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Swedish News for Koreans

A study on ethnic media for Koreans in Sweden

Marcus Mosesson

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Department of Asian, Middle Eastern and Turkish Studies Master Thesis

Asian Studies

Master’s Programme in Asian Studies (120 credits) Supervisor: Gabriel Jonsson

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Swedish News for Koreans

A study on ethnic media for Koreans in Sweden

Marcus Mosesson

Abstract

This study investigates a Facebook page named Sŭweden nyusŭ, which stands as an example of ethnic media targeting Koreans living in Sweden. Having gatekeeping theory as the theoretical framework and using a quantitative-qualitative media content analysis, the study looks at what news topics and news sources are most used by the page, whether and how the news are presented objectively or subjectively, as well as how the page’s followers react to the page’s content and how the page’s administrator deals with these reactions. The study found that news topics related to economy and politics are the most prevalent, while the daily Dagens Nyheter is the most cited news source. Some of the news stories are presented subjectively, and the followers’ reactions are in general positive but also inquiring and occasionally even negative and critical. The administrator usually tries to cater for the followers’ demands and questions, but sometimes ignores or even questions their remarks. As the study also has the general goal of getting insight into the Korean community in Sweden, the findings suggest the following. Firstly, Sŭweden nyusŭ compensates for what the community’s few existing ethnic media channels lack. Secondly, some Koreans in Sweden who lack Swedish language skills may even be considered poorly integrated into the Swedish majority society. However, as for Koreans’ level of integration into the Swedish majority society, further research is needed in order to confirm what the actual state is. The study therefore recommends more research to be conducted on this topic, as well as on the subject of ethic media in Sweden in general.

Keywords

Korean community in Sweden, ethnic media, ethnicity, Facebook, news, gatekeeping theory, gatekeeper, gated, media content analysis.

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Table of Contents

Chapter 1 – Introduction ... 4

1.1 Purpose and research questions ... 4

1.2 Definitions of two key terms ... 6

1.3 Theoretical framework - Gatekeeping theory (GT) ... 7

1.4 Method – Media content analysis (MCA) ... 9

1.4.1 Quantitative and qualitative applications of MCA ... 10

1.4.2 Categorization – an integrated approach ... 11

1.4.3 Three types of categorization ... 12

1.4.4 Shortcomings and limitations of the categorization ... 16

1.4.5 Interview ... 17

1.5 Structure and scope ... 18

1.6 Notes on romanization and translation ... 18

Chapter 2 – Background ... 19

2.1 Ethnic media ... 19

2.2 Previous research on ethnic media ... 20

2.3 Sŭweden nyusŭ ... 22

Chapter 3 – Analysis ... 23

3.1 Analysis of the interview with the administrator ... 23

3.2 Analysis of recurring themes in the posts of Sŭweden nyusŭ ... 29

Chapter 4 – Concluding discussion ... 40

Bibliography ... 43

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my supervisor Gabriel Jonsson, associate professor in Korean studies at the department for Asian, Middle Eastern and Turkish Studies at Stockholm University, for valuable feedback and guidance during the writing process of this thesis. I also owe my gratitude to Kim Myung Jin (Kim Myŏng-jin), who allowed me to conduct an interview with him. His answers provided me with further insight into Sŭweden nyusŭ that would not have been possible to attain otherwise. My dear friend Björn Boman, who provided me with valuable source material for the methodological chapter, has also contributed to the improvement and completion of this thesis. Ewa Machotka, Director of the MA Asian Studies Program, and classmates who read excerpts of my thesis and gave me feedback on these, have also aided in taking the thesis in the right direction. Hence, my deep gratitude extends to them as well.

Finally, the completion of this MA Program would not have been possible without the love and support from my family, relatives and friends in not only Sweden and Korea but also around the world. They have helped me endure times of lacking motivation and frustration, and the patience and generosity of my family and relatives have reduced stress that I otherwise would have experienced much more of. I cannot thank you enough.

Marcus Mosesson Lidingö, May 18th, 2020

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Chapter 1 – Introduction

1.1 Purpose and research questions

As the world has become increasingly interconnected through the processes of globalization, so have countries’ populations become more diversified in terms of ethnicities. Many

countries in Western Europe are good examples of this, such as France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the Scandinavian nations. Among the latter, Sweden is perhaps the most prominent example regarding ethnic diversity: of its current number of more than ten million people,1 about a fifth are foreign-born,2 coming from various countries located in for instance the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America.

Amongst these foreign-born Swedes, over eleven thousand are born in South Korea

(henceforth Korea).3 Although many of these are adoptees,4 others have migrated to Sweden in later stages of their lives. Since a Korean community thus exists in Sweden, Korea-related associations and organizations have emerged. One of them is the Korean Association

(Koreanska Föreningen in Swedish, Chaesŭweden haninhoe in Korean), which used to have its own magazine named Haninhoebo. The magazine was issued around every other month since 1995 but stopped being issued from 2015.5

Except for this instance, another form of media targeting Koreans residing in Sweden has emerged. On the social media platform Facebook, a page named Sŭweden nyusŭ (meaning

1 10 327 589, to be exact. “Sveriges befolkning efter födelseland/-region, medborgarskap och bakgrund, 31

december 2019,” Hitta statistik, Statistik efter ämne, Befolkning, Befolkningens sammansättning,

Befolkningsstatistik, Tabeller och diagram, Helårsstatistik, Statistics Sweden, last modified March 19th, 2020,

https://www.scb.se/hitta-statistik/statistik-efter-amne/befolkning/befolkningens- sammansattning/befolkningsstatistik/pong/tabell-och-diagram/helarsstatistik--riket/sveriges-befolkning-efter-fodelseland-region-medborgarskap-och-bakgrund-31-december-2019/

2 “Utrikes födda i Sverige,” Hitta statistik, Sverige i siffror, Människorna i Sverige, Statistics Sweden, last

modified February 20th, 2020, https://www.scb.se/hitta-statistik/sverige-i-siffror/manniskorna-i-sverige/utrikes-fodda/.

3 11 642, to be exact. “Utrikes födda efter födelseland och invandringsår 31 december 2019,” Hitta statistic,

Statistik efter ämne, Befolkning, Befolkningens sammansättning, Befolkningsstatistik, Statistics Sweden, last modified February 20, 2020, https://www.scb.se/hitta-statistik/statistik-efter-amne/befolkning/befolkningens-sammansattning/befolkningsstatistik/.

4 Tobias Hübinette, who has conducted extensive research on the Korean adoption issue, estimated the number

of Korean adoptees in Sweden to approximately 9000 in 2003. Tobias Hübinette, “The adopted Koreans of Sweden and the Korean adoption issue,” The Review of Korean Studies 6, no. 1 (2003): 253-254.

5 According to the author’s supervisor, who is a subscriber to Haninhoebo, the last number was published on

October 30th, 2015. The author has tried to contact the Korean Association to confirm this fact, but without any success.

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“Swedish news”)6 appeared at the end of November 2018. The page, created and run by a Korean male who is proficient in both Swedish and Korean and who resides in Sweden, briefly summarizes news about Sweden in Korean.

This Facebook page is an interesting example of what can be labelled as ethnic media, which in short can be defined as “media produced for a particular ethnic community.”7 Furthermore, it is unique in terms of being the only existing Korean-language media in Sweden that focuses on providing news about Sweden in general.8 Moreover, by using a social media platform as its channel instead of making its ‘own’ platform (a magazine, website, etc.), it stands as a fascinating instance of the various forms that ethnic media can take. One also wonders what types of news and content the page’s followers are exposed to, how they react to these, what role the page’s creator and administrator plays, etc.

Not only is Sŭweden nyusŭ an interesting research subject itself, but it is also relevant considering that Sweden and Korea have maintained diplomatic relations for over 60 years.9 Furthermore, Sweden installed the Swedish Red Cross Field Hospital in the city of Pusan in 1950 and operated it throughout and shortly after the Korean War.10 Since 1953, Sweden has also been a member of the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission (NNSC) that has helped reduce tensions at the border between North and South Korea. Furthermore, there seems to be an increasing interest in Korea among Swedish people, for instance in the form of a growing number of students taking courses on Korean history, politics, culture, etc. at Stockholm University.11

Considering the historic ties between the two countries and the recent trend of growing Swedish interest in Korea, the Korean community – which Sŭweden nyusŭ certainly should be considered an expression of – should not be rejected as a subject undeserving of attention

6 Link to the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/swedishnewsforkoreans.

7 Matsaganis, Matthew, Vikki Katz and Sandra Ball-Rokeach, Understanding Ethnic Media: Producers,

Consumers, and Societies, (Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc., 2011.), 5, doi:

10.4135/9781452230412. Emphasis in original.

8 The Korean Association’s website (https://www.koreans.se/) and Facebook page

(https://www.facebook.com/koreansinsweden) provides updates in the Korean language on issues specific to the Korean community, such as cultural events. However, in contrast to Sŭweden nyusŭ, the focus of these media channels is not on general news about Sweden.

9 The diplomatic relations were established on March 11th, 1959. Gabriel Jonsson, “An Outline of

Sweden-Republic of Korea Relations,” Orientaliska Studier 159, (May 2019): 8.

10 The Swedish Red Cross Field Hospital was reconstituted in 1954 into the Swedish Hospital in Pusan, before it

ceased its activities in April 1957. Sigfrid Su-gun Östberg, “Svenska Röda Korset-sjukhuset i Pusan 1950–58. En studie av den svenska insatsen med avseende på dess varierande verksamhetsfokus samt generella

utveckling” (Bachelor thesis, Stockholm Univeristy, 2012), 1, 4.

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in the academic field. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine Sŭweden nyusŭ in order to not only get a first detailed overview of the page, but also to find out what the page could tell us about the Korean community in Sweden. Furthermore, as most of the research on this community has so far focused on the issue of Korean adoptees, little attention has been given to other aspects. It is thus the hopes of the author that this research work will contribute to widening the research field about the Korean community in Sweden.

This thesis’ research questions are the following:

1. What news topics and news sources are most often recurring in Sŭweden nyusŭ’s posts, and what could the reason(s) for this be?

2. Are the news stories presented objectively or subjectively, and if so how?

3. How do the followers of the page react to the posts and how does the administrator respond to these reactions?

1.2 Definitions of two key terms

Two key terms of the study will have to be clarified. The first and perhaps most complex term is ethnicity. Although it is nearly impossible to find a single, universal definition of the term, there are still ways of approaching it. A good starting point is German sociologist Max Weber’s definition of ethnic groups, from his work Economy and Society published in the early 20th century: “We shall call ‘ethnic groups’ […] those groups that, because of

similarities of physical type or of customs, or both, or because of memories of colonization or migration, entertain a belief in their common descent of the kind that becomes crucial for the emergence of group formations.”12

Based on Weber’s definition, ethnicity can be considered the belief of a group that its members have a shared descent. Yet, ethnicity is nowadays associated not only with a

common origin, but also with a shared culture. Ethnic groups also usually carry elements that are emblematic of their collective identity, such as a shared language, religious affiliation, or

12 Max Weber, Ekonomi och samhälle. Förståelsesociologins grunder 1, trans. Agne Lundquist (Lund: Grahns

Boktryckeri, 1983), 277. Quote translated from Swedish to English by the author.

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a geographic location. Lastly, ethnicities emerge in the self-conscious process of groups differentiating themselves from each other, i.e. the formation of “us” and “them.”13

Accordingly, this study will define ethnicity as the belief of a group that its members have a common ancestry, customs, culture, etc., and that it is therefore distinct in relation to other groups. This definition thus involves groups of immigrants, ethnic minorities, and diasporas. The second key term of this study is Koreans. This term will refer to those who were born on the Korean peninsula (i.e. both North and South Korea) and those who fall under the category of chaeoedongp'o, i.e. overseas Koreans and their descendants.14 Accordingly, those born and raised abroad to Korean parents will also be included. However, the focal group of this study will be South Koreans who have moved to Sweden and who have limited skills in the Swedish language.

1.3 Theoretical framework - Gatekeeping theory (GT)

As for the theoretical framework, the study will draw on gatekeeping theory (henceforth GT). Originally referring to how American housewives were monitoring and regulating the food habits and activities of their families in the mid-twentieth century,15 gatekeeping refers to “the control of information passing through a gate or filter” as well as the “judgment or decision making about what information should be gathered, evaluated, and ultimately shared.”16 This study will therefore consider the creator and administrator of Sŭweden nyusŭ the gatekeeper of the page, since he performs gatekeeping activities in it.

However, some scholars have argued that gatekeeping as a term has become obsolete. With the rise of the Internet in the 21st century, journalism’s monopoly on the production and distribution of news has been undermined, since “virtually every online reader is a gatekeeper having the ability to pass along and comment on news items found on organizations’ official

13 Cornell and Hartmann, Ethnicity and Race, 17, 19–21.

14 This includes those who migrated from the Korean peninsula “before the establishment of the [South] Korean

government.” This is based on the Korean government’s latest legal definition of overseas Koreans (enforced on September 18, 2018). “Chaeoedongp'o chŏngŭi,” Chaeoedongp'o chŏngŭi mit hyŏnhwang, Yŏngsa/kukka, Oegyobu, accessed April 21st, 2020, http://www.mofa.go.kr/www/wpge/m_21507/contents.do.

15 Karine Barzilai-Nahon, “Gatekeeping: A critical review,” Annual Review of Information Science and

Technology 43, no. 1 (January 2009): 2.

16 Elina Erzikova, “Gatekeeping,” in The International Encyclopedia of Strategic Communication, ed. Robert L.

Heath and Winni Johansen (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2018), 1, https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119010722.iesc0080.

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websites and social media channels.”17 However, other scholars such as Pamela J. Shoemaker and Timothy P. Vos assert the opposite and have created an updated version of the concept. In short, with their revised model they noticed that “the information flow is not one-way, top-down,” i.e. that “not only reporters and editors but also online readers are (potentially) active actors in the process of what becomes news.”18 This has led other scholars to suggest that gatekeeping has turned into gatewatching, meaning that “[o]nline readers gatewatch news sources, compile and share reporters [sic], and thus publicize news instead of publishing it.”19

The above observation of gatekeeping is relevant for this thesis, since the creator and administrator of Sŭweden nyusŭ is not a journalist per se, but rather someone who compiles, summarizes and publicizes news published by other actors. One might therefore argue that he should be called a gatewatcher. Yet, this study will for the sake of convenience and

terminological congruence with the theory use the terms gatekeeping and gatekeeper. Not only has GT since its conception branched into several research fields such as

journalism, communication, and information science,20 but updated concepts of it have also emerged. One example of this is network gatekeeping theory (henceforth NGT). In NGT, the

gated (i.e. those who are subjected to gatekeeping) are identified through the concept of network gatekeeper salience (hereafter NGS), i.e. their salience to their gatekeeper. The

extent of the NGS correlates with whether and to which degree the gated possess the following four attributes: “(1) their political power in relation to the gatekeeper, (2) their information production ability, (3) their relationship with the gatekeeper, and (4) their alternatives in the context of gatekeeping.” In NGT, a network is defined as “either a social network, or a technological network.”21

Accordingly, this study will regard Sŭweden nyusŭ as a network and the page’s followers as the gated, and take the first, second and third NGS-attribute into consideration. The fourth attribute will be excluded, since it is not the study’s purpose to investigate alternative media channels that the followers of Sŭweden nyusŭ might use. As for the first22 and third attribute, the gated can “alter their [...] power and nature of their relations with the gatekeeper” by

17 Ibid., 2.

18Pamela J. Shoemaker and Timothy P. Vos, Gatekeeping theory (New York: Routledge, 2009), as referred to

in ibid.

19 Erzikova, “Gatekeeping,” 2. Emphasis in original. 20 Barzilai-Nahon, “Gatekeeping,” 2.

21 Ibid., 33, 51-52.

22 As for the first attribute, this study will henceforth exclude the suffix “political.” This is because the word has

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“[h]aving a reciprocal, enduring, and direct exchange [with him/her].” Thus, they can shape the gatekeeper’s decisions and even transform themselves into gatekeepers.23 This is relevant for the study, as the followers of Sŭweden nyusŭ might make requests and exert pressure on the administrator to shape the content according to their wants and needs, thus exercising their power. In conjunction with this, the second attribute plays in. As the gated can influence the gatekeeper’s decisions by requesting certain types of information or content, they are at least in part co-producers of what gets published in the network.

1.4 Method – Media content analysis (MCA)

The author has chosen media content analysis (hereafter MCA) as the main research method for this study. As MCA is a subset of the widely popular and well-established content

analysis, a short introduction to the latter will follow below.

Although the umbrella term content analysis did not appear in English until 1941, the process of a systematic reading of texts stretches back to the 17th century and the

“inquisitorial pursuits by the Church” at that time.24 It eventually became a technique for analyzing newspaper content in the 20th century, under the name of quantitative newspaper analysis, before it around the 1930s and onwards dispersed into a wide range of diverse research fields and disciplines such as psychology, anthropology, and political science. It has been used for analyzing political propaganda, computer texts, and historical documents, to name a few examples. What these variations of content analysis have in common is that they “promise to yield inferences from all kinds of verbal, pictorial, symbolic, and communication data.” Accordingly, the data can be more than simple text, such as “works of art, images, maps, sounds, signs, symbols, and even numerical records.”25

MCA, on its hand, was first introduced by American political scientist and communication theorist Harold Lasswell in 1927.26 It is used to analyze various texts, narratives, content of newspapers and TV-programs, etc., and operates along the so-called Lasswell’s 5W Model

23 Ibid., 39-40.

24 Klaus Krippendorff, Content Analysis: An Introduction to Its Methodology (Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE

Publications, Inc., 2004), 3.

25 Ibid., 8-12, 17, 19.

26 Jim Macnamara, “Media content analysis: Its uses; benefits and best practice methodology,” Asia Pacific

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(hereafter L5WM), which asks the question “who says what through which channel to whom with what effect?” Hence, when applying MCA, the researcher asks who the communicator is, what the content and information being communicated is, through which media channel and to whom the communicator conveys his or her message, and, finally, what effect the message has on the audience.27 This thesis will specifically focus on the second and fifth W, i.e. what content/information is being presented and what effect this has on the targeted audience. The first, third and fourth W, i.e. “who,” “which channel” and “to whom,” are self-explanatory in the context of Sŭweden nyusŭ and will thus be largely ignored.

However, some scholars question whether inferences can be drawn from the audience’s interpretation of the media content, and contend that “an integrated approach is required involving use of content analysis28 with other research such as audience studies.” However, those same scholars yet view media content analysis as “useful for ‘facilitating’ inference even though it cannot directly prove it” and also add that “content analysis has some predictive capabilities as well as other specialist uses.”29 Thus, MCA can be viewed as a method with which predictions and inferences, albeit not conclusive, can be made about the effect media content can have on its audience.

This thesis will not only make inferences about the potential impact the page’s posts can have on its followers, but also consider the followers’ explicit reactions to the content, in the form of comments to the posts and direct messages (henceforth DM) to the administrator.30

1.4.1 Quantitative and qualitative applications of MCA

MCA can be applied both quantitatively and qualitatively. The quantitative approach involves collection of data about various forms of media content, such as topics, frequency of key words, audience reach, etc. It also considers media form, i.e. whether the content is in the form of for instance visual media or printed text.31

27 Peng Wenxiu, “Analysis of New Media Communication Based on Lasswell’s “5W” Model,” Journal of

Educational and Social Research 5, no. 3 (September 2015): 245–247.

28 The cited source uses the terms “media content analysis” and “content analysis” interchangeably. 29 Macnamara, “Media content analysis,” 3.

30 In some of the Facebook posts, the administrator presents a DM that he has received from a follower. 31 Macnamara, “Media content analysis,” 4.

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Although some scholars claim that MCA can only be conducted in a quantitative manner, others argue that a qualitative approach is required as well, since “it is not valid to assume that quantitative factors such as size and frequency of media messages equate to impact,” and that it is neither “valid to assume that these quantitative factors are the only or even the main determinants of media impact.” A qualitative application of MCA does not only consider the media content itself but also contextual factors and investigates the relationship between the content and its target audience. It thereby tries to determine the meaning that the audience receives from the media content, since the interpretation and reception of it can differ depending on the reader. Applying MCA in a qualitative manner thus relies on the

researcher’s reading and interpretation of the media content, which is an intensive and time-consuming process. Researchers using this method have therefore been limited to only a small media content sample, which in turn has led some scholars to criticize the approach for being neither scientific nor reliable.32

Despite the critique against a qualitative approach to MCA being unscientific and unreliable, this study will apply an MCA that integrates both quantitative and qualitative elements. Considering that “a combination of quantitative and qualitative content analysis offers the best of both worlds” and that “a combination of quantitative and qualitative content analysis methodologies is necessary to fully understand the meanings and possible impacts of media texts,”33 an integrated approach seems most ideal. This approach will be explained in detail below.

1.4.2 Categorization – an integrated approach

In order to integrate both quantitative and qualitative elements in the method, this study will conduct three types of categorizations of the posts and their content of Sŭweden nyusŭ. On the one hand, a quantitative element is included when creating categorization schemes and, once the categorizations are completed, come to conclusions by analyzing the gathered material in numerical terms. The conclusions will revolve around which news topic(s) and news source(s) are most frequently recurring in the Facebook page. These conclusions will

32 Ibid., 4–5. 33 Ibid., 6.

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help in answering the study’s first research question. Additionally, the categorizations are also a means to provide an overview of what news and content the page provides.

On the other hand, the qualitative element comes into play in the process of reading the posts and determine what category or categories they and their content shall belong to. As Krippendorf (2004) puts it: “Ultimately, all reading of texts is qualitative, even when certain characteristics of a text are later converted into numbers.”34 While reading the posts and deciding which categories to put them in, the author will observe, with L5WM as the guideline, how the administrator presents the news stories and other content in the page’s posts, the way the followers react to them, as well as, in turn, how the administrator deals with and reacts to these reactions. This will contribute in answering the remaining research questions.

The quantitative and qualitative findings will be presented by discussing recurring ‘themes’ that can be discerned from the categorized content and from what the author has found in the posts while reading and categorizing them. Tables presenting the results from the

categorizations will be included in the appendix section.

Below, a detailed explanation of the three categorizations will follow.

1.4.3 Three types of categorization

The study will take all posts posted in Sŭweden nyusŭ from its inception on November 20th, 2018 through the whole year of 2019, which amounts to a total of 316 posts, and categorize them in Microsoft Excel. The reason for choosing this time period is that the author deems it to be long enough to get a substantial amount of research material. The posts will be saved by taking screenshots of each of them and their comment sections.

There will be three types of categorization, of which the first type will be according to type of post. This is because not all the posts are news reports, despite the Facebook page’s name. The categories will be partly determined by what the administrator himself defines them as,35 but the majority will be made by the author.

34 Krippendorf, Content Analysis,16.

35 In some of the posts, the administrator includes a self-made picture stating in Korean letters what the post will

deal with. For instance, the posts that the thesis author has categorized as “Questions and Answers” (QA) include such a picture stating “p'allowŏ-ŭi chilmun” (“follower’s question”).

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13 The categories for the type of posts are as follows:

Information and Tips about Living in Sweden (IT): posts in which the

administrator informs the followers about general facts about Sweden, gives tips about practicalities and services, and shares his own experiences of living in the country.

News Reports (N): posts that present a single news story by referring to news media channels of all forms, such as newspapers, magazines and websites. The references can be in the form of a screenshot or photo of the news story. This category also includes media that are not necessarily considered news media channels per se, such as the official website of the Nobel Prize.

Notices and Requests from the Administrator (NRA): posts in which the administrator either informs the followers about general matters about the page or makes requests to them.

Questions and Answers (QA): posts in which the administrator presents a follower’s question, to which he gives an elaborated answer.

Summaries of Four News Stories (SN): posts in which the administrator presents four different news stories at once.

The second categorization will be that of the news topics appearing in the news report posts (henceforth N-posts) and posts with summaries of four news stories (hereafter SN-posts). As many of the news stories overlap in terms of topics, the recurrence of topics will be counted instead of each N-post or SN-post being put in one or several topic categories. This approach will facilitate the categorization process, as it will not require a presentation of each N- and SN-post and which category/categories they belong to. However, in order to avoid

redundancy and far-fetched categorization, the maximum number of topic categories per news story will be limited to three.

In difference to the categorization of types of posts, the news topic categories will be made entirely by the author. This is mainly due to the Facebook page’s administrator never

categorizing the news stories according to topic. Although one might consider that an

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would not be a viable option. This is because of not only the possibility that the categories and categorization criteria will differ significantly between each news medium, but also that the news sources are not always provided in the posts by the administrator.

The news topic categories are the following:

Climate, Environment and Weather (CEW): issues related to: the climate; climate change activist Greta Thunberg; consumption of foods or commodities and their environmental impact; environmental issues, such as pollution and recycling; weather conditions; weather forecasts.

Crime and Scandals (CS): issues related to: crimes of all types, such as murder and fraud; scandals that can be related to the government, individuals (official as well as non-official), private companies and state agencies. This category does not include espionage by foreign powers or violations of national territory, which both fall under “Politics”.

Culture, Entertainment and Sports (CES): issues pertaining to: cafés; celebrities in the entertainment industry, such as singers and actors, and also members of the Swedish royal family; cultural events; museums; music; food and beverages; the Nobel Prize; sports, such as the Winter Olympic Games; Swedish traditions.

Economy and Business (EB): issues pertaining to: banks (including the central bank of Sweden); business; consumption patterns unrelated to environmental issues; demographics; the economy (both domestic and international); employment and unemployment; the housing and labor market; industry; insurances; the private sector; people’s opinions on their workplace; personal finances; prices of goods and services; private and state-owned enterprises; the state budget; taxes and their effects; trade; traffic, transportation and communication systems; working conditions.

Korea-related News (KOR): news stories that in any way explicitly relates to the two Korean states, such as state visits by the South Korean president and stories about Korean adoptees.

Others (O1): this category includes news stories that do not fall into any of the other topic categories, and/or only appear once or sporadically during the examined time period, thus not forming any thematic pattern. Examples of this are issues pertaining

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to animals, astronomy, diseases, mental and physical health, and accidents (such as plane crashes).

Politics (POL): issues pertaining to: all types of policies, such as migration and fiscal ones; decisions and projects by international organizations, such as the EU and UN; formal education; the image and role of Sweden abroad; international relations and foreign diplomacy; migration; national security; police authority; political elections; politicians; reforms and laws; state administration on both a national and local level; state agencies (except for the central bank of Sweden); the Swedish government and parliament; the Swedish military defense; welfare, such as health care.

The third categorization will be that of the sources used for the N- and SN-posts, i.e. which newspaper, magazine etc. the news stories derive from. The number of these categories will depend on what sources the administrator of Sŭweden nyusŭ uses. Hence, the news source categories are not preconceived by the author. This is for the purpose of avoiding redundant categories.

There is however a limitation in confirming what sources the administrator has used, since he does not always provide a clarification about the source for every post. Except for the SN-posts, in each N-post the administrator includes a screenshot or photo of the news source that he has used for the post in question.36 Furthermore, in most of the examined posts a

clarification about the source is included in an additional comment, either in the form of a link to the news source, or in text (for instance “ch'ulch'ŏnŭn X onrain gisaimnida,” i.e. “the source is an X online article”). When a source is not clearly provided, the author will use the screenshot/photo for determining what source it is and thus what category to put the post in. However, this will only be done if a logo of the news source or some other kind of visual element clearly confirming the source is visible in the screenshot/photo.

The news source categories are as below:

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Aftonbladet (AFT): articles published by the independent social democratic evening newspaper Aftonbladet.

Dagens Industri (DI): articles published by the politically independent financial newspaper Dagens Industri.

Dagens Nyheter (DN): articles published by the independent liberal daily newspaper

Dagens Nyheter.

Expressen (EXP): articles and live broadcasts published by the independent liberal evening newspaper Expressen.

Metro (MET): articles published by the politically independent free daily newspaper

Metro. The Swedish branch of the newspaper was due to economic hardship

terminated in early August 2019.

Others (O2): this category includes news sources that are used rarely or once, such as monthly magazines, non-print news sources, and media that are not considered news media channels.

Svenska Dagbladet (SVD): articles published by the independent liberal conservative daily newspaper Svenska Dagbladet.

Sveriges Television/Sveriges Radio (SVT/SR): articles and radio reports published by the Swedish public television broadcaster and the national public radio

broadcaster.

Unknown and Unspecified (UU): this category is used for posts where the news source is not clearly stated in an additional comment, or the source cannot be determined by examining the screenshot/photo. This category also includes posts in which the administrator tells the followers that he has used several unspecified news sources for one news story.

1.4.4 Shortcomings and limitations of the categorization

Naturally, the categorization of the posts has its limitations and shortcomings. For example, the first two categorizations, i.e. those of the types of posts and news topics, are partly subjective in two senses. Firstly, their categories are in large part created by the author and thus rely on his own judgment regarding what should be made a category. Secondly, placing

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the posts and the news stories in certain categories is also a process that depends on the author’s own reading and judgement of the posts and their content.

Furthermore, since some N-posts lack a link or clarification of the news source used, there are some ‘hidden numbers’ that may render the number of recurrences of the news sources misrepresentative.

The author recognizes these limitations and downsides of the method and does not claim to have created a fully accurate model of categorization. However, the categorization is

designed to be as consistent and accurate as possible. Moreover, the author argues that the categorization helps giving a clear overview of what news topics Sŭweden nyusŭ focuses on, as well as what the page’s overall content consists of.

1.4.5 Interview

In addition to the three categorizations of the posts and content of Sŭweden nyusŭ, the author has conducted an interview with the administrator of the page. The interview has been included in order to collect additional information about the page that would not have been possible to gather solely by analyzing and categorizing its posts.

The author originally intended to conduct the interview face-to-face at a café, but due to the outbreak of COVID-19, it was instead conducted through Facebook Messenger’s video chat function on March 17, 2020. During the interview, notes on the administrator’s answers were written down. The author tried to make an audio recording of the interview, but this failed due to a technical error. The rendition of the interview is thus based solely on the author’s notes as well as his own memory. Follow-up questions were not asked, unless the

administrator could not properly comprehend a part of the question and thus had to get the part reiterated or reformulated. For the sake of clarity and minimization of

misunderstandings, and since Korean is not the mother tongue of the author, the interview was held in Swedish.

Prior to the interview, the author consulted personnel from the Department of Research Support (“Avdelningen för forskningsstöd” in Swedish) at Stockholm University regarding the ethical aspects of the interview. In accordance with the consultation, the interview was structured and conducted according to the ethical prescriptions for research at Stockholm

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University. This includes informing the interviewee prior to the interview about the research project, asking him for his consent to participate, as well as whether he wants his personal name to be anonymized. The interviewee has also been assured that he can withdraw his consent whenever he wants and does not have to explicate the reasons for the withdrawal.37

1.5 Structure and scope

The first step of the thesis is to describe the concept of ethnic media and to present a literature review of the research field. Next, an overview of Sŭweden nyusŭ will be provided, followed by a chapter presenting an analysis of the research findings. Finally, a concluding discussion answering the research questions and summarizing the study’s findings will be presented. An appendix section including a list of abbreviations, tables of the three categorizations, and the interview questions can be found after the bibliography.

1.6 Notes on romanization and translation

This study will use the McCune-Reischauer romanization for texts that are written in han'gŭl, the Korean alphabet. This also applies to Korean cities, except for the capital of Korea. Korean personal names will be written in the order family name, given name in the body text. Translations from Korean to English and Swedish to English will be made by the author. As for Korean and Swedish titles of books, articles, state agencies, etc., their official English titles will be used. If unavailable, the author will use his own English translation of their titles.

37 For more information, see “Information inför deltagande i forskningsprojekt” (Information for participating in

research projects), Forskning (Research), Stockholm University, accessed April 16, 2020,

https://www.su.se/medarbetare/r%C3%A5d-st%C3%B6d/forskning/st%C3%B6ddokument/information-inf%C3%B6r-deltagande-i-forskningsprojekt-1.431639.

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Chapter 2 – Background

2.1 Ethnic media

As mentioned in the introduction, the term ethnic media signifies different types of media (newspapers, magazines, radio stations, TV-channels, etc.) that are produced for specific ethnic communities, such as Turks living in Germany, Latinos living in the US, and Armenians living in Australia. They are usually also produced by those same ethnic communities that they target, but there are some exceptions. For instance, the Korea Times has Koreans living in some major American cities as its target group, but about half of its published material is written by journalists living in South Korea.38

There are also terms that are used synonymously or in conjunction with ethnic media, such as minority media, immigrant media, and diasporic media. This study will use the term ethnic media as an umbrella term that encompasses these synonyms and closely related conventions, since they can be regarded as describing the same thing(s).39

The roles and impacts of ethnic media are many: it can help newcomers learn about and integrate into their new society, such as informing them about the norms and values of their country of settlement, and what resources (social services, job opportunities, etc.) are available. It can also help the targeted ethnic community grasp the status of the relationship between itself and the majority society, such as if there are any points of contention. Ethnic media can also help mobilize members of an ethnic community to raise awareness about and ultimately tackle these points of contention or other issues relevant to them. Furthermore, by examining ethnic media, not only the targeted ethnic communities themselves but also the majority population among which they live can get insight into current social changes and processes which it otherwise would have missed. Lastly, ethnic media have changed the media landscape by opening a new media market, both for ethnic communities themselves and those belonging to the majority society.40

38 Matsaganis, Katz and Ball-Rokeach, Understanding Ethnic Media, 5. 39 Ibid., 8.

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The existing literature and research on ethnic media can be summarized as being scarce. For instance, in Understanding Ethnic Media: Producers, Consumers, and Societies (2011), Matthew Matsaganis, Vikki Katz and Sandra Ball-Rokeach claim that the literature and research on ethnic media is “relatively limited and fragmented,” since “immigration is either a new concern or a controversial issue (often both) [...].”41

There are however some research works on this topic worth mentioning. The

aforementioned work by Matsaganis, Katz and Ball-Rokeach is a good example of an extensive work on the subject. The three authors give an overview of ethnic media by discussing its definition and presenting its history, ethnic media audience trends, how

processes of globalization affect the structure of ethnic media organizations, etc. Throughout the chapters, they include specific examples while giving a general outline of the concept. John Budarick has a different focus in his book Ethnic Media and Democracy: From

Liberalism to Agonism (2019), in which he investigates the relationship between ethnic media

and democracy. In doing so, he “insert[s] race, ethnicity and cultural diversity into an analysis of media and democratic theory,” and asserts that investigating the relationship between ethnic media and democracy “invites a new engagement with social and political theory, and a new way of imagining and understanding ideal models of media democracy in relation to ethnic diversity.” He further mentions that ethnic media has rarely been discussed in relation to democratic and social theory.42

If the research on ethnic media is scarce worldwide, then research works on ethnic media in Sweden are even scarcer. One article published in an issue of the Nordicom Review journal from 2003, “Ethnic Minorities and their Media in Sweden: An Overview of the Media Landscape and State Minority Media Policy” by Leonor Camauër, is one of the very few research works on Swedish cases of ethnic media.43 Focusing on the relationship between

41 Matsaganis, Katz and Ball-Rokeach, Understanding Ethnic Media, xvi-xvii.

42 John Budarick, Ethnic Media and Democracy: From Liberalism to Agonism (Cham: Springer International

Publishing, 2019), 3, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16492-8.

43 The author has only been able to find one other Swedish study on ethnic (minority) media in Sweden,

Minoritetsmedier och minoritetsmediepolitik i Sverige – en kartläggning (Minority Media and Minority Media

Policy in Sweden – a Survey). This work, being ordered by the Swedish National Board of Psychological Defense (since 2009 reconstituted as the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency) and published in 2005, is also written by the already cited Camauër. Leonor Camauër, Minoritetsmedier och minoritetsmediepolitik i Sverige –

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ethnic (minority) media and state policies, Camauër argues that “[m]inority media constitutes an area that is quite poorly researched in Sweden, especially when it comes to their

conditions of production and status as objects of the state integration policy and cultural and media policies,” and further states that her article “constitutes a first (and rough) attempt to make an inventory of print and broadcast minority media in Sweden and their conditions of production […].”44

As for works on ethnic media targeting Koreans, Sherry S. Yu’s Diasporic Media Beyond

the Diaspora: Korean Media in Vancouver and Los Angeles (2018) is worth mentioning. In

this work, Yu “focuses specifically on the extent to which diasporic media are available and

accessible, not only for diasporic communities but also for the broader society, as a means to

improve cultural literacy, intercultural dialogue, and civic engagement in a multicultural society,” since “[t]heories, policies, and practices related to […] diasporic media in particular have focused primarily on diasporic media within their respective diasporic communities, without due consideration for their role within the broader society.”45

There are also some works written by Korean scholars on ethnic media targeting overseas Koreans. For example, Kim Yŏng-sun and Pak Pong-su have conducted research on how ethnic media have affected the identity formation of Koreans living on the Sakhalin island in the Russian Federation, basing their findings on interviews with and documents from five people having work experience in a newspaper and TV channel targeting Sakhalin Koreans.46 Kim T’ae-yŏng has conducted a similar project, investigating how the identity formation of Koreans living in Japan has changed over time, by looking at newspapers targeting this ethnic group.47

Not only research works on Koreans living abroad but also on overseas Koreans residing in Korea exist. An example of this is an article by Kim Yu-jŏng et al. (2012) on what role ethnic

44 Leonor Camauër, ”Ethnic Minorities and their Media in Sweden,“ Nordicom Review 24, no. 2 (November

2003): 69, https://doi.org/10.1515/nor-2017-0307.

45 Sherry S. Yu, Diasporic Media beyond the Diaspora: Korean Media in Vancouver and Los Angeles

(Vancouver: UBC Press, 2018), 5-6, ProQuest Ebook Central,

http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/sub/detail.action?docID=5321182. Emphasis in original.

46 Yŏng-sunKim and Pong-su Pak, “Minjok midiŏ-rŭl t'onghan sahallin hanin-ŭi minjok chŏngch'esŏng kusŏng

kyŏnghŏm t'amgu,” Haksŭpcha chungshim gyogwa gyoyuk yŏn'gu 16, no. 5 (2016): 737, 742.

47 T’ae-yŏng Kim, “Esŭnik midiŏ-e nat'ananŭn chagi jŏngch'esŏng-ŭi chŏn'gae - Kyeganji Samch'ŏlli,

Ch'ŏnggu-rŭl chungshim-ŭro han chaeil hanin-ŭi minjok-chŏk sŏnggyŏg-ŭi pyŏnhwa,” Han'guk minjok munhwa, no. 30 (October 2007): 210.

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media in the form of eleven newspapers play in the community of ethnic Koreans of Chinese origin living in Seoul.48

However, research works on Korean ethnic media in Sweden is virtually non-existent. This warrants an examination of Sŭweden nyusŭ. This can hopefully contribute to widening not just the knowledge about the Korean community in Sweden, but also add one work to the almost empty list of research works on ethnic media in Sweden. A short overview of the Facebook page will be presented below.

2.3 Sŭweden nyusŭ

The Facebook page Sŭweden nyusŭ appeared on November 20th, 2018. It currently has 261 ‘likes’ and 300 followers.49 It has its own custom-made logo which consists of a yellow background with Sŭweden nyusŭ written in blue Korean letters on it, as well as a cover picture depicting the Swedish national flag. Except for the page’s Korean name, one can also search for “@swedishnewsforkoreans” on either Google or Facebook to find it. When

looking at the page’s “About”-section, the following description can be found:

“Ch'ogallyak-hago haeksim-man allyŏjunŭn Sŭweden nyusŭ!” (“Super-brief Swedish News, bringing you

only the key points!”). In the same section, it has categorized itself as a “News and Media Website.”

Since Facebook does not allow one to see those Facebook profiles who like and follow the page (except for those who belong to one’s own Facebook profile’s friends list), it is difficult to obtain information about the composition of the page’s audience. One can only assume that most of the followers are Koreans living in Sweden.

Further information about Sŭweden nyusŭ and its creator will be presented in the following chapter, which constitutes an analysis of the page and the interview.

48 Yu-jŏngKim et al., “Chungguk tongp'o k'ŏmyunit'i hyŏngsŏng-gwa esŭnik midiŏ-ŭi yŏkhal k'ŏmyunik'eisyŏn

habu gujo-ŭi kwanjŏm-esŏ,” Han'guk ŏllon hakpo 56, no. 3 (June 2012): 347.

49 April 27th, 2020. As a Facebook user, one can ’like’ a Facebook page by clicking on the ’Like’-icon when the

page appears in the search field of Facebook. Alternatively, one can also ’follow’ a Facebook page without having to ’like’ it, which will still allow oneself to see the posts and receive updates about the page in question.

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Chapter 3 – Analysis

This chapter will present an analysis of Sŭweden nyusŭ as well as the interview with the page’s administrator. The interview will be presented first.

3.1 Analysis of the interview with the administrator

The name of the creator and administrator of Sŭweden nyusŭ is Kim Myŏng-jin.50 He was born in Korea in 1989 and moved to Sweden around 2004/2005,51 and has since 2018 worked as a secretary and administrator for the defense attaché at the Korean embassy in Stockholm. Kim’s answers to the interview questions (hereafter IQ) will be presented and discussed by going through each question according to the order they were asked. While doing so, some of the findings from the categorizations of the Facebook page’s posts will also be discussed in relation to Kim’s answers.

IQ 1: What was the reason for starting Sŭweden nyusŭ? Was there any specific event that prompted you to start the page?

Kim says that there was not any specific event that prompted him to start the page, but that he wanted to provide reliable and nuanced news information about Sweden to Koreans living here, arguing that their sources of information about the country “must not be one-sided.” He argues that many of these people are “badly integrated” and lack skills in the Swedish

language, which makes it difficult for them to remain updated on what is happening in the country. He claims that a result of this is that they rely on information from their partners or friends,52 which in some cases can be rumors or misinformation. He believes that this way of gathering information can even be “dangerous,” but he does not specify exactly how.

Kim further adds that although there of course are some English-language sources providing reliable news reporting and information about Sweden, these are usually “boring” and

“lengthy,” and he argues that news in general should be “short and interesting.” He mentions

50 Kim has given the author his consent to use his personal name in the study.

51 This information was gathered during the interview. He explicitly said that he does not remember precisely

when he moved to Sweden, but that it was around 2004 or 2005.

52 The ethnicity of these partners and friends is not specified by Kim, but one can assume that he implies that

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that this is one of the reasons he tries to keep his news reports in the Facebook page both concise and captivating.

Considering the second and last W of L5WM, one potential effect of the short and concise news reporting format might be that the followers only get a simplified and shallow view of the news stories rather than a thorough understanding of them. However, the short format seems to be appreciated by at least one follower. In a post placed in the category of “Notices and requests from the administrator” (hereafter NRA) from January 22nd, 2019, Kim cites some words53 from some of the page’s followers. One of the cited persons is explaining the words of a Korean acquaintance of his/hers who is following the page, and mentions that “[the Korean acquaintance of mine] found it bothersome to read newspapers due to work” and that “[he/she] says that [the news reports] are convenient because they are briefly summarized.”

Although these words show that at least one follower seems to appreciate the format, the followers are yet exposed to only Kim’s news summaries and no one else’s. Kim might be biased in his summaries, leaving out facts and content that he finds irrelevant or problematic but that the followers would have found interesting to know. Here, the power of Kim’s gatekeeping role in relation to the gated followers comes into play.

IQ 2: What is the page’s target audience? Newly arrived Koreans in Sweden? Koreans staying here permanently, temporarily, or both?

Kim says that his page targets virtually any immigrated Korean residing in Sweden but who cannot comprehend the Swedish language: short-term residents (such as exchange students), those staying for a longer period (such as company employees), and permanent residents.

He adds that he is curious about how Swedish people and others not belonging to the intended audience have managed to find his page. He assumes that these people have friends and/or partners of Korean origin, who in turn have introduced them to the page.

53 It is not clear in what form (DMs, face-to-face conversations, etc.) Kim has received these words. In the post,

Kim writes that “[i]t has not been long since I started [the page], but I remember these words while running the page.”

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IQ 3: What do you use as guidelines for the news selection and overall content of the page?

According to Kim, the selection of the news stories is largely based on a service named Swedish Press Review (hereafter SPR), which the Korean embassy in Stockholm uses in its work. He says that the news stories that the service provides are mostly focusing on politics, economy and military matters.

If one considers “military matters” part of politics and economics, Kim’s description of the types of news provided by the service corresponds with the service’s own description on its official website. There, one can read that the SPR is “an English-language review of the Swedish morning press for the business and diplomatic community”54 that “covers Swedish comment [sic] on international affairs, diplomatic visits as well as topical issues such as Sweden's place on [sic] the UN Security Council.” Describing itself as “[i]deal for the diplomatic community, international organisations and businesses with an international focus,” the service provides its subscribers with a summary of Swedish political and

economic news at 10 AM, and then “the rest of the political news” at 12 noon the same day, with a focus on “Sweden's political scene, as well as Sweden's place in international

events.”55

Kim continues by saying that he selects four news stories from these summaries, based on what he himself considers important to share with his Facebook audience. However, he mentions that the format of the news reporting posts has not always been this way. This is also confirmed when examining the page: since the page’s formation, the news reporting posts only reported on one news story each. This was changed to a new format of four news stories in one post (i.e., the SN-posts), after Kim had received a DM from a follower. In the DM, which is presented in an NRA-post from September 10th, 2019, the reader is

complaining about the way and frequency at which Kim posts news in the page and argues that a “more developed way of sharing the news” is needed. The news reporting format was thus changed from the same day the DM was made public to the page’s followers.56

Assuming that the news summaries of SPR are provided in digital format, although some N-posts include a photo of the news source in the form of a printed newspaper instead of a news

54 “Home,” Swedish Press Review, accessed March 19, 2020, http://www.swedishpressreview.se/. 55 “The Press Review,” Swedish Press Review, accessed March 19, 2020,

http://www.swedishpressreview.se/the-press-review.html.

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website, Kim seems to have used SPR as the basis for the news selection ever since the page’s inception. The NRA-post mentioned in IQ 1 suggests this. Except for presenting words of some of his followers, Kim explains in this post the reason for starting the page. He writes that “[t]he reason that I started [the page] was that media monitoring is an important part of the main working tasks that I have at the company57 [sic], so I started remembering the content of the news articles and then utilized my lunch breaks and commuting hours to share the information.” Considering these words, one can assume that he used SPR already at that time, although he does not explicitly mention it.

In summary, the news stories reported in Sŭweden nyusŭ are picked according to Kim’s own preferences and are mostly focusing on economic and political issues, which in turn may be a reflection of SPR’s focus area. Relating to NGT and as mentioned in IQ 1, Kim seems to certainly live up to the name of gatekeeper in the network, at least regarding the news-related content. As for the content that is not news-related, he does not add any comment.

IQ 4: Does the screenshot/photo used for the N-posts always correspond to the source used for the news story in question?

Kim asserts that this was the case before he started with the SN-post format.58 However, when examining the N-posts, there are a few exceptions to this claim. For instance, a post from January 4th, 2019 includes a screenshot from Expressen (hereafter EXP), but the

administrator has included a link to Aftonbladet (henceforward AFT) as the source (however, the AFT-article does cover the same news story). Another instance is a post from December 20th, 2018 in which the screenshot depicts an article from Svenska Dagbladet (henceforth SVD), in spite of Kim writing in a comment to the post that “I will not include any source since several articles have been used as references.”

Regarding the post from January 4th, it was probably just a mistake on Kim’s behalf, and it should therefore not be regarded as a deliberate strategy to deceive the page’s followers. The

57 In the original text, Kim uses the word hoesa, which means “company,” which is not the Korean term used for

embassy (taesagwan).

58 The SN-post format does not include any screenshots or photos, but instead a self-customized picture

depicting a blue background and a yellow text written in Korean letters saying “Sŭweden nyusŭ” and the date(s) of the news stories.

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latter case, albeit being intentional, is also a single deviation from the general rule and is thus not worth considering problematic.

However, what could be considered problematic (and which will be further discussed below) is the fact that a link to or clarification of the news source is not always included in the N-posts. However, regardless of whether a reference to the news source is included or not, the inclusion of a screenshot/photo of the news source might render the N-posts appear more reliable to the followers as opposed to if they only would have consisted of text.

IQ 5: You have sometimes not included a link to or clear description of the news source. Are there any specific reasons for this?

Kim says that this is a “good question,” but does not elaborate on this further. Instead, he starts talking about how he started to include links/references to the news sources after a follower had asked him to do so. The case which Kim refers to is an N-post from December 14th, 2018 in which a Korean reader comments that he would like not just a screenshot or photo of the news source but also a link to it as well. Kim replies to the comment by saying that he onwards will try to include a link to the news sources in an additional comment to the N-posts whenever possible.

It is difficult to draw any definite conclusions from Kim’s diverting answer to the interview question. However, one can assume that the instances of him forgetting to provide links or references to the news stories are simply mistakes on his part. The categorization of the news sources supports this, as sources placed in the “Unknown and Unspecified” (henceforth UU) category amount to 29 of the 32059 total number of news stories presented in the N- and SN-posts (of which the latter category always includes references to each news story). It can thus be argued that the vast majority of the N-posts includes a link or reference, and that,

accordingly, Kim’s occasional exclusion of links or references is not part of an intentional strategy to deceive his followers.

59 However, as for some of these 320 news stories, the author has based the categorization of their sources solely

on the screenshot included in the posts they appear in. Hence, the number of times Kim does not add any link or clarification of which source he has used is higher than 29.

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However, one may ask why he during the interview did not specify the reason(s) for these mistakes. Moreover, as will be discussed in 3.2, he seems to openly assert that he always includes a link or reference to the sources even though he occasionally does not.

IQ 6: What have the followers’ reactions to the page been like? Have they presented any thoughts on or criticism regarding the selection of news and/or overall content?

Kim says that the followers have been quite positive in general, which he believes is because no other news channel of the same kind as Sŭweden nyusŭ exists. As for the second part of the question, i.e. whether the followers have criticized the news selection or overall content, Kim gives an unclear answer by replying with the aforementioned example of how he changed the news reporting format from reporting on only one news story to reporting on four news stories in one post.

Despite Kim’s unclear answer, there are some instances where not the selection of news but the presentation of them, as well as the selection of information (not news!) about Sweden and its society have been criticized or questioned by some followers. This will be further discussed in 3.2.

Kim also adds that he reports on the news “in his own way,” and that this is something that the followers “will have to accept.” These last words confirm that although Kim seems to take his followers’ opinions and requests into consideration, he is still the gatekeeper in the sense that he is the one who ultimately decides what and how content is posted in the page.

IQ 7: How have you responded to the followers’ wishes, criticisms, praises and feedback about the page’s news selection and overall content?

Kim gives a short answer to this question by saying that he tries to adapt the content to his followers’ wishes and requests “as fast as possible.” However, as has been suggested in IQ 6, this seems to be only partly true for the news-related posts, as he believes that his followers will have to accept his own way of reporting on the news stories. Furthermore, and as will be discussed below, there are instances when Kim does not reply to suggestive or questioning comments from the followers – and cases when he even questions their remarks.

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3.2 Analysis of recurring themes in the posts of Sŭweden nyusŭ

With Kim Myung Jin’s answers to the interview questions as a backdrop, an analysis of recurring themes (henceforth RT) in the posts of Sŭweden nyusŭ will be presented below.

RT 1: “Economy and Business” and “Politics” are the most recurring news topics; the main news source is Dagens Nyheter

When examining the posts of Sŭweden nyusŭ from 2018 to the end of 2019, it becomes clear that the focus of the N-posts and SN-post lies on economic and political issues. By looking at the categorization of the news topics, the “Economics and Business” (henceforth EB) and “Politics” (hereafter POL) categories have the highest numbers compared to the other news topic categories: a total of 176 for EB and 130 for POL, which amounts to almost 70 percent of the total number of recurrences of all news topics (see Table 2 in the appendix). This confirms what Kim said in the interview: most of the news stories he reports on are economic and political ones, which in turn reflects the focus of SPR’s news digest service.

As for the news sources most often referred to in the news-related posts, the daily Dagens

Nyheter (hereafter DN) stands out: it is referred to a total of 70 times during the examined

period. As a comparison, the second most used news source is Sveriges Television/Sveriges

Radio (hereafter SVT/SR), which recurs 43 times, while the third most recurring news

source, Metro (henceforth MET), amounts to 42 recurrences. The predominance of articles from DN might suggest that SPR mainly selects articles published by this newspaper for its news summaries. However, it may also be the case that it is Kim who deliberately chooses mostly DN-articles when looking through SPR’s news summaries, and not that these summaries would mainly consist of articles published by DN.

Yet, the preponderance of both certain news topics and news sources is ultimately the result of Kim’s own judgement on what topics he considers worth sharing to his followers, and which sources are most reliable or favorable to use. His gatekeeping role thus cannot be (re)emphasized enough.

As for the effects the high predominance of economic and political news stories has on the page’s followers, the following example is worth mentioning. In the NRA-post mentioned

Figure

Table 2: Categorization no. 2 (news topic categories)

References

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The previous research that demonstrates that morning and evening newspapers actually differ markedly from each other (Strömbäck, 2005), is contradicting to our result as it shows

After all temperature models, datasets and spatial models have been evaluated once using measurements from a specific week, the result is analyzed to find po- tential bias between

Maria Jervelycke Belfrage highlights that the selection of news and sources requires knowledge and skills, and that young people today, largely taking part of news in social

Jag skulle kunna fördjupa mig mycket inom detta område, då det finns stora mängder litteratur att läsa, men jag tänker inte redogöra för alla tankar och idéer, utan nöjer mig med

This applies to five countries, meaning that a high appraisal of EU membership is given although the inequality is high.. Both the Gini coefficient and the appraisal of EU