• No results found

What Happened Last Night in Sweden? Analysis of Western news media portrayal of crime in Sweden

N/A
N/A
Protected

Academic year: 2021

Share "What Happened Last Night in Sweden? Analysis of Western news media portrayal of crime in Sweden"

Copied!
38
0
0

Loading.... (view fulltext now)

Full text

(1)

Degree Project in Criminology Malmö University

WHAT HAPPENED LAST NIGHT

IN SWEDEN?

ANALYSIS OF WESTERN NEWS MEDIA

PORTRAYAL OF CRIME IN SWEDEN.

(2)

WHAT HAPPENED LAST NIGHT

IN SWEDEN?

ANALYSIS OF WESTERN NEWS MEDIA

PORTRAYAL OF CRIME IN SWEDEN.

LEILA E HESSON

Hesson, L.E. What Happened Last Night in Sweden? Analysis of Western news media portrayal of crime in Sweden. Degree project in Criminology 30 Credits. Malmö University: Faculty of Health and Society, Department of Criminology 2019.

Background: The media have an influential role within society and with media

becoming increasingly more accessible over a number of different platforms it is important to comprehend what information is being received by audiences in order to then understand the consequences. Sweden has a reputation of being one of the most reputable countries, however a new, less flattering image has been emerging. There is a growing interest in what is happening in Sweden, especially since US President Donald Trump made his illusive comments in February 2017.

Aim: The aim of this study is to explore how news sources in the Western world

portray crime in Sweden. Two central questions are examined, (1) what crimes in Sweden are reported in western newspapers, and (2) what are the dominant themes in western newspaper’s discussions of crime in Sweden? Method: Qualitative content analysis was employed to evaluate 249 newspaper articles gathered through NewsBank database. Content of these articles became data which was coded via a data-driven coding frame. Data was partially double coded in an attempt to check consistency. Results: Part one results find that the most popular crime type in Western media crime in Sweden reports are violent crimes. A total of 111 articles in the sample written exclusively about specific events, 76 of which are violent offences. Part two of results explores the broader discourse.

Conclusion: The focus on violent crimes is linked to a political discussion

surrounding growing support for populist politics. The predominant narratives are, that immigration is to blame for rising crime levels, and Sweden’s identity crisis.

Keywords: Crime in the media, media portrayal, Sweden, qualitative content

(3)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to take the opportunity to thank my supervisor My Lilja for her continued support throughout the process of this study. Secondly, I would like to express how grateful I am for my study buddies, Lena, Sofia & Hulda, our weekly sanity checks made this possible. And finally, an extra thanks to my family and friends for your support over these past months.

(4)

CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION ... 4

1.1 Aim & research questions ... 5

2. PREVIOUS RESEARCH ... 5

2.1 Crime & the media ... 5

2.2 Crime & Moral Panics ... 7

2.3 International crime reporting in US & UK news sources ... 7

2.4 Sweden’s international image ... 8

3. MATERIALS & METHODS ... 9

3.1 Qualitative Content Analysis ... 9

3.2 Materials & collection ... 10

3.3 Coding frame ... 10

3.4 Coding the material ... 10

3.5 Ethical Considerations ... 11

4. FINDINGS ... 11

4.1 Part One ... 11

4.1.1 Violent Crime ... 12

4.1.2 Stockholm Terror Attack ... 12

4.1.3 Rioting ... 13

4.1.4 Gang related gun crime ... 15

4.2 Part Two ... 15

4.2.1 Immigration & increasing crime rates ... 16

4.2.2 Sweden’s identity crisis ... 16

5. DISCUSSION ... 17

5.1 Differences in Media Coverage ... 17

5.2 Numbers game & metaphors ... 18

5.3 Pockets of Violence ... 18

5.4 Look what’s happening in Sweden: Moral Panic ... 19

6. LIMITATIONS & FUTURE RESEARCH ... 19

7. CONCLUSION ... 20

REFERENCES ... 21

APPENDIX ... 26

1. Articles ... 26

(5)

1. INTRODUCTION

Ranking in first place in Forbes ‘World's Most Reputable Countries 2018’ list, Sweden has long been considered one of the best places in the world to live. It is also known as the home to globally recognised and trusted brands such as Ikea, Volvo and Spotify which are renowned for innovation and sustainability. Typically, Sweden is thought of as a successful and liberal country (Rapacioli, 2018) and one which finds itself within the top positions in several global scales. The Swedish Institute (SI) (2018), look at 22 indexes covering a range of topics, finding Sweden rank within the top ten in all, Sweden is most notable within the fields of sustainability, innovation and work in global issues.

Rapacioli (2018) explains that there is a distorted image of Sweden which differs entirely from the stereotypical view of the country. This alternative image is one of youths torching cars and immigrants on the rampage. He points out that these narratives have foundations in the truth, however international media does not provide an accurate context of the situation in Sweden. In international media, Sweden is still considered to be Nordic paradise rather than the reality of being a multi-cultural country with a reasonable population size which can suffer the same consequences as every other westernised country. Moreover, Sweden is known for being a highly progressive country which makes it a target for anyone who opposes those values. According to Rapacioli (2018), Sweden’s reputation will become collateral damage if the narrative remains as it is, the distorted, darker version of itself. There are potential costs to society including reduced tourism as well as being bad for businesses seeking to employ international talent and bad for Sweden’s efforts to build international relations.

Recent social problems for the country of Sweden, such as car burning riots and reported increases of sexual assaults, provides opportunity for other countries to pick faults at the idealised Scandinavian society. It allows world leaders like Donald Trump to be able to make comments akin to those made in February 2017;

"You look at what's happening in Germany, you look at what's happening last night in Sweden. Sweden, who would believe this. Sweden. They took in large numbers. They're having problems like they never thought possible".

Trump speaking at a rally in Florida, 2017.

In reality, not a lot happened the night, the statement does however, raise the question, what does the world get to know and understand about the problems facing Sweden?

It is important to study media representations because of the power and influence news and media sources can have in building opinions and providing the general population with knowledge (Happer & Philo, 2013). Silverstone (2013) explains that media is considered to be “tightly and dialectically intertwined with the everyday”. Additionally, we are becoming more dependent on media as a part of our daily routine. With technological developments providing easy access to both local and world news, news consumption is greater than ever before (Jewkes, 2004). We are no longer dependent on timed news bulletins through television or radio, or printed press, we instead, have world news delivered straight to our smartphones. These advancements have also allowed for the rapid spread of information on a global scale. Events occurring on one side of the world will be

(6)

read about or broadcast on television and radio shortly after taking place. According to Rapacioli (2018) conditions for the spread of information such as social media, the psychology of news as well as media business, greatly benefit those who want to undermine the values Sweden represents. This subject is

relevant to the field of criminology because, while Sweden is generally considered to be a safe place renowned for its natural beauty, stories read about in world news illustrate a darker, more sinister place where streets are run by gangs who use extreme violence. Studying the ways in which the problem of crime in

Sweden as portrayed by international media is of particular relevance at this time. There appears to be a growing trend in the reporting of events in Sweden across international media, a large proportion of which has been found to be largely negative (SI, 2018).

1.1 Aim & research questions

There is limited research about how Swedish crime is portrayed in international media, the purpose of this thesis is therefore, to explore how news sources in North America, Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand represent crime in Sweden.

Research Questions:

1. What crimes in Sweden are reported in western newspapers?

2. What are the dominant themes in western newspaper’s discussions of crime in Sweden?

2. PREVIOUS RESEARCH

2.1 Crime & the media

The relationships between media, crime and the public are complex (Marsh, 1991). The media influence public knowledge and thereby, their perception of crime. According to Chermak and Chapman (2007) crime is one of the most frequently published topics in news media. This is possibly due to crime stories being attractive to journalists whose main focus is to appeal to large audiences. Where there is demand, media outlets must supply in order to maintain readership (Croteu & Hoynes, 2001). Greer (2010) explains that crime news presents a picture of crime and victimisation which illustrates the opposite of what official crime statistics show. The majority of crimes reported by media outlets are related to interpersonal violence while only a small percentage of crime reporting

explores property crimes even though they make up the majority of crimes according to official statistics (Chermak & Chapman, 2007). It should be noted here that there are, however, limitations concerning the use of official statistics. Official statistics show only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the true figure of crime (Sutherland, Cressey & Luckenbill, (1992).). Chibnall (1977, pg. x) notes that crime news can serve as a method of “shared morality and communal

sentiments” where newspapers construct the moral conscience of its readers. Scholars explain that media play an agenda setting role suggesting that media has great power over the public’s perception of what issues should be considered important (Rothe, 2009). Petterson (1998) writes that, only crime stories deemed ‘newsworthy’ will be published. Unique stories tend to get emphasised and enhanced by journalists, which is not necessarily based on their significance

(7)

(Petterson,1998). Differing values of news media outlets may determine what stories make it to print and impact the presentation style. Values differ based on types of paper (tabloid or broadsheet) but also on their political alignment. Journalists have a number of tools at their disposal when reporting on crime. One of the most commonly used is metaphors (Refaie, 2001), and what Van Dijk (1988) calls, the ‘numbers game’. According to Koetsenruijter (2008) metaphors are used by journalists as a means of attracting attention and a method of

imprinting the authors opinion on their readers. When real numbers are printed in news media it is considered by some as a marker of “precision” and “truthfulness” in reporting (Van Dijk 1988, p. 88) however, when the numbers are unable to provide sufficient weight for the story, authors have a more metaphorical option to do this job. In the ‘number game’ real numbers are missing from reporting and replaced with metaphors instead such as ‘army’ and ‘invaded’. According to Van Dijk (2000) this is done when the use of actual statistics might prove to weaken the desired impact of journalists. The use of metaphors instead allows readers to interpret for themselves what the true number may be (Van Dijk, 2000).

Audiences read metaphors in place of definite numbers and therefore include their own perceptions in the interpretation.

Jewkes (2004) identifies 12 structures and values which shape crime news. The most common of which is violence. Violence, according to Jewkes (2004) achieves the media’s desire to present dramatic events in the most graphic ways. Williams and Dickinson (1993) find that 65% of crime reporting in British media is allocated to violent crimes, at the same time this crime type represented only 6% of the official statistics. According to Hall, Critcher, Jefferson, Clarke, and Roberts, (1978) the use of violence creates the division between those who are inside and outside of mainstream society. Violent crime reporting therefore, provides a threshold in society and warrants media coverage. Hall et al. (1978, p. 68) state that “violence represents a fundamental rupture in the social order”. Violence alone does not guarantee a story will gain media coverage, Naylor (2001) explains that unless a story possesses more values or is an extreme case, the most serious stories can be at risk of becoming a filler story. This could be seen as a consequence of violence being over-represented in other media forms. There is a saturation of violence in everyday life aided by the popularity in entertainment media such as computer games, television, movies and popular music (Presdee, 2000). If the public are desensitised to violence, it is no wonder why even some of the serious violent cases slip to ‘filler’ status rather than maintaining big headlines (Naylor, 2001).

Although crime is represented across all forms of media, Callahan (2016)

identifies that newspapers are one of the most influential media outlets concerning reports of crimes and the consumer´s fear of crime. However, Lane and Meeker (2003) find the opposite to be true. Their results show that the individual´s reading reports of crime are psychologically prepared for the topic due to their interest of it. Hollis, Del Carmen, Downey and Dobbs, (2017) find several weak yet positive relationships between media influence and fear of crime. Media is identified as being an important contributor to perceptions of fear in the general public. Their research shows there is a relationship between how the media presents criminal activity and perceived levels of safety in a local area.

(8)

2.2 Crime & Moral Panics

Cohen (1973) explains that societies experience cycles of moral panic. This is defined as “a condition, episode, person or group of persons emerges to become defined as a threat to social values and interests” (p. 9). Elements needed for a moral panic as identified by Goode and Ben Yuhuda (1994) are firstly, concern that a reported condition generates enough anxiety. Secondly, hostility, the condition or event is condemned and there is an easily identifiable person or group that can be blamed (a Folk Devil). Thirdly, there should be a consensus, the negative response to the condition or event should be experienced collectively. Fourthly, there is a disproportionate reaction to that which the event warrants. And finally, the media reaction is volatile. That is to say media attention arises quickly along with the associated panic, this can dissipate as quickly as it arises. Moral panics are erratic and happen at a time of moral break down. When regulations fail, “they signal a sudden rupture in social order” (Moore 2013, p. 44). Crime problems, according to Kappeler and Kappeler (2004, p. 178) become “calls to moral action”.

The relevance of the term moral panic has been questioned more recently as newspapers have lost their strength of influence over public opinion (Moore, 2013). Further arguments from McRobbie and Thornton (1995) question the relevance of the term moral panic in a time were Folk Devils are able to use mass media as a means of having their own voices heard. Moore (2013) suggests looking at moral panics as a model for researchers interested in studying the media’s distortion of crime and the criminal justice system. She suggests that the concept of ‘the cautionary tale’ should be considered instead of moral panic as media turn more toward reporting rhetoric rather than risk. Moore (2009) explains that both moral panics and cautionary tales serve the same purpose, to achieve moral regulation. Common characteristics of a cautionary tale is a focus on the victim rather than offender. Moore (2013) found that the structure of news reports is more heavily skewed toward emphasis of victim behaviour through addressing ways by which victims should behave in order to limit their chances of becoming victimised, showing limited concern for the perpetrator. The example presented by Moore (2009) is sexual assaults carried out by taxi drivers, where women are being told to check taxis are appropriately licensed before entering, not taking taxi rides alone or being equipped with personal alarms. This example illustrates how a moral panic portrays the perpetrator (the folk devil) as a method of enhancing social order, while the cautionary tale employs the victim to

facilitate moral regulation. Potential victims are asked to think about their behaviours in order to protect themselves.

2.3 International crime reporting in US & UK news sources

Comparatively, the US publish much fewer stories about international issues than the British media (Bicket & Wall, 2007). Bicket and Wall (2007) found that American media were criticised for its lack of international stories following the 9/11 terror attacks, particularly when compared to British media coverage. Despite the differences in the volume of reporting of international crime in US and UK media, Collins, Farrel, McKee, Martin and Monk-Turner (2011) find that deeper analysis shows that both the US and the UK are highly selective about what they publish. In their analysis of four news magazines (two British, two American) the authors discovered that almost half of the international stories printed in the UK magazines were about the US, which demonstrates a focus on western nations.

(9)

Esser (2008) and Bicket and Wall (2007) consider the lack of international media coverage in the US to be a result of concentrated media ownership. In other words, too few people own American media sources meaning there is a limited number of voices to be heard. As a result of such limited media ownership, there is a primary focus on media being used as a marketing tool rather than a tool for distributing knowledge (Bicket & Wall, 2007). Additionally, research by Hoge (1997) found that news magazines which published covers containing foreign events resulted in lower sales in the US. The primary objective of media conglomerates is to make money and therefore, it is of little surprise that international news is not a priority. Other reasons for the lack of international media representation in America could be purely geographical (Douglas, 2006), the country is fairly isolated in comparison to Britain.

2.4 Sweden’s international image

Very little is written about Sweden’s international image from sources outside of Sweden itself. There are reports from the Swedish Institute (SI) which seek to explore how people in other countries perceive Sweden. It is worth noting here that this is a Swedish government organisation reporting on how Sweden is portrayed so there could be a certain amount of bias in their coverage. Overall, English-speaking media reporting on Sweden has increased by 32% between 2017 and 2018 (SI, 2018). Sources in the US make up 51% of the English-speaking international discussion, while only 13% from the UK and 4% in Canada. The narrative of Sweden in the English discussion covers a wide range of topics. The topics gaining the largest discussions in western news and social media centres around issues of migration (32%) this is followed by crime (11%), equality (11%) and terrorism (10%). The SI 2018 report regarding the image of Sweden held by other countries found that there was a predominantly positive perception of Sweden. Sweden consistently holds a place within the top ten in many global indexes. In 11 of the 22 indexes counted by SI (2018), Sweden moved up the index rankings when compared to the previous year. In seven of the indexes Sweden held on to its positions, and only dropped down in two of the indexes, moving from first to second place in ‘INSEAD Global Innovation Index’ and `World Digital Competitiveness Report (IMD)’ (SI, 2018). According to the SI 2018 report, the biggest digital discussion in relation to Sweden were the World Cup, Swedish House Mafia re-grouping, Avicii’s death, car burning in Gothenburg and the Swedish election.

The SI report on the opinion of Sweden in Canada and the US (2017) found that 56% of Canadian respondents and 51% of American had a very positive attitude towards Sweden. Only 5% of the Canadian respondents and 7% of the Americans asked had the most negative opinions of Sweden. In the previous year 29% of Canadians and 15% of Americans asked said they experienced their opinion of Sweden had changed in a positive direction over the last 12 months. A small percentage (between 5-6%) in both countries report that their opinion of Sweden had gone in a more negative direction over the last 12 months. This is said to be possibly related to Swedish migration and asylum politics, violence in Swedish society and political correctness in Sweden. In a survey conducted by SI, where respondents were asked, “How often do you see discussions or reports about Sweden in the media or on the internet?” it was found through that the more media consumed, the better the image an individual has about Swedish society.

(10)

Despite all the positivity, there has been an increase in the number of articles published reporting on Sweden has been steadily increasing since the refugee crisis in 2015 (SI 2017). Publications often centre around Swedish migration issues and asylum politics. A large percentage of these articles are described by SI (2017) as being “overly negative”. Despite the growth of negative reporting, it seems to have little impact on the general opinion, where it remains

overwhelmingly positive. Although the numbers of respondents who hold a negative view of Sweden are relatively low at the time of the SI study, there remains a risk that these levels could rise over time. If the trend of negative reporting continues to rise it would not be surprising if the percentage of those who have a negative opinion would also increase. Does the international opinion of Sweden matter? The Society, Opinion and Media institute working with SI and Gothenburg University found that Sweden’s reputation portrayed to the rest of the world is important to the Swedish population. Research found that 85% of the respondents answered that it was a matter of importance that Sweden had a good reputation in other countries (SI, 2018a).

3. MATERIALS & METHODS

3.1 Qualitative Content Analysis

“The aim of qualitative content analysis (QCA) is to systematically describe the meaning of your material” (Schreier, 2012, p. 3). Traditionally, QCA has been used in relation to mass media content (Bryman, 2008) which makes it a clear choice for this thesis. QCA comprises of searching for the underlying themes in the materials being analysed, in this case newspaper articles. This is done by assigning parts of the data material to a coding frame designed by the researcher (Schreier, 2012). According to Schreier (2012) QCA comprises of eight steps, (1) deciding on your research question, (2) selecting your material, (3) building a coding frame, (4) dividing your material into units of coding, (5) trying out your coding frame, (6) evaluating and modifying you coding frame, (7) main analysis and (8) interpreting and presenting your findings.

One of the main strengths attributed to this method of analysis, as indicated by Schreier (2012), is that it is a flexible method of qualitative analysis allowing the researcher to reduce the total data significantly, while still capturing the meaning in the text (Schreier, 2012). This is extremely useful in the current research project where the total number of articles gathered as data material is 249. An additional benefit of this method is that the coding frame can be made clear and can therefore, be easily replicated or revisited (Bryman, 2008). One of the limitations to be aware of is that this method can only be as good as the material being analysed (Scott, 1990). With this limitation in mind, the researcher needs to be sure to quality control the standard of data. This can be achieved by following a strict inclusion criterion. In general, QCA can be considered reliable by the extent that it creates data which is free from error (Schreier, 2012). Due to the flexibility of QCA in regard to being able to tweak your coding frame during development and piloting this method of data analysis can be both reliable as well as valid. That is if the coding frame categories represent the concepts in the research question.

(11)

3.2 Materials & collection

In this study, 249 newspaper articles were analysed. A list of all articles used can be found in appendix item one. When gathering the data materials, a two-year time frame was used, from February 2017 to February 2019. The start date for the search was selected as Trump’s comments were made February 18th 2017 casting the ‘what is happening in Sweden’ debate into international media. News articles were gathered through NewsBank, a database accessible through Malmö

University. The search words were ‘Crime Sweden’ in all text. The search was refined to capture articles from newspapers only. The results were then filtered by country to include the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, New Zealand and Australia. The total search results were 3,574 concerning this criterion. Many of the articles were not relevant and were therefore, excluded from further consideration leaving a total of 249 to be analysed. Duplications of the same article were removed from the final selection of articles for the analysis. This includes the same article which happens to be repeated in the database as well as the same article being re-printed in different newspapers. Articles where ‘crime’ and ‘Sweden’ were mentioned but not directly related in the same piece were discarded from the final collection. Finally, any articles written about Swedish crime dramas or crime writers were also removed.

3.3 Coding frame

A data-driven strategy was used to develop the coding frame. This strategy allows the text to speak for themselves, categories emerge from the material itself. In order to build the coding frame, a smaller sample of 18 newspaper articles were first examined in a smaller pilot study. Two main categories, the first with three subcategories and the second with four, emerged from the sampled articles which were used to form the coding frame for application to the full sample of 249 articles.

Crime events in Sweden which are being reported in Western media ‘Violent crime’

‘Sexual crime’

‘Non-violent, non-sexual crime’

The dominant narratives in the discussion of Crime in Sweden ‘Immigration and increasing crime rates’

‘Sweden’s identity crisis’ ‘No-go zones’

‘Police effectiveness’

Categories were considered acceptable for the final coding frame when the theme was identifiable in multiple articles and had relevance to the research aim and questions. It was considered necessary for the theme to be represented in multiple articles in order to develop a discussion. This led to the dismissal of the

subcategories ‘no-go zones’ and ‘police effectiveness’. See appendix item two for the coding frame in full.

3.4 Coding the material

Once the coding frame was in place all 249 articles selected for analysis were read thoroughly to ensure that the content was fully understood by the researcher. Each article was read twice as a precaution. Text was examined in sections which meant that one article could be represented in more than one category or

(12)

subcategory. An excel spreadsheet was used to keep a log of which categories were represented in the material. By documenting this way, it was simple to be able to keep a track of the content of each article helping in the process of being able to refer back to relevant articles. Materials were categorised in accordance to the coding frame before being presented to the reader. Categories are presented in the finding section in a way which addresses the research questions.

It is believed that should a secondary researcher use the same coding frame and apply it to the same articles they would categorise them the same way. It is possible that a researcher could place text into different categories, but this is predicated to be fairly minimal. Additionally, another researcher may identify different themes such as the ones removed from further analysis after piloting. There is a concern surrounding this method of analysing material in regard to researcher bias.

With no other researcher to compare the rounds of coding for consistency, a smaller selection of the data was coded one week after initial coding. Due to the volume of data gathered for analysis and the time frame of the project a complete double coding of the material was not feasible.

3.5 Ethical Considerations

Material used for this thesis is secondary data gathered from publicly available news articles, because of these being already published the articles become public documents. It is, therefore, unnecessary to seek consent from journalists or those quoted in the articles (Bryman, 2008). Those quoted in news articles consent to that but do not anticipate their words being taken from the public sphere into a research context. It is not necessary to use any names of members of the public mentioned in news articles used in this study.

4. FINDINGS

4.1 Part One

In order to answer the first research question, what crimes in Sweden are reported in western newspapers, the compiled data were first sorted into main categories based on crime type, ‘violent crime’, ‘sexual crime’ and ‘non-violent, non-sexual crime’. Of the total sample, 111 articles were written about specific events, 76 of which fell within the category of violent crime, therefore, a deeper analysis of those stories which received the greatest attention was conducted. The findings from the analysis of the media portrayal of violent crimes is discussed in more detail in the next section.

Sexual crime

More recently in Sweden there have been alterations to the legal definitions for rape as well as other sexual assault crime types. This knowledge seems to be lacking among western media companies/corporations where they make claims about sexual crimes increasing in Sweden. While journalists make claims about the significant increases in the number of women being sexually victimised and are willing to print statements such as “Malmö is the rape capital of the Western world” (Hohmann, 2017), they do not provide an up-to-date context to their audiences. Within the category of ‘sexual crime’ most of the articles dealt with

(13)

three events over the two years: (1) the Nobel sex scandal, (2) a case of rape streamed on Facebook in which three men convicted of rape streamed the event live on Facebook, (3) an online rape, where a Swedish man was charged of rape online, his victims were from Canada, US and UK.

Non-violent, non-sexual crime

In media portrayal of ‘non-violent, non-sexual crime’, a handful of one-off articles discussed theft of high value products, football match fixing, bribery, as well as smuggling of rare owls and other fauna as a side effect of Sweden’s cashless society. Additional topics which received light media coverage were; the theft of the crown jewels, and problems faced by Nordic banks in combatting money laundering. None of these stand-alone stories received a particularly significant amount of media coverage.

4.1.1 Violent Crime

As well as violent crimes being regarded as the most serious crime (Krug et al., 2002) they are also considered to be the most newsworthy (Jewkes, 2004), this is reflected in findings from the data used in the current study. The single event which received the most news media coverage was the Stockholm terror attack in 2017. Within the main category of violent crime, subcategories were identified, the most commonly written about were (1) Stockholm terror attack, (2) rioting and (3) gang related gun crime.

4.1.2 Stockholm Terror Attack

In April 2017, five people were killed and fourteen injured as a result of an Islamist terrorist attack in Sweden’s capital city. A hijacked truck was driven along Drottninggatan, a pedestrianised shopping precinct, into a department store. The perpetrator was arrested several hours later. Prior to the attack he had sworn allegiance to the Islamic State in a video. After the event he had posted on social media bragging about his actions. The culprit was a failed asylum seeker from Uzbekistan, having been ordered to leave the country. After being rejected for a residency permit in 2015, he went underground hiding from the authorities. This event was an isolated event, which in the news articles sampled received the greatest volume of media coverage, being covered by 28 articles in total. The majority of the news articles found through this research came from US and UK, however, articles were also found from New Zealand and Australia on this event. In the first articles published similarities were drawn to other European terror attacks. The majority of the articles discuss the level of immigration in Sweden and problems of radicalisation in the country.

“163,000 refugees were still allowed into the country that year and critics claimed that Sweden was importing Islamist extremism. Several hundred Swedes have joined Islamic State militants in recent years, making the country second only to Belgium as a source of European recruits to the “caliphate”. “I can understand why people are asking whether Sweden has been too open, even naive,” said Anna Carlstedt, Sweden’s national coordinator against violent extremism.” (Crouch, 2017).

Media sources reported that Swedish border controls were tightened further. Within the first 24 hours the ethnicity of the perpetrator was not only being published by newspapers, it was also used in headlines; “Sweden arrests Uzbek

(14)

man suspected in attack” (Anderson, 2017). Additionally, journalists reported that the suspect was known by the authorities but not currently being monitored. Swedish police were quoted in several articles saying the perpetrator was known for having “been sympathetic to extremist organisations”.

Newspapers with political leanings towards conservative politics such as The Express (UK), The Daily Telegraph (UK), Arkansas Democrat Gazette (US), and The Times (UK), used the event to combat any negative comments made

following the US President’s comments six weeks earlier.

“The American president linked high levels of immigration with the attack - which turned out to be fictitious - and rising levels of crime in the country, later saying he had based the comments on a Fox News report. He was ridiculed, with Carl Bildt, the former Swedish prime minister, asking: "What has he been smoking?" The country's US embassy appeared to mock him on Twitter.” (Dixon, 2017).

The attack was used as proof that Sweden is “reaching breaking point” (Dixon, 2017). Journalist’s frequently used the terror attack as an opportunity to respond to those who made light of Trump’s remarks saying Sweden is left is a “little less satisfied now” (Clarke, 2017).

Many of the articles focused their discussion around integration being a problem for Sweden, which lead to a political discussion about the growing support for the far-right party, Sweden Democrats. In a large percentage of all articles addressing the terror attack, almost 50% of the written text was given to the political

discussion of growing support for Sweden Democrats and a toughening up of the policies of the party in power at the time, the Social Democrats.

4.1.3 Rioting

This subcategory includes two events which took place 18 months apart, the first was an isolated event in Rinkeby, the second happened in several cities and towns across the country. They share several similarities which puts them in the same subcategory of ‘rioting’.

Rinkeby Riots

The first riot event happened in Rinkeby, suburb to Stockholm, February 2017, only a few days after Trump’s infamous “what happened last night in Sweden” remarks (AJC, 2017). Following the arrest of a suspect on drug charges, a riot broke out in the same neighbourhood the suspect lived in. Rioters threw rocks at the police, set fire to vehicles and looted from shops. Warning shots were fired by the police, no gunshot wounds were reported. Rioters were claimed to have used violence against civilians as well as police officers. One press photographer was injured in the riots, he was attacked by group a of people and had his camera stolen. A shopkeeper, whose store was looted, also sustained injuries. No arrests were made at the time.

A large proportion of the news media described Rinkeby as an area

“predominately inhabited by refugees” (Riddell, 2017). Only one article published by The Register-Guard, provides more context and instead of being described merely as a predominantly immigrant area, but instead explained that the suburb is an “economically deprived area of about 16,000 people, is overwhelmingly

(15)

populated by residents with immigrant backgrounds” (Anderson & Sewell, 2017). By giving the reader more context, they are able to understand that the problems experienced may not solely be as a result of immigration but other social

disadvantages.

This event too, was tied to Trump’s comments in the majority of the articles. The majority of the articles found reporting on the Rinkeby riots were from the US and largely used support the comments made by Trump.

“Two days after President Donald Trump was eviscerated by both the

mainstream media and Swedish officials for his comments indicating Sweden was having a problem with its generous refugee policies, riots erupted in the country” (Riddell, 2017).

One journalist tried to offer a more neutral response quoting the district director for Rinkeby-Kista who said, “it would be a mistake to see proof for Trump’s claims in the unrest” (Anderson & Sewell, 2017). They also, however, published a quote from a member of the local board in Rinkeby from an open essay which suggested that there was some merit in Trump’s sentiments.

“A battered journalist, stones thrown at the police and stores that are

being plundered, unfortunately, are not unusual occurrences where I live… I hear the police helicopter every other day” (cited in Anderson & Sewell, 2017).

One article from the Washington Times references the Swedish crime survey; “Although the Swedish Crime Survey says the country's crime rate has

decreased since 2005, official statistics also show that foreign-born residents account for the lion's share of crime in Sweden, including assault, robbery, rape and murder.” (Riddell, 2017).

100 cars burned across Sweden

In August 2018, masked youths using Molotov cocktails, set fire to 100 cars in Swedish cities in what appeared to be an organised and coordinated attack. Fires were started in two suburbs of Gothenburg, as well as in Trollhättan and

Falkenberg. Two suspects ages 16 and 21 were arrested.

In line with practice in Sweden, the police did not comment on the identities or ethnicity of those arrested to the press. However, western media presented the story in a way in which guides the reader to draw their own conclusions about the ethnicity of those involved. Journalists reported on the areas targeted as being “home to significant immigrant populations” (Milne, 2018. Aug 15th).

Media reports described those involved as “hooded youths”, “yobs” and “masked gangs of youths”. All of these terms have negative connotations attached and serve to vilify the suspects. Journalists wrote how firefighters and police officers were “pelted with stones” as they tried to tackle the fires. Readers react to attacks against public service workers because they are the people who work to protect our societies.

Journalists argued that the event has led a growing political discussion of the expanding support for the far-right Sweden Democrat party.

(16)

“Fears of rising crime and gang violence are fueling support for the

populist, anti-immigration Sweden Democrats Party”. (Milne, 2018. Aug 18th).

This car arson event occurred one month before the Swedish general election which would offer an explanation as to why the discussion of crime as a political focus, and growing support for the far-right party was common in the data. Of interest here, unlike the riots in Rinkeby, this event was only covered by British media sources.

4.1.4 Gang related gun crime

The third most commonly discussed crime type in the media sampled was gang related gun crime. Three separate events were reported; (1) a biker gang shooting, (2) two shot dead in a car and (3) a drive-by shooting on Drottninggatan in

Malmö. Further mentions of gangs with guns appeared in other articles where one specific event was not the main focus, instead the topic was a more general discussion of crime problems being experienced by Sweden. Only one event received enough media coverage to be explored further in analysis, the Drottninggatan drive-by.

Drottninggatan drive-by

In June 2018, three men aged 19, 27 and 29 were killed and three others were injured outside of an internet café in Malmö in a drive-by shooting. The shooting took place in daylight at a busy intersection. The event was linked to gangs and organised crime. Media reported the incident as gangland feud. None of the victims identified by ethnicity or nationality, in line with Swedish practice. Media reported that the problem of gun crime is considered a problem of the three largest cities in Sweden, Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö with a majority of reporting on this crime type being placed within those cities or their suburbs. Tied closely to the discussion of these cities is the medias focus on the immigrant population of these places. The reporting of this story once again quickly moved on from the presentation of the facts surrounding the event itself, to a discussion of the political repercussions. With the general election looming events such as the drive-by shooting putting crime high on the political agenda.

“‘The most important election issues in Sweden have always been basic questions of economic distribution and public services. But in the last two or three years, law and order and immigration have sailed up to the very top. That’s a big change,’ said Nicholas Aylott, associate professor of politics at Södertörn

University. The shift reflects the rising anxiety of many Swedes after a long line of deadly shootings, grenade attacks and car fires that have shattered the peaceful image of their country.” (Milne, 2018. June 19th).

4.2 Part Two

Part one of the results focused on more explicit crime events in Western news media reporting whereas, part two of the analysis is broadened to explore the more implicit discourses in order to answer the second research question. Of the total sample, 140 articles discussed more generally the problems of crime in Sweden rather than specific crime events. By broadening the discussion to include common discourse in Western newspapers the data identifies two main themes of discussion, (1) immigration has a direct impact on crime rates, and (2) Sweden is

(17)

experiencing an identity crisis.

4.2.1 Immigration & increasing crime rates

The narrative is overwhelmingly negative, and the messages seem to be consistent across the board, that message is Sweden has allowed too many migrants in to their generous country and now they are suffering the consequences of rising crime. The most common theme in the narrative of crime in Sweden places blame on rising crimes rates entirely upon the shoulders of the migrant population. Sweden is commonly discussed for having accepted more migrants per capita than any other European state, but not celebrated for this fact. Instead, it is brought the attention that as a result, they are suffering “soaring crime rates and violence” (Horton, 2018).

A quote used in several articles for different news sources was that of an investigator from the police department of Örebro is quoted in a number of articles form different countries after making a comment on his Facebook account;

“What I’ve been handling Monday-Friday this week: Rape, rape, serious rape, assault rape, black mail, black mail, assault in court, threats, attack against police, threats against police, drugs, serious drugs, attempted murder, rape again, black mail again and abuse. Suspected perpetrators: Ali Mohamad, Mahmod, Mohammed, Mohammed, Ali, again, again, again, Christoffer… what, is it true? Yes, a Swedish name sneaked its way in on the fringes of a drug related crime, Mohammed, Mahmod Ali, again and again.” (cited in Sorensen 2017).

The comment made by the police investigator was not motivated by fact.

Criminologists were cited in articles claiming that the statement was definitely not representative of Sweden. Despite the narrative of a broken Sweden commonly reported in conservative news sources, there is available information from other sources which can provide the reader with more context. Other sources quote experts in a bid to provide more context for example, professor in criminology at Stockholm University, Jerzy Sarnecki is quoted in an Australian paper saying;

“Migrants are overrepresented particularly in violent crimes and sexual

violence. “there are many reasons, lower levels of education, problems with the modern technological society, maybe even some cultural drawbacks” but in the past few years most the of crime increase “has nothing to do with the influx of people from Syria and other countries”. (cited in Miller, 2018).

4.2.2 Sweden’s identity crisis

A large percentage of the articles sampled portray Sweden as being in the midst of an identity crisis.

“Sweden is experiencing a clash of ideals… While the country seeks to maintain a humanitarian ideal, public concerns around immigration have begun to shift the politics of traditionally liberal Sweden to tighter immigration controls and more restrictive policies. The debate on migration is thus a very personal one for many Swedes.” (Sorensen, 2017).

World media focused on the rise in criminal activity as a direct negative impact of liberal social laws and policies. This theme is closely linked to the first in regard

(18)

to the fact that the crisis stems from an influx of migrants putting strain on Swedish society, the discussion is “multiculturalism has brought crime and

insecurity” (Associated Press, 2018) and immigration is “a bridge too far-right for liberal Sweden” (Harvey, 2018). In an article from the Financial Times following the Stockholm terror attack they define Sweden as being at a crossroad.

“It basks in its reputation as a "humanitarian superpower" and a bastion of liberal values. It is proud of its generous welfare system, its openness to foreigners, and the fact it has never taken part in a war in 200 years. Yet recent events show it is not immune from the global turbulence that brought Donald Trump to power in the US and delivered last June's vote on Brexit.” (Chazan, 2017).

During the time frame chosen for data collection, there was a general election in Sweden which put a focus on Swedish politics in international media. There is a general trend within Europe and the rest of the western world in the growth of support for right-leaning political parties gaining support. Sweden, traditionally, have been more liberal. The focus on the growth of Sweden Democrats in many of the articles used in this study indicates the level of interest from other countries to see whether countries like Sweden were experiencing the same effects. Media refer to Sweden as having a long-time role as ‘moral super power’ (Erlanger, 2018) but discuss how this is changing. Journalists note how, historically the country has welcomed immigrants, but following a large number of asylum seekers arriving in 2015 Sweden introduced border controls for the first time since 2001 when the country implemented the Schengen agreement.

5. DISCUSSION

5.1 Differences in Media Coverage

The Rinkeby riot occurred just two days after Trump made his speech. This provided an opportunity to offer support for his comments after being mocked by much of the world’s media. The terror attack occurred only a couple of months after Trump’s remarks and was used in a similar way to Rinkeby riot in offering evidence that he wasn’t that far off. Much of the media reporting on these two events related them back to Trump’s comments made in February 2017 came from US sources. There was an interest from the US to report on these events. Unlike the Rinkeby riots, the riots occurring in August 2018 received no media coverage in the US, in the articles gathered for this research. Only British media took an interest in publishing the story of 100 car arson attacks. The second riot event happened close to a general election. Fewer articles were found from sources in Ireland, Australia and New Zealand making it difficult to draw any significant conclusions from the analysis of newspaper articles from those countries of origin.

Although the way in which Swedish newspapers report events such as the ones analysed in the data falls outside of the scope of this study, several of the articles sampled mention how certain facts are missing from Swedish reporting. One example of this is that none of the Stockholm truck attack victims are mentioned apart from two who came from outside of Sweden. One victim was British and another from Belgium, these two were the only victims to be named. Their names

(19)

were obtained through their respective authorities and therefore available for print in newspaper articles. A second example is the protection of the identity and ethnicity of suspects in other cases. When international media is left without ethnicity identifiers, they lose a part of their writing style. In order to make up for this they appear to use other means of description by describing areas as having a high immigrant population. This in turn, allows the reader to make assumptions the ethnic background of suspects.

5.2 Numbers game & metaphors

Numbers are often excluded in news reporting as modest numbers would serve to weaken the argument (Van Dijk, 2000). When articles used for analysis use actual numbers it was only when they were large. A commonly used statistic in the discussion of crime in Sweden is the number of refugees welcomed into the country in 2015. These figures are given extra weight by the use of the Swedish population as a whole for comparison purposes. In other countries 163,000 refugees may seem like a reasonable figure so news media elaborate through the means of comparison. When describing increased crime levels, figures are seldom provided in the data, instead journalists write Sweden is experiencing a “sharp

rise in crime”, or “surge in crime”. Further hyperbole used to define

unquantifiable crime increases in the data were; “gang crime and violence are

rife”, cities were explained as being “awash with guns and drugs” and having “soaring crime rates”.

In a socio-linguistics study, it was found that there are three main metaphors used to describe asylum seekers identified (Refaie, 2001), firstly, they are characterised as “water” in ways such as “tidal waves” “a flood” etc. Secondly, asylum seekers are described as “bringing terror and violence to the streets”. Thirdly, they are portrayed as invading armies. Asylum seekers being characterised as water is a theme thought many of the articles sampled in this paper, moreover, the

metaphorical use of water as a descriptive term was not only restricted to

refugees. In several articles the use of the term, “influx of refugees”, was used to inspire the image of a steady flow of refugees arriving into the country with no perceived stop. Crime was said to “swamp Sweden”, and finally the country itself was referred to as a “multicultural cesspool of violence and unrest”. The use of metaphorical descriptions helps readers build a similar opinion to those of the author (Koetsenruijter, 2008). The examples noted above were identified in the newspaper articles used in the present study.

5.3 Pockets of Violence

Western media portrayal of crime in Sweden creates an image of isolated problem areas. Within the vast majority of the articles analysed, crimes were reported as occurring in suburbs of the three largest cities in Sweden, Rinkeby in Stockholm, Angered in Gothenburg and Rosengård in Malmö. Consumers of the news could be under the impression that Sweden is a country with criminal suburbs

contrasting an otherwise flourishing land. Malmö receives the most negative coverage in international media, being dubbed the Chicago of the Nordic region by Western media, it is reported that the city experiences the highest murder rate among Scandinavian countries. Malmö is the city which connects Sweden to the rest of Europe with a bridge to Denmark, as a result media refer to the city as the ‘frontline’ of Sweden’s problems and the suburb of Rosengård is deemed a faultline of European politics. Another Swedish faultline according to the reporting of the Financial Times is Gothenburg. Here, according to a journalist, there is a clear and growing divide between a city where there is growth and

(20)

prosperity, but also inequality which has led to the creation of social unrest, criminality and extremism.

5.4 Look what’s happening in Sweden: Moral Panic

Does the media portrayal of crime in Sweden fulfil the criteria necessary for a moral panic? This research would indicate yes, according to Goode and Ben Yuhuda (1994), the event must generate anxiety. Secondly, the event needs a folk devil, in this case refugees are identified as the problem group. Thirdly, the negative response should be collective, the same negative response occurs collectively across different continents and the shared sentiment is that of anti-immigration, anti-globalisation. Elements four and five can be evidenced together, the media reaction should be disproportionate and erratic. Media reaction to the crime problem in Sweden is evidently disproportionate. In the majority of articles sampled, journalists discuss the “sharp increase in violent crime” following large quantities of refugees entering the country. Many fails to provide an accurate context of the situation. Media publications appear to be erratic, as the reporting on the subject occurs as a sudden rupture arises and disappears just as quickly, take for example the riots.

Sweden appears to be taking on the role of providing a cautionary tale to the rest of the world demonstrating that being a liberal and open country leaves you vulnerable to unrest. Journalists with certain political leanings use this to their advantage with the growing support of far-right movements. Sweden has long held the reputation of being world leaders in liberal ideals, so if you can show that even Sweden is susceptible to the same problems the rest of the world is facing, then no country is safe. A key element of a cautionary tale, as described by Moore (2009), is that victims should take precautionary actions in order to reduce the chances of victimisation. Western media suggests that being like Sweden, with liberal policies towards refugees is directly tied to increased crime and the rest of the world should learn from the country.

6. LIMITATIONS & FUTURE RESEARCH

Unfortunately, some of the largest and most influential media sources are not captured through NewsBank. It would be interesting to explore representations from alternative Westerns media sources, not only those in physical print but online as well. For future research, not only would it be of benefit to be able to expand the data collection to capture other news sources in the countries

researched, but it would also be interesting to widen the search to other countries beyond native English-speaking lands. In doing so, researchers would be able to draw comparisons between western countries and other regions of the world. One further methodological limitation of this project is that the data was coded and recoded by one researcher, despite taking the extra precaution of recoding the data a second time, it would have been better to have controlled with another researcher. This would serve to strengthen the reliability and validity of both the coding frame and research findings. Additionally, there should be an awareness of researcher bias. Particularly in the use of QCA, where the researcher develops the coding frame from the material.

(21)

7. CONCLUSION

This thesis sought to examine how news sources in North America, Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand portray crime in Sweden by answering the questions; what crimes are reported by western newspapers, and what are the dominant themes discussed. Through the use of qualitative content analysis, it has been found that there is a significant focus on violent crimes. There was

particularly high reporting on the terror attack in Stockholm, riots where car arsons were the main focus and gang-related gun crime. Although media sources did report on other non-violent crimes, they did not attract the same amount of attention. The predominate narratives in western media reporting on crime in Sweden identified through this research are, immigration is to blame, and Sweden is facing an identity crisis.

By means of the discussion, the differences in media focuses across different countries has been explored, finding that when one story suits the purposes of a country, they will publish articles about it. A closer look to how the use of numbers and metaphors are applied in journalistic writing has been analysed and finally the research looked at which locations were of interest in the newspaper articles sampled. The data finds that the reporting of certain crime events in Sweden fulfil the necessary elements to warrant moral panic status, especially in regard to the discussion of immigration and increasing crime rates.

With an upward trend of increasingly negative discussions about Sweden in International media (SI, 2018), it is evident that the discourse needs to be

changed. The findings from the current research highlight Western media focus on violent crimes in Sweden. If negative press coverage continues, adverse effects could be seen for the country as a whole.

(22)

REFERENCES

AJC: Atlanta News Now. (2017, February 18). Read: Full transcript of Trump’s Rally speech in Florida. Retrieved from: https://www.ajc.com/news/national/read-full-transcript-trump-rally-speech-florida/DeDCpoNEKLQmWcIKndWB0M/ Anderson, C. (2017, April 9). Sweden arrests Uzbek man suspected in attack. The Daily Gazette.

Anderson, C. & Sewell, C. (2017, February 22) Clash draws attention to Trump remarks - Masked men in immigrant neighbourhood of Stockholm, Sweden, scuffle with police. The Register-Guard.

Ang, I. (1991) Desperately Seeking the Audience. London: Routledge

Associated Press. (2018, September 11) Sweden joins Europe's movement to the right - Immigration backlash influences election. St Paul Pioneer.

Bicket, D & Wall, M. Circling the wagons: Containing the downing street memo story’s impact in America. Journal of Communication Inquiry. 31(3): 206-221 BRÅ. (2017). Nationella trygghetsundersökningen 2016. Om utsatthet, otrygghet och förtroende. Stockholm: Brottsförebyggande rådet. Retrieved from:

https://www.bra.se/download/18.37179ae158196cb172d6047/1483969937948/20 17_1_Nationella_trygghetsundersokningen_2016.pdf

Callanan, V. 2016. Media consumption, perceptions of crime risk, and fear of crime: Examining race/ethnic differences. Sociological Perspectives 55 (1): 93– 115.

Chazan, G. (2017, April 10) Sweden faces new realities of terror and extra security - Country famed for its openness changed even before Stockholm truck attack. Financial Times.

Chermak, S. M., & Chapman, N. M. (2007). Predicting crime story salience: A replication. Journal of Criminal Justice, 35, 351-363.

Chibnall, S. (1977). Law and Order News. London: Tavistock.

Clarke, R. (2017, April 11) Sweden realises the danger of its open-door policy. The Express/ The Express on Sunday.

Cohen, B. C. (1963). The press and foreign policy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Cohen, S. (1973) Folk Devils and Moral Panics. London, Routledge.

Collins VE, Farrell AL, McKee JR, Martin FA, Monk-Turner E. (2011) The state of coverage: The media’s representation of international issues and state crime.

International Criminal Justice Review. 21(1):5-21.

(23)

open society - Uzbek arrested in Stockholm is main suspect amid aftermath of political tension, defiance and anxiety. The Observer.

Croteau, D., & Hoynes, W. (2001). The business of media: Corporate media and the public interest. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge.

Douglas, S. J. (2006). The turn within: The irony of technology in a globalized world. American Quarterly, 1, 619-638.

Dixon, H. (2017, April 8). Trump faced mockery - but tensions are real - Stockholm attack. The Daily Telegraph/ The Sunday Telegraph.

Goode, E. Ben-Yehuda, N. (1994) Moral Panics: The Social Construction of Deviance. Oxford: Blackwell.

Greer, C. (2010) ‘News Media Criminology’, in McLaughlin, E. and Newburn, T. (eds) The Sage Handbook of Criminological Theory, London: Sage

Erlanger, S. (2018, September 5) Sweden's longtime role as 'moral super power' may be changing. The State.

Esser, F. (2008). Dimensions of political news cultures: Sound bite and image bite news in France, Germany, Great Britain, and the United States. International

Journal of Press/Politics, 13, 401-442.

Forbes Magazine. (2018) The World’s Most Reputable Countries 2018. Vicky Valet. Retreived from: https://www.forbes.com/sites/vickyvalet/2018/06/21/the-worlds-most-reputable-countries-2018/#1ae309093ea0

Hall, S., Critcher, C., Jefferson, T., Clarke, J., and Roberts, B. (1978) Policing the crisis: mugging, the state and law and order, London, Macmillan.

Happer, C. & Philo, G. (2013). The Role of the Media in the Construction of Public Belief and Social Change. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, (1), 321.

Harvey, O. (2018, September 8). Immigration: A bridge too far-right for liberal Sweden. Another Euro nation divided over foreign Influx. The Sun.

Hoge, J. (1997). Foreign news: Who gives a damn? Columbia Journalism Review, 1, 1-30.

Hohmann, L. (2017) Terror attack on Sweden ‘price of failed immigration policies’ - Sex crimes, jihadist engulf once peaceful country. World Net Daily. Hollis, M. E., Del Carmen, A., Downey, S., & Dobbs, R. R.. (2017). The relationship between media portrayals and crime: Perceptions of fear of crime among citizens. Crime Prevention and Community Safety, 19(1), 46–60

Horton, N. (2018, September 14) Brexit is a significant moment in our history. Dorset Echo.

(24)

Jewkes, Yvonne (2004). Media and crime. Key Approaches to Criminology. London, UK: Sage.

Kappeler, V. E. & Kappeler, A.E. (2004) ‘Speaking of evil and terrorism’ The political and ideological construction of a moral panic´. In Deflem, M (eds) (2004) Terrorism and counter terrorism: criminological perspectives. Oxford: Elselvier, 75-97.

Koetsenruijter, W. (2008) How numbers make news reliable. In Dam, L., Strunck. J., & Holmgreen, L.L. (2008). Rhetorical Aspects of Discourse in Present-Day society. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Kohut, A., & Toth, R. C. (1995). A Content Analysis: International News Coverage Fits

Public’s Ameri-Centric Mood. The Pew Research Center for People and the Press. Washington, DC: The Pew Research Center. Retrieved from:

http://people-press.org/reports/pdf/19951031.pdf

Krug, E.G, Mercy, J.A, Dahlberg, L.L & Zwi, A.B. (2002) World report on violence and health. Geneva: World Health Organization; Retrieved from:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140673602111330 Lane, J., and J.W. Meeker. 2003. Ethnicity, information sources, and fear of crime. Deviant Behavior 24(1): 1–26.

McRobbie, A. & Thornton, S.L. (1995). Rethinking “Moral Panic” for Multi-mediated social worlds. British Journal of Sociology, 46(4): 559-74.

Manning, P. (2001) News and news sources: a critical introduction. London. Sage. Marsh, H. L. (1991). A comparative analysis of crime coverage in newspapers in the United States and other countries from 1960-1989: A review of the literature.

Journal of Criminal Justice, 19, 67-79

McNair, B. (1998) The sociology of journalism. London: Arnold.

Miller, N. (2017, February 26) Sweden beyond the Trumpverse. The Sun Herald. Milne, R. (2018, June 19) Sweden Shooting sees law and order top agenda ahead of poll. Financial Times.

Milne, R. (2018, August 15) Scores of cars burned in attacks across Sweden - Riots. Financial Times.

Milne, R. (2018, August 18) Co-ordinated arson attacks across Sweden put crime in poll spotlight. Financial Times.

Moore, S. E. H. (2009). Cautionary Tales: Drug-facilitated sexual assault in the British Media. Crime, Media, Culture, 5(3): 305-20

(25)

coverage of crime. In Petley, J., Critcher, C., Hughes, J., & Rohloff, A. (2013). Moral Panics in the Contemporary World. [electronic resource]. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Naylor, B. (2001). Reporting violence in the British print media: gendered stories.

Howard Journal, 40(2): 180-194

Patterson, T. E. (1998). Time and news: The media’s limitations as an instrument of democracy. International Political Science Review, 19, 55-67

Presdee, M. (2000) Cultural criminology and the carnival of crime. London, Routledge.

Rapacioli, P. aut. (2018). Good Sweden, bad Sweden: the use and abuse of Swedish values in a post-truth world. Volante.

Refaie, E.E. (2001). Metaphors we discriminate by; naturalized themes in Austrian newspaper articles about asylum seekers. Journal of Sociolinguistics 5(3): 352-271

Riddell, K. (2017, February 22) Swedes eviscerated Trump as riots break out in capital. Washington Times.

Rothe, D. L. (2009). State criminality: The crime of all crimes. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books

Silverton, 2013 Silverstone, R. (2013). Media and Morality. [electronic resource]: On the Rise of the Mediapolis. Oxford : Wiley, 2013. Retrieved from

https://proxy.mau.se/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=tru e&db=cat05074a&AN=malmo.b1858117&site=eds-live

Scott, J. (1990) A Matter of Record. Cambridge. Polity.

Sorensen, M.S. (2017, February 25) Sweden, a nation of open arms debated implications of immigration. The Daily Gazette.

Sutherland, E. H., Cressey, D. R., & Luckenbill, D. (1992). Principles of criminology. [electronic resource]. General Hall. Retrieved from

https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cat05074a&AN=malmo. b2200598&site=eds-live

Svenska Institutet. (2017). Bilden av Sverige i Kanada och USA. Retrieved from:

https://si.se/app/uploads/2017/10/bilden-av-sverige-i-kanada-och-usa.pdf Svenska Institutet. (2018). Bilden av Sverige utomlands 2018: Årsrapport från Svenska Institute. Retrieved from:

https://si.se/app/uploads/2019/02/si_rapport_sverigebild_web_low.pdf Svenska Institutet. (2018a). Sverige i ett nytt ljus?: Svenska Institutet sammanfattar bilen av Sverige 2015-2017.

(26)

Ungar. S. (2001). Moral Panic versus the Risk Society: The implications of the changing sites of social anxiety. British Journal of Sociology, 52(2):271-91. Van Dijk, T, A. (1988), News as Discourse. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, New Jersey, Hove & London.

Van Dijk, T, A. (2000) New(s) Racism: A Discourse Analytical Approach. In Cottle, S. (2000) Ethnic minorities and the media: Changing Cultural Boundaries. Scarborough, Type Set by Type Set Study.

Williams, P. and Dickinson, J. (1993) Fear of crime: read all about it. British

(27)

APPENDIX

1: ARTICLES

Date Headline Journalist Publication

09/02/2017 Alleged rape on Facebook shocks Sweden - 2 suspects were from Afghanistan, stoking anger at migrants

Kim Hjelmgaard USA Today 09/02/2017 Donal Trump leave Swedes stumped over

terror plot claims

Unknown Scotland on Sunday 09/02/2017 Trump's Sunday: The inside story on

non-existent Sweden incident

Lynn Sweet Chicago Sun Times 09/02/2017 Trump baffles Sweden with crime comment,

say it was based on TV report

Unknown Arab American News

20/02/2017 Trump clarifies his comment about Sweden

was on immigrants Dave Boyer The Washington Times 20/02/2017 Trump's baffling Sweden remark inspires

snarking

Matti Huuhtanen The Tribune 20/02/2017 President seeks advice from Florida golf

buddies

Will Pavia The Times 20/02/2017 What the statistics say about Sweden,

immigration and crime

Miriam Valverde Tampa Bay Times 20/02/2017 In tweet we trust Joseph Grant Sweetwater Reporter 20/02/2017 Trump's remark on terrorism baffles

Swedes- President says he saw information on Fox News report

Sewell Chan San Diego Union- Tribune

20/02/2017 Trump attempts to clarify Sweden remarks Gretel Johnston & Lennart Simonsson

The Patriot Ledger 20/02/2017 Got no Ikea what he's talking about Dan Good New York Daily News 20/02/2017 Terror in Sweden? Unknown New Pittsburgh

Courier 20/02/2017 The Guardian view on Trump’s Sweden:

another country - Like the rest of western Europe, Sweden is dealing with economic and demographic issues. But whatever misguided US conservatives think, the Nordic nation is not a battlefront in a clash of civilisations

Unknown The Guardian

20/02/2017 'Swedish terror' warning stumps nations Unknown Daily Telegraph 20/02/2017 Trump baffles Sweden with crime comment Anna Ringstrom &

Jeff Mason The Chronicle 20/02/2017 Sweden responds to Trump's comments with

confusion, criticism

Christian Science The Monitor 20/02/2017 Donald Trump Presidents Day: More

Sweden fallout

References

Related documents

Number and proportion of editorials published on youth crime in newspapers with a conservative, liberal and social democratic viewpoint, by political situation, 1970-1982 and

In his review of quantitative criminological research in Sweden up until the mid-1990s, Wikström (1996) distinguished a number of fields that constituted a focus

Re-examination of the actual 2 ♀♀ (ZML) revealed that they are Andrena labialis (det.. Andrena jacobi Perkins: Paxton & al. -Species synonymy- Schwarz & al. scotica while

Analyzing national grid net data, where all densely built-up areas of Sweden were divided into 250 x 250 meter pixels with added police recorded crime data, the study aimed to

Fig. 1 Conceptual framework of the role of fear of crime from a public health perspective, modified from Garofalo 1981. Areas of specific interest for the present study are indicated

In the Swedish case, overall worry seems to encompass more than a declared fear of crime and a risk of victimization, as the pattern is quite uniform across

focused on space-time clustering (Poisson discrete model) of homicides in Sao Paulo (Brasil) and showed a very seasonal pattern which changes spatially according to warmer and

All those interviewed, judges, prosecutors and defence lawyers, stated that they almost never handle cases regarding unlawful discrimination, and that cases of agitation against