawing on concepts from performance studies, the article builds an analytical framework for engaging with empirical material where the performance of the journalist’s personality becomes a central part of the journalistic product. The analysis of journalist and radio host Ditte Okman identifies a journalism practice that draws on bodily expressivity, outspoken attitudes and the creation of a socializing media space. This practice is used to showcase an unashamed persona that creates journalism based on a performance of authenticity and sincerity, which is read as an example of doing affective labor. The main contribution of the article is to conceptualize a methodological approach to the study of persona-driven journalism practices by drawing on ideas and concepts from performance studies, thus adding methodologically to journalism studies.

In this section, Journalistica puts a spotlight on research methods used in journalism studies and/or journalism practice. Listen to the Journalistica podcast episode about this article on Spotify or in your browser.

Keeping journalism socially relevant and financially viable is more challenging than ever. It might seem like a paradox, but in a time when news media is challenged by inadequate business models, precarious labor conditions and competition from platform companies, and contested by populist politicians, the public is consuming more news than ever before. The changing media landscape, technological platforms and structural conditions are influencing journalism, its practices and its roles in everyday life, society, culture, and politics—central topics when communication scholars gather at international and national conferences dedicated to media and communication research. The NordMedia Conference 2021 was arranged in the midst of an ongoing pandemic. It was supposed to be held in Reykjavik, Iceland, but was ultimately held virtually. Naturally, the topics tended to focus on how journalists were covering the pandemic, but they also included studies on truth, disinformation and facts as well as technology in journalism in the form of AI and automation. The presenters were later invited to participate in this special issue, which celebrates Nordic scholarship and the Journalistica journal. In this issue, we bring together three studies that each illustrate the current developments within Nordic journalism research along with a book review of a book on political communication in the Nordics. Ethics and trust are common threads that run through the three articles published in this special issue of Journalistica. The articles cover very different topics—from podcasting as a genre, alternative media and comment moderation to ethics in local news media — and ethics and trust are recurring themes in the discussions. What constitutes as news today is increasingly blurred as it mixes with commercial content (influencers and content marketing — commercial genres that look like news), opinions (comments appearing as news) or false and manipulated content (fake news or disinformation). Many people, especially young adults, get their news from social media, and the newsfeed does not differentiate between different types of content. News from respected newsrooms has the same design as rumors from a suspicious website. Thus, users have to pay more attention to differentiate between the trustworthiness of the information. This blurring of content and genres is challenging for journalism’s trustworthiness. The articles in this special issue touch on some of the challenges appearing as a result of this blurring despite the long tradition of strong ethical guidelines for journalism in Nordic newsrooms. Nevertheless, the users of Nordic news are still demonstrating high levels of trust, among the highest in the 45 countries of the Reuters Digital News Report 2022 track. Finnish news users report the highest trust in news (69%), particularly the news they use (75%), followed by Denmark (58%/63%), Norway (56%/63%), and Sweden (50%/56%). Iceland was not included in Reuters’ survey. One factor that can help maintain and strengthen trust in news in the Nordic countries is strong ethical practices in newsrooms. Since the early 20th century, Nordic newsrooms and journalism organizations have developed ethical guidelines for journalism that are continually updated to reflect developments in the profession and society at large: • Norway:​​Code of Ethics for the Norwegian Press • Sweden: Rules of Professional Conduct • Denmark: Press Ethical Rules • Finland: Guidelines for Journalists • Iceland: Rules of Ethics in Journalism Ethical guidelines and their practical implementation in the newsrooms can help Nordic journalists navigate the challenges emerging from the changing media landscape, competition from technological platforms and structural conditions influencing journalism. The articles in this special issue of Journalistica each offer a unique contribution to address some of these challenges.

The internet and digital platforms provide commentary- and opinion-based journalism with new opportunities to develop into new digital formats, such as podcasts. This article is based on the case studies of four Norwegian podcasts in 2020 and 2021. The findings show that commentary journalism in the form of podcasts has an obvious dual purpose: as publicity and as a commercial. The podcast facilitates a societal mission for the public while creating branded goods for the companies involved. Based on the material and the categories we had constructed, we developed a set of binaries that, understood as typologies, capture important dimensions of the differences between the podcasts. These binaries are monologue vs. dialogue, factual vs. personal, reflexive vs. assertive, and intellectual discussants vs. experts. In the article, we discuss how podcasts draw commentary journalism in a dialogical direction. We also discuss what impact this has upon public reasoning and the democratic role of commentary journalism.

In this section, Journalistica puts a spotlight on research methods used in journalism studies and/or journalism practice. Listen to the Journalistica podcast episode about this article on Spotify or in your browser.

Journalistica's editor-in-chief, Eva Mayerhöffer, presents the 2022 issue and introduces the new, more continuous publication format, where incoming contributions are published online first and published in a single issue at the end of each year.

Ekspertkilder optræder overalt i mediebilledet og bidrager til at give journalistikken autoritet og troværdighed. Men eksperterne udgør en broget forsamling og bruges i vidt forskellige roller og funktioner. Der mangler aktuel forskningsbaseret viden om, hvem de er, og hvad de bruges til. I denne artikel undersøges begge dele. Vi laver en indholdsanalyse af fire ugers dækning i 2021 i de tre største landsdækkende dagblade: Jyllands-Posten, Politiken og Berlingske Tidende. Og sammenligner resultaterne med eksisterende forskning. Knap halvdelen af dagbladenes ekspertkilder er privatansatte ikke-forskere. Økonomer og andre samfundsfagligt uddannede udgør 79 procent af disse. Blandt forskerkilderne udgør kvinder 22 procent. De er særligt underrepræsenterede inden for naturvidenskab. 86 procent af forskerkilderne udtaler sig om aktuelle begivenheder og andres forskning, mens 14 procent udtaler sig om egen forskning. I 98 procent af artiklerne med ekspertkilder castes en eller flere ekspertkilder til at levere vurderinger. Resultaterne rejser spørgsmål om journalisters kriterier for at udvælge ekspertkilder, og om journalister tildeler ekspertkilder deres autoritetsfunktion på et tilstrækkeligt kildekritisk grundlag.

Lektor Jakob Linaa Jensen anmelder bogen Power, Communication and Politics in the Nordic Countries af Eli Skogerbø, Øyvind Ihlen, Nete Nørgaard Kristensen og Lars Nord.

The article examines Finnish news professionals’ views on the ethical challenges that ensue from emerging and intertwining forms of local professional journalism and communications. Besides describing the current situation, the article employs data from a survey of editors-in-chief to investigate how news professionals anticipate the relationship between journalism and communications evolving in the future. Respondents perceived a blurring of the boundary between local journalism and communications. They observed economic pressures creating incentives for news media to compromise their journalistic ethics and ethical concerns arising from professional communications’ adoption of journalistic practices. Editors-in-chief maintained that the boundaries between journalism and other forms of communication are clear in their media but indistinct in other local news media outlets and in society in general. They predicted an ambiguous, even grim, future of local news media in Finland. However, local news media may have a positive future if they become distinct, attractive and relevant again to citizens.

Taking the dilemma between freedom of expression and censorship of antisemitic hate speech as a point of departure, this article explores how three prominent and controversial Norwegian far-right alternative media perceive and perform comment moderation and how editorial and audience perspectives on the issue correspond. Based on a critical discourse analysis of interviews with key staff members and a strategic selection of comment sections, the article demonstrates how both moderators and debaters understand the boundaries between legitimate and illegitimate expressions and how transgressive content should be dealt with. The article argues that when it comes to regulating comment sections, these oppositional media actors are not so alternative after all. The study illustrates how comment moderation is crucial for all actors who seek to obtain or protect their legitimacy, regardless of their (counter-) position in the public sphere. While there is widespread agreement on antisemitic hate speech as illegitimate, there is, however, more tolerance for generalising statements about Muslims and immigrants, which underpins these actors’ antagonism towards these groups.

The global #MeToo movement exposed the widespread structural problem of sexual harassment, which was also the case in Sweden and Norway. Across the various sectors of working life, women were able to identify with the call. This perspective, however, was under- mined in the public sphere when person-centred scandal stories about a few powerholders and media celebrities took over. In addition, a lack of verifiable documentation – and uncritical use of anonymous sources – ignited renewed debates about the ethical standards of professional journalism. This article discusses two alleged #MeToo cases: Aftonbladet’s dramatic and unfounded accusations against the theatre CEO Benny Fredriksson and VG’s misuse and manipulation of a “bar-dance” episode involving the Norwegian Labour politician Trond Giske. Both media stories developed into “critical incidents”, resulting in public criticism, self-examination and discussions around ethical rules and regulation.

This ethnographic case study explores how developers, editors, and reporters in two Norwegian newsrooms evaluate automated news and which logics underlie their assessments. Despite automation being described as the most disruptive data-centric practice of journalism, the observations and in-depth interviews show that all three groups define automated texts as journalism. At the same time, they characterize automated news as simplistic, lacking creativity and a critical approach, and argue that today’s machine-written texts are incapable of fulfilling central professional ideals such as critical scrutiny and advocating on behalf of the citizenry. Accepting automated news as journalism while simultaneously stressing its low quality shows a growing gap between what the newsroom groups are willing to accept because of organizational demands and what they ideally want journalism to be. The conflicting assessments may indicate financial motives gaining ground within Nordic media companies.

This article analyzes news media scandals as critical incidents in journalism. A critical incident can be broadly understood as an event or development that reflects 'the hows and whys' of journalism. A part of the research into critical incidents studies these as occurrences that are made scandalous by journalistic misdeeds or ethical lapses. The purpose of this article is twofold: first, theoretically, to link this understanding of critical incidents to the study and theory of the scandal. Second, empirically, to analyze how different types of news media scandals lead to reflection and debate about journalism. To achieve this purpose, the article focuses on two specific types of news media scandals: the fabrication scandal and the erroneous information scandal. The two types of scandals bring into question fundamental standards and practices of journalism, such as 'telling the truth' and basing stories on 'facts.' They also lead to reflections on 1) increased competition between news media, 2) the pressure to produce more stories inside the individual newsroom, 3) the drive to get a 'scoop,' 4) journalism's relationship to powerful and/or anonymous sources, and 5) the problems of a 'trust, not supervise' culture in the newsroom.

This article examines how recent changes in the hybrid media environment have led media actors to define the “how and why” of their practices. We consider the discussion on the differences and similarities surrounding both the legacy media, and newcomers such as countermedia, to be part of journalism’s boundary work: the ongoing, yet temporally fickle, process of marking the boundaries between journalism and non-journalism. We demonstrate how both legacy and countermedia actors drew boundaries through vocabulary, institutional reflection, demarcation practices, and ethos. While the Finnish media underlined its institutional autonomy and dominance by defending the social good of journalism and dubbing countermedia as fake media, countermedia actor MV-lehti drew its own boundaries by ridiculing media professionals, media institutions, and journalists. Our findings illustrate how these actors consistently asserted the flawed ideological foundations of “the other”, with the consequence that boundaries have become fortified, rather than crossed or blurred.

This study explores the impact of organizational changes on newspaper photo departments, an area of newsrooms that have arguably been particularly affected by structural changes in the field of journalism Through qualitative interviews with editors responsible for photojournalism at five Swedish newspapers that have experienced recent changes to photo staffing and routines for the sourcing of images, the study explores the following questions: Which routines do the newspapers have for sourcing images, in terms of in-house staff and external sources? How do notions of visual quality and external factors, such as audiences and competition, contribute to shaping the newspapers’ visual strategies? Findings indicate that newspapers rely on staff photojournalists for unique and in-depth coverage, but less for routine and breaking news. A certain expansion of photojournalism was found in some newsrooms where it is seen as a competitive edge; which, in part, challenges a “discourse of doom.” Uncertainty about the support for visual strategies in newsrooms lacking visual leadership was also found.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how Danish textual news satire constructs its social critique of the many Facebook users whose comments during COVID-19 imitate expert statements in disregard of authoritative health science statements. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, UNESCO has proclaimed a disinfodemic of emotive narrative constructs and pseudo-science on the internet and especially in social media. As with the ruling Party’s paradoxical slogan “ignorance is strength” in George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984, we sense a similar trend of the public disinfodemic, but studies of this paradox in satirical publications are scarce. Thus, the goal here is to scrutinize this enigma exemplified in an article in the Danish spoof news online media of RokokoPosten in which such experts are parodied in a kind of “doublethink” style which begs critical reflection on social media credibility. Hence, such textual news satire may potentially provide a vaccine against post-truth delusions of health science as it provides immunity against the disinfodemic by its own causative agents.

This article argues that Danish journalistic boundary producing practices and principles uphold a representation of racial disparity. Based on critical theories of race and racism in journalism and a boundary work framework, we conduct a discursive analysis of two collective case studies that encompass 56 articles and 23 Facebook posts. Focusing mainly on 1) the construction of knowledge about potential racism, 2) who are positioned as authorities on the topic of racism, and 3) who are missing among the potential actors in the stories, we identify meta-journalistic discourses and the (re)establishment of journalistic principles and practices. We conclude that journalistic norms and practices, for now, withstand the challenges posed by minority media’s call for the recognition of race as structure by applying discursive strategies of firstly rejecting racism as structure and secondly asserting principles and practices of specific kinds of objectivity, utilising, for instance, elite sources.

In autumn 2017 in Sweden, the #MeToo movement and sexual assault became a focus of broad debate. Swedish media coverage of the movement was centred around the many petitions made by anonymous groups of women to illuminate the extent of the problem of sexual assault, as well as a few cases of accusations against well-known and powerful men in both the culture and media industries. In order to elicit common representations of men and their female accusers, this study applies critical discourse analysis (CDA) to news media coverage and Facebook comments of three of those accused men: TV personality Martin Timell, journalist Fredrik Virtanen and culture personality Jean-Claude Arnault. The results indicate that representations of women as both witnesses and heroines work to reinforce notions of female responsibility as a means to halt sexual assault, while representations of men as sexual predators build on demarcations of illegal and mere misogynistic or “bad” behaviour, which in turn reinforce notions of male victimhood. These representations point to legal discourse as hegemonic, as it seems to limit the discussion and only present individual solutions, such as women bearing witness, to the structural problem of sexual assault. Simultaneously, the results indicate that the #MeToo movement and other feminist discourse have also had an effect on news media representations of sexual assault by broadening the concept beyond the consent/rape dichotomy.

Denne artikel undersøger dækningen af #metoo set med svenske og danske journalisters øjne. Via kvalitative interviews med journalister fra forskellige medier i begge lande viser studiet, hvordan de i dækningen oplevede at pendle mellem mere eller mindre passive og aktive professionelle roller (Bro 2008) og at være underlagt (ofte modstridige) idealer om objektiv nyhedsformidling. Det indebar, særligt i Sverige, et normativt ’push’ mod aktivisme i dækningen af #metoo-bevægelsen, mens danske journalister med henvisning til objektivitet og presseetik var mere tilbageholdende og passive, og udviste en frygt for at blive stemplet som holdningsprægede journalister eller sågar feministiske aktivister. Analysen belyser, hvor- dan den overordnede debatkultur og det politiske klima i et land har betydning for disse normative forhandlinger og for, hvorvidt man føler sig inkluderet eller ekskluderet af det professionelle fællesskab som journalist. Både internt på den kønnede redaktion og eksternt i forhold til nyhedsmediernes rolle i den bredere samfundsdebat om køn og ligestilling.

Norwegian news media were central actors in the dissemination of information about the #MeToo movement. Simultaneously, the media are made up of institutions and workplaces that are at times characterized by asymmetrical power relations. The aim of this article is to understand how those considered at the bottom of such power relations: young (female) interns in the sports journalism departments, experienced the effects of the #MeToo movement. Addressing the question if #MeToo changed anything, this article emphasizes the importance of combining the position that sexual harassment is not necessarily associated with a specific gender, at the same time recognizing that such harassment has first and foremost been part of a structural suppression of women. The article illustrates how facets of the journalistic culture and the myth of the “male genius” have marginalized those with unequal access to power in sports journalism, but also that the #MeToo movement has the potential to change this.

I denne artikel undersøger vi, hvordan danske journalister dækker det relativt nye, online mediefænomen ’shitstorme’. Vi argumenterer først for, at shitstorme er et biprodukt af negativ electronic word-of-mouth på sociale medier, og at shitstorme skal forstås i sammenhæng med allerede eksisterende studier af medieskandaler. Herefter etablerer vi en analyseramme til vores indholdsanalyse ud fra en række journalistiske idealer, som vi mener, at de fleste professionelle journalister bør kunne tilslutte sig – at journalister bør lytte til og give den anklagede part mulighed for genmæle, forsøge at tilføje nye og eksklusive kilder og perspektiver til deres historier og verificere og faktatjekke informationer. Vores empiri er indsamlet via Infomedia og består af i alt 1.107 artikler, der omhandler 10 shitstorme fra 2019. Vi kan ud fra vores analyse konkludere, at de fleste journalister lader den anklagede part komme til genmæle, og at journalisterne også forsøger at tilføje eksklusive og nye kilder og perspektiver til deres historier. Ydermere kan vi konkludere, at shitstorme, hvor kritikken er rettet mod politiske aktører, i højere grad motiverer kildekontakt. Med afsæt i de analytiske konklusioner diskuterer vi afslutningsvis idealernes relevans i dækningen af shitstorme.

Siden 2000 er receptpligtig kolesterolsænkende medicin, også kaldet statiner, blevet stadig mere almindeligt at få udskrevet. Denne artikel er interesseret i kolesteroldebattens tilstedeværelse i medierne og overvejer, om medierne kan tilskrives en rolle for, hvordan kolesterolsænkende medicin er blevet accepteret som standardtil- bud af både læger og lægfolk. På baggrund af en indholdsanalyse af kolesterol-debatten i danske, landsdækkende trykte aviser i perioden 2000-2017 peger artiklen på, at dækningen af statiner har haft avisernes opmærksomhed i hele undersøgelsesperioden med en stigning i antal artikler i periodens sidste halvdel fra 2009-2017. Analysen viser også, at aviserne B.T. og Ekstra Bladet har stået for hovedparten af dækningen fra 2009-2017, samt at et flertal af artikler formidlede en positiv holdning til statiner. Såvel tilstedeværelsen som fraværet af en sådan mediedebat kan have betydning for folks holdning og adfærd i forhold til risikoen for lidelsen forhøjet kolesterol, og debatten kan potentielt bidrage til tendensen mod ’medikalisering’, dvs. medicinsk intervention ved risiko for sygdom.

I en sammenlignende læsning af to markante eksempler på essayistisk skrivning om skrivning, Ole Meisners ”Haderen” (2008) og Stanley Fishs How To Write a Sentence and How to Read One (2011), udpeges styrker og svagheder ved underholdende og holdningspræget håndbogsretorik. Formen kan engagere urutinerede skribenter, heriblandt journaliststuderende, og styrke deres sprogfaglige selvforståelse. Den ironiske humor hos Meisner synes imidlertid at undergrave dette ærinde ved at fokusere på fejltrin og ufrivilligt komisk sprogbrug. Fishs fokus på bevidst efterligning af gode eksempler synes i højere grad at bemyndige læserne og anvise et videre skrivepædagogisk potentiale.