IN
DEGREE PROJECT COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, SECOND CYCLE, 30 CREDITS
STOCKHOLM SWEDEN 2017 ,
Podcast Social Marketing:
“Selling Integration like soap”
AGRI DEHQAN
KTH ROYAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
SCHOOL OF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND COMMUNICATION
ABSTRACT
To identify key issues concerning the use of Swedish Radio’s podcasts as a vehicle for social marketing to promote integration, a thematic analysis was conducted on podcasts published by the Kurdish department of Swedish Radio (SR) during one week. From a total of 37 published podcasts which were analyzed during the chosen time frame, three central themes were identified: (a) crime and criminality, (b) incidents and events related to different municipalities and at state level in Sweden at the time, and (c) issues related to refugees and immigration in Sweden. Each of these central themes comprised sub-themes, which provided further insights into the type of topics the Kurdish department of SR discussed during the one-week time span. Data from this study suggests that although SR Kurdish has the means to be used as a social marketing tool to promote integration in Sweden, this potential is far from being fully utilized.
SAMMANFATTNING
För att identifiera huvudproblematiken beträffande användandet av Sveriges Radio’s (SR) podcast som ett socialt verktyg för att stärka integrationen, utarbetades en tematisk analys över podcasts publicerade av den kurdiska avdelningen på SR under en vecka. Från totalt 37 publicerade podcasts, togs tre stycken teman fram: (a) brott och kriminalitet, (b) olyckor och incidenter relaterade till olika kommuner och på statlig nivå i Sverige, och (c) frågeställningar relaterade till flyktingar och immigration i Sverige. I varje centralt tema är det ett flertal underteman som ger en ökad insikt i vilken typ av ämnen den kurdiska avdelningen på SR diskuterade under den angivna tidsperioden. Utifrån denna studie kan det fastställas att även om den kurdiska avdelningen på SR användes som ett socialt verktyg för att stärka integrationen, är potentialen av detta långt ifrån fullt utnyttjad.
Podcast Social Marketing:
“Selling Integration like soap”
Agri Dehqan KTH, SCS Stockholm, Sweden
dehqan@kth.se
Podcast Social Marknadsföring:
“Sälja Integration Som Såpa”
ABSTRACT
To identify key issues concerning the use of Swedish Radio’s podcasts as a vehicle for social marketing to promote integration, a thematic analysis was conducted on podcasts published by the Kurdish department of Swedish Radio (SR) during one week. From a total of 37 published podcasts which were analyzed during the chosen time frame, three central themes were identified:
(a) crime and criminality, (b) incidents and events related to different municipalities and at state level in Sweden at the time, and (c) issues related to refugees and immigration in Sweden. Each of these central themes comprised sub-themes, which provided further insights into the type of topics the Kurdish department of SR discussed during the one-week time span. Data from this study suggests that although SR Kurdish has the means to be used as a social marketing tool to promote integration in Sweden, this potential is far from being fully utilized.
Keywords
Social Marketing; Acculturation; Podcasting; Sveriges Radio; Thematic Analysis
1. INTRODUCTION
With the recent influx of refugees from war-hit regions in the world to Europe and especially to Sweden [20, 22, 13], the long-disputed integration and immigration questions have gained even stronger public and political interest [14, 28, 41]. So the significance of socioeconomic and cultural impacts of immigration and integration can not be ignored. Quite the contrary, these issues have become central concerns in elections, in the agenda of political parties and among both natives and immigrants.
On one side, immigrants doubt if they will ever be accepted as a part of their adopted societies [1]. They are not sure if they can find a compromise between their culture, religion and that of their host country. Part of these doubts or misunderstandings could stem from not being aware of the cultural practices in their new environment. On the other side, natives have their own doubts. They are not sure whether immigrants are willing to integrate. Natives are concerned that immigration will have undesirable or unintended effects on their lifestyle, culture or economy [14, 7, 22, 27]. Moreover, there are the concerns about trust, increasing rate of crimes, violence, and even terrorism [14, 15, 24, 36].
To address these problems, the Swedish government, public and individual bodies, NGOs, as well as various municipalities have undertaken various efforts to facilitate the integration of newly arrived immigrants [5,
21]. However, adapting to a new country with a new language, culture and religion requires time, budget and more importantly education and spreading awareness.
Planning and executing such efforts are crucial and instrumental but not enough to meet the demand of today’s immigration.
There is more need for policies and initiatives that encourage integration, communication, dialogue and working toward mutual understanding. However, how these efforts and cultural values are communicated and disseminated is equally, if not more, important.
One of the vehicles that could propagate, facilitate, and communicate integration and its importance is the media.
Media in its different forms can play a major role in streamlining this process via communicating and marketing the message of integration with the hope of creating more social inclusion, harmony and the spirit of peacefully living together [14].
Moreover, media in general, has undergone significant changes in its production, dissemination, and consumption. These advancements, to a large extent, are made possible thanks to recent development in the field of ICT. In addition, production and dissemination of information, which has been greatly impacted by these technological advancements, has seen significant changes.
Moreover, social and cultural practices of media production are both affected by these technological changes and help drive these innovations forward.
Consumers’ consumption habits and preferences have changed and more avenues are opened for democratic participation and instantaneous co-creation of media content.
One of the areas impacted by this technological progress is commercial marketing. Marketing and communications have not just become more efficient and social, but more personalized, targeted and niched. New platforms have been created with their own practices and norms, that enable two-way communication between customers and marketers [29]. Moreover, development in the field of marketing has brought about changes and possibilities that other adjacent fields, e.g. social marketing, which uses commercial marketing techniques for the purpose of doing greater good in the society, can benefit from. In addition, constant connectivity and the use and social and mobile technologies have made social marketing more accessible [29].
Podcast Social Marketing:
“Selling Integration like soap”
Agri Dehqan KTH, SCS Stockholm, Sweden
dehqan@kth.se
Although the tools and the technology to produce and publish social marketing material and campaigns are more available than ever before, it doesn't necessarily mean they are being utilized to the fullest. So, the questions this study intends to pose and answer are: (a) to what extent do Swedish public radio's, Sveriges Radio(SR), programs act as social marketing agents?, (b) how often do SR’s podcasts address and discuss cultural integration and its related issues?, and (c) could the Kurdish department of SR be used to promote integration and teaching of cultural values?
This study draws from research in various academic fields of communications and media studies, marketing and social marketing. This study aims to discuss the use and potential of SR’s Kurdish podcasts as a social marketing tool to promote integration within the Swedish context. Additionally, it aims to address the research questions presented earlier.
This thesis is organized into the following parts. First, an overview of the literature is presented to establish a theoretical framework for the paper and to provide a background to the study. Following that, relevant scholarly debates are explored and discussed. In the second part, the method to conduct this study is presented. Then, in the third section, results are elaborated on. Later, in the fourth part of this thesis, an account of the current situation, and the significance of this study, its limitation and how it could benefit from future elaboration or studies are discussed. Finally, the conclusion is presented followed by the reference list.
2. LITERATURE OVERVIEW 2.1 Background
To provide pertinent theoretical background, relevant scholarly discussions on key elements of this study are called for. Thus, the following is an overview of some of the current literature on the topic of social marketing, immigration, integration, and podcasting along with a brief history of SR.
Although there are disagreements among marketing scholars over the definition of social marketing and how it functions, there is less disagreement about its origin.
For over 40 years, scholars have sought to define what social marketing is and is not; how it can be applied and how it differs from other types of marketing and methods that aim to alter consumer behavior [2, 19].
Since its introduction, social marketing has undergone some radical changes, from attempts to improve individual well-being to its current status as a vehicle for social change. Social marketing originates back to the late 1960s and early 1970s. Kotler, Levy and Zaltman started its intellectual roots in their work during this period.
Social marketing’s first practice-based application also dates back as far [2].
According to Andreasen, early applications of social marketing was with family planning in the 1960s. Within academic marketing, SM took around 20 years to establish itself as a separate field with its own identity.
Moreover, during this period its scope broadened and its practice saw some signs of growth [2]. Andreasen further argues that although social marketing has gradually
advanced, its significant transformation was the migration from its “initial connection with the marketing of products involved in social change”[2, p4], e.g. condoms, contraceptive pills and the like. Thus, social marketing’s area of application was broadened. In addition, social marketing practitioners realized that the primary objective of social marketing is not just to promote an idea, but it is to influence behavior [2].
Andreasen considers social marketing as an adaptation of mainstream marketing to influence voluntary behavior of individuals to improve their welfare and the society they belong to [16]. However, Hasting argues that in addition to applying marketing tool for doing social good, social marketing “can make an enormous contribution in the growing field of critical marketing. It bridges the social and commercial worlds, can bring mutual understanding and can broker a way forward” [19, p315].
For Barrington et al. altered behavior is not enough. They argue that in social marketing, marketing principles are used to “enable collective and individual ideas and action” to achieve “effective, efficient, equitable, fair and sustained social transformation” [29, p160]. On the other hand, Kotler and Zaltman emphasize the acceptance of a social idea crucial to a social marketing campaign. They define social marketing as “the design, implementation and control of programs” that aim to “influence the acceptability of social ideas” [3, p109].
However, according to European Social Marketing Association (ESMA), social marketing seeks to develop marketing approaches that aim to influence behaviors that serve individuals and communities and are conducted to do greater social good. Moreover, ethical principles guide and drive social marketing practices. In addition, social marketing “seeks to integrate research, best practice, theory, audience and partnership insight, to inform the delivery of competition sensitive and segmented social change [programs] that are effective, efficient, equitable and sustainable” [32].
With the application of tools and techniques of commercial marketing, social marketing aims to bring about social change and solve societal problems. Thus, its scope can be on individual, community, national and global populations. To achieve such goals, social marketers, just as mainstream marketers, engage in activities that ultimately lead to behavior change.
Social marketers desired outcomes are activities that improve the life and well-being of individuals and the society, whereas commercial marketers’ success or aim is in increasing sales, improving brand recognition and market share [10].
Donovan argues that marketing is a “grab bag” discipline that employs concepts from psychology, sociology, economics, communication, logistics, among many others. However, social marketing includes all these concepts and “public health, criminology, [globalization]
and politics” [10, p11].
Drawing upon the definition by Roos [17], this thesis
adopts the following definition of social marketing: To be
labeled social marketing, a program or campaign must
have the following characteristics: it needs to (a) apply
commercial marketing technologies, (b) have as its bottom line the influencing of voluntary behavior, and (c) primarily seek to benefit individuals/families or the broader society and not the marketing organization itself [18].
On the one hand, marketeers seek to alter consumer behavior. But on the other hand, a lot of problems both on individual and societal level are caused by consumer behavior. Commercial marketers have been criticized for the damages consumption and consumerism could cause the environment as well individuals. Social marketing puts these two phenomena, together and utilizes marketing principals and insights to address social and environmental problems with the hope of doing greater good to the society. So, “[s]ocial marketing’s understanding of both the commercial and social sectors puts it in a unique position to provide realistic critiques of marketing and identify intelligent solutions” [19, p305].
Thus, it could be argues that social marketing will flourish by exploiting both the positive and negative aspect of commercial marketing.
2.2 Elements Of Social Marketing
Dooley et al. argue that in evaluation and planning of social marketing campaigns key marketing principles are often discussed. These principles include: consumer orientation, behavior change, segmentation and targeting, mixed methods, exchange and competition [12].
2.2.1 Consumer Orientation
The first step in creating a successful social marketing campaign is consumer orientation. Audiences, often referred to as consumers, are the forefront of any social marketing campaign [2]. Their unique needs and wants should not only be considered, but should be a central element of the campaign.
2.2.2 Behavior Change
Behavior change is yet another element of successful social marketing campaign, or perhaps the aim of any campaign in the first place. Specific marketing content is used to target an issue or a problem in the society with the hopes to raise awareness of it and eventually resolve it.
2.2.3 Segmentation And Targeting
The third step in social marketing campaign is targeting the right audience. Andreasen argues “careful segmentation of target audience ensure[s] maximum efficiency and effectiveness in the use of scarce resources” [2, p7].
2.2.4 Mixed Methods
The full marketing mix (i.e. “Product”, “Place”, “Price”
and “Promotion”) should be used instead of using one method in isolation. Andreasen argues that using multiple media channels that convey consistent message is very effective in social marketing campaign specifically in one the 4ps of marketing, namely, promotion [2]. Once a podcast is produced, to enhance its effect it should be published on different platforms, e.g. social media, iTunes, thus increase its exposure and to raise awareness of the very problem the campaign intends to resolve.
Podcast has the potential to be the vehicle for this very end.
2.2.5 Exchange
To increase the likelihood of voluntary adoption of an intended outcome, exchange mechanisms should be in place to ensure benefits or perceived benefits of a social marketing offering outweigh the price (e.g. financial, physical and social costs) [2].
2.2.6 Competition
Competition is the final principle of social media marketing according to which other products or actors compete to get the attention of the consumer. Competition is particularly more popular with commercial marketers and they are more skilled at addressing competitive barriers.
2.3 Challenges And Opportunities
Disruptive economic turbulence and dramatic social change are the characteristics of the environment in which social marketer operate. Moreover, apart from in the vast technological changes of today and marketers reliance and application digital tools, consumer behaviors are changing rapidly. In such environment, basic assumptions about consumer behavior and attitude are challenged [10].
Moreover, according to Donovan, in today’s world, social marketers need to adopt commercial marketing “warfare tactics and advocacy tools to meet the competition from businesses whose products and activities result in unhealthy people and an unhealthy planet” [11, p12].
As mentioned earlier social marketing uses commercial marketing tools and techniques. So, all the possibilities of modern marketing and communication are open to and could be used by social marketers. There are dynamic changes and advancements that are happening in the society, to marketing and its contexts. Hence, numerous ways are opening to social marketing [10]. Technological advancements include but not limited to recent development in ICT, technologies of the social web and various social media and communication channels. The effects of these changes are not only in the technological front, but in overall consumer behavior toward consumption of media in general.
On the other hand, the scope of social marketing is broadening. Social interventions are not only focused on health as it used to be. Social marketing includes but not limited to; interventions to reduce alcohol consumption, to encourage recycling, statewide programs to encourage physical activities and many more [10].
2.2.2 Ethical Concerns
Social marketing is a tool for doing greater good in the society. So, as Andreasen argues, this tool can be employed by those who aim to do good or claim to do so.
According to him “[t]he determination of what is social
good is entirely in the hands of the would-be social
marketer”[3, p113]. In other words, social marketing
technology could be applied for furthering political
parties agenda or different entities and their version of
what social good which can be significantly different
from what the society in whole believes in. Andreasen
believes that it is ultimately the social marketer who
needs to make ethical judgment about whom social
marketer offer their social marketing service. [3]
2.4 Sveriges Radio(SR) 2.4.1 Background
Sveriges Radio AB is the national and publicly funded radio broadcaster in Sweden. It is a non-commercial public service radio which provides radio and podcast programs for all Swedes regardless of their age, gender and cultural background [39]. In addition. not only the media output is more gender-equal in SR as a public service radio, but there is generally more gender balance in the Swedish media at decision-making levels as well, compared to other European countries [43].
AB Radiotjänst, the then-called SR, started its first broadcast on New Year’s Day in 1925. However, in 1969, SR started its first program in a language other than Swedish, around forty years after its establishment. This first non-Swedish radio program was in Finnish—the language of the largest immigrant community in Sweden back then [38]. Seventy years after its first radio program, thanks to technological advancement within radio broadcasting, yet another chapter in SR’s program dissemination was opened. SR adopted Digital Audio Broadcasting(DAB). SR started sending its regular DAB in 1995.
Later in the beginning of the 21st century, SR started its streaming service for three of its channels. Latest major change in SR dissemination happened in 2010 when SR ceased its broadcast on short and medium wave and started to publish on the internet. Now, in 2017, it has over forty channels on the Internet. These channels and podcasts are integral to SR’s Web presence and audio programs [38].
According to SR’s website, SR has a daily listener base of 4 million in Sweden alone. It produces around 170,000 hours of audio programs yearly [36]. Three-quarter (75%) of the Swedish population listens to SR programs during a week. “People [in Sweden] devote more time to Swedish Radio than to any other media company.” [40].
SR’s programs cover topics including: popular and classical music, social debate, programs for children, culture, sport, drama, entertainment, public information, traffic reports, the weather and much more.
2.4.2 SR In Different Languages
SR broadcasts in a number of minority and immigrant languages. These languages are: Arabic, English, Farsi/
Dari, Romani, Sami, Somali, Kurdish, Suomi, Meänkieli and easy Swedish [37].
The first Kurdish radio program in Sweden was called Zayele which started its broadcast in 2001 [37]. Later in 2010, it was moved to the web and operated under Radio Sweden Kurdish and has continued its podcast dissemination over the internet. Currently, the Kurdish Section has podcasts in two major Kurdish dialects;
Sorani and Kurmanji . Alongside with their web archive,
1the Kurdish service uses social media to disseminate its content as well.
2.5 Podcast
2.5.1 Background And Significance
With its emergence in 2004, podcasting was hailed for being disruptive and for democratizing practices of consumption, distribution, and production of audio content [32]. This technology was seen as something that could perhaps render radio extinct or can be an alternative to traditional audio broadcasting. However, in practice radio is still remained as a medium that still attracts a significant number of consumers. Although still niche, podcasting has become an ordinary medium that is used by both producers and users. Overall, podcast use is gaining more traction as the format is becoming more mature, more professional and less experimental [26].
The use of podcasting as a broadcasting medium is facilitated by the technological advancement in the field.
However, this is not the only reason for its popularity.
“[S]ocial practices grounded in culture’’ influenced by
“market forces, and competing ideas and discourses about the format itself”, are also major contributing factors to podcasts’ widespread consumption and use [9, 26].
Podcasts allow “time-shift and place-shift” audio which in turn give users greater control over their media consumption [6]. Social features are yet another advantage of podcasts over traditional radio. The ability to share podcast episodes via mobile phones adds yet another beneficial dimension to dissemination of podcasts over legacy radio and is perhaps one of the significant affordances of the medium itself.
Production-wise, podcasts are relatively less expensive to produce compared to traditional radio broadcasting and production. Podcast distribution is even cheaper as it is done over the internet which has significantly broader broadcasting coverage [6].
Thanks to podcatching software, users can access a database of podcasts. Additionally, it can provide RSS or XML feeds that enable users to manage, share, download and listen to podcasts on their mobile phones or tablets. It worth noting that podcatching software existed even before tablets and smartphones, but the emergence of app stores—Apple’s iTunes Store, Google’s Play Store, and the Windows Marketplace—brought about unprecedented affordances and listening experience to a highly mobile mediascape. Morris et al. argue that app stores popularity makes podcatcher apps significant “cultural intermediaries” that shape both the production and reception of podcasts [26].
2.5.2 Podcast In Sweden
In Sweden, podcasting is catching up and is gaining more traction and popularity over the years. According to Nordicom-Sweden's Media Barometer, daily use of podcasts has risen from practically not even being listed, in media consumption report, as a medium in 2008 to 9 percent in 2016 (Figure 1). Throughout this period, there has been a steady increase of almost one percent every year in the consumption of media through podcast [42].
This trend is likely to continue.
Sorani uses Arabic alphabet and Kurmanji Latin as writing
1
system.
2.6 Immigration In Sweden
Although the history of immigration to Sweden dates back to earlier than 1960, large scale immigration did not exist before then [18]. A Large flow of immigrants to Sweden began in the 1950s. During this period immigrants were mainly laborers from the Nordics, Finland in particular. Other immigrants came to Sweden from Central and Southern Europe [28]. During the recession in the 1970s, the rate of immigration slowed down. Sweden was no longer a popular destination for labor immigrants in this period.
In the 1980s, the composition of migration began to shift.
Since then, a significant portion of immigrants is either refugees or those who reunite with their families [22].
Later in the mid-80s, the number of immigrants began to rise in Sweden and Western Europe. During this period, the majority of the immigrants came to Sweden from the Middle Eastern countries.
The collapse of former Yugoslavia in the 1990s, and the subsequent Balkan war, forced a record number of people to flee from their homes and seek refuge in different European countries. Sweden received slightly over 100,000 people from the region, mainly from Bosnia [33].
Another major batch of immigrants, in which majority were from Iraq, came in the early 2000s [22]. The number of immigrants continued to increase ever since. But, in 2015 Sweden received the highest number of immigration/refugees to the country in one year. During this year, over 160,000 people sought asylum in Sweden (Figure 2) [33]. A significant number of those refugees
fled from the war in Syria. It is worth noting that Sweden received the highest number of refugees in the EU per capita in that year [33].
2.7 Integration
Integration has become an issue that not only concerns immigrants, but the majority of the society [22].
Immigrants’ integration patterns can significantly affect the design and the political economy of the host country [1]. Moreover, cultural diversity may impact the sense of community and social solidarity which according to Algan et al. are the pillars of a democratic welfare system. Furthermore, lack of integration could disturb social consensus and diminish support for social programs that aim at correcting horizontal inequalities across cultural groups [1].
For these reasons, several observers argue for explicit public policies that promote or even request “…cultural assimilation of immigrants to the cultural attitudes of natives.” Others favor the idea that state institutions should have policies to accommodate cultural diversity [1].
In sociological analysis, integration refers to a process via which individuals become members of a society and different functions and levels within it. Moreover, integration is a process related to different forms of participation in various areas of life; work, school, family, leisure and the like [4].
Berry argues that integration can be chosen freely and successfully followed by the minority group when the host society is open and inclusive in regards to cultural diversity. Thus, “a mutual accommodation is required for integration to be attained involving the acceptance by both groups of the right of all groups to live as culturally different peoples” [6, p10]. Such strategy requires that the minority groups adopt basic values of the society of majority. On the other hand, adaptation of national institutions in the dominant group is also called for to better meet the all the groups that live together.
2.7.1 Culture
There are numerous definition of culture, but the concern of this thesis is with the link between culture and communication. The definition this thesis adopts is based on Lustig and Koester’s definition of culture. According to them, “[c]ulture is a learned set of shared interpretations about beliefs, values, norms, and social practices, which affect the behaviors of a relatively large group of people” [23, p25]. Based on this definition people are not born with certain genetic cultural dispositions, but they have acquired them through exposure, education and interaction with others. More importantly, culture can be taught and relearned.
2.8.1 Acculturation
Acculturation is one of various form of culture contacts.
It refers to the process of change in the cultural practices of, such as eating, language, dress, that an immigrant of cultural minority group experiences to align with the dominant societal group [30].
Berry argues, that acculturation is the phenomena which happens when individuals from different cultures come into continuous first-hand contact with one another. This 0
2 5 7 9
2008 2010 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Figure 1. Daily podcast use of Swedish population 9-79(%)
Figure 2. Number of asylum seekers between
2013-2017[33]
contact will have subsequent changes in the original culture of either or both group [6]. Berry further argues that “[a]lthough acculturation is a neutral term in principle (that is, change may take place in either or both groups), in practice acculturation tends to induce more change in one of the groups than in the other” [6, p7].
Nekby argues that “cultural integration is a process of adaptation in both the majority and minority groups” [27, p173]. However, since there’s a difference in size between the dominant and the minority group, “the bulk of adaptation is likely to be on the side of immigrants.” [27, p173]
Based on Berry’s identity model, there are four acculturation strategies about how a person relates to a minority group’s ethnic culture and that of the majority’s dominant culture (Table 1). The first strategy, integration, implies a strong sense of identification with both the minority and the majority culture. The second, assimilation, requires a strong identification with the
dominant culture and weaker to the culture of origin.
Third, separation, is connected with weak ties with the majority culture and strong affinity to the culture of origin. The last, marginalization, occurs when one’s tie is weak to both the original and the majority culture [1].
Based on Berry’s identity model, integration is the only form of identity construction in which one feels strong connection to both one’s culture of origin and that of the adopted country. Moreover, socially sustainable communities are equitable, diverse, connected and democratic. Thus, it can be argued that integration is a perquisite for creating and fostering socially sustainable communities. In addition, integration paves the way to create a more cohesive society in which individuals’
needs for equal opportunities for work, healthcare, nutrition, shelter and cultural expressions are met [44].
Such practices ensure that the fundamentals of social sustainability are accounted for.
3. METHOD
To conduct an analysis of the themes and the types of content Kurdish section of SR disseminates, some of their published podcasts were chosen. SR’s Kurdish podcasts were selected: (a) to provide an overview of the topics that are generally discussed in podcasts in the Kurdish of SR, (b) to determine what topics are covered within one- week span, (c) to discover if SR’s Kurdish podcasts address integration and/or cultural issues, and (d) to see if the podcasts are of informative/descriptive type or more of an educational nature.
3.1 Data Collection
All published podcasts on SR’s Kurdish website during the one-week period (February 13th to February 20th, 2017) were selected. Thus, a list of relevant podcasts was created (Table 2) then the podcasts were downloaded and listened to. Following that, if the transcripts were available they were downloaded and if not the author transcribed the podcasts. Thus, a total of 37 podcasts were published on the Kurdish section of SR during the chosen period. Out of these 37, two were duplicate entries, so for the purpose of the analysis, 36 podcasts were listened to, transcribed, where necessary, and were analyzed for their content. The podcasts were in two Kurdish dialects, Sorani and Kurmanji. During this period, SR Kurdish disseminated 83 minutes of audio. The average duration of each episode was 2:18 minutes and the longest podcast was 5:28 minutes long.
3.2 Thematic Analysis
Once the podcasts were downloaded and transcribed, the data was put into MAXQDA Plus12 software. Then, Braun & Clarke’s 6-step-process was followed to conduct Minority
group
Majority group
Strong Weak
Strong Integration Separation Weak Assimilation Marginalization
Table 1. Berry’s identity model [1]
Podcast Name Broadca st DateTag by SR Dur
1 دایز نرگەدرەو نڵاادنم رەبمارەب ێب یەنڵاامەنب وەئ یەرامژ atio تاکەد
13-2-201 7
Penaberî یرەبانەپ Civak ... اگڵەمۆک 3:04 2 Di serdana Îranê de Löfven giranî da sanayiyê 13-2-201
7
Aborî ... یرووبائ 2:10 3 ارک ناراب ەنخەڕ نارێئ ۆب دیوس یەکەدناش 13-2-201
7
Sîyaset ... تەسایس Aborî ... یرووبائ 4:57 4 تاکەد ێوتوات ێولمام یناکەشێک ۆخوان یریزەو 13-2-201
7
Ewleyî ... شیاسائ Civak ... اگڵەمۆک Tawan ... ناوات
2:47
5 Wezîrê hundir Ygeman diçe Malmö 13-2-201
7
Civak ... اگڵەمۆک Tawan ... ناوات 1:45 6 ەغەدەق نێوش کێدنەه یۆچووتاه تێوەنایەد ناکەتارێدۆم
نەکب 14-2-201
7 No tag 1:10
7 Piraniya gumanbarên terorê têne berdan 14-2-201
7 Tawan ... ناوات Ewleyî ... شیاسائ 2:32 8 ڵووبەق نایینایب ەب رەبمارەب ییتەیاژد ەمێئ :سیڤیەد دیڤیەد نیەکان 14-2-2017 Aborî ... یرووبائ Sîyaset ... تەسایس 1:20 9 ”تێردب ەماراک یناسەک ەب رتایز راک یتەڵۆم اب” 14-2-201
7 Penaberî ... یرەبانەپ Aborî ...
یرووبائ 1:33 10 Damberg: Gereke kar pêşî here ji kesên li
Swêdê re 14-2-201
7 Bazara kar ... راک یڕازاب Penaberî ... یرەبانەپ
1:02 11 یژب ادیرەسواه ینایژ کەو نای ێبەه یرەسواه ێبان ڵادنم 14-2-201
7 Sîyaset ... تەسایس Jin ... نژ Civak ... اگڵەمۆک…
4:07 12 ەیین شاب ناینوورەد یراب ووتاهەزات یناجنەگ و نڵاادنم 15-2-201
7 Penaberî ... یرەبانەپ Civak ...
اگڵەمۆک Ciwan ... ناولا Zarok ...
5:17 13 اگداد یووڕەبووڕ ەوەنیقەت یندرک یامنێڕ یناموگەب کێوایپ
ارک دزائ ووبارک 15-2-201
7 Tawan ... ناوات Ewleyî ... شیاسائ 1:08 14 Zilamê ku pêkanîna êrîşa bombeyî salox da tê
berdan 15-2-201
7 No tag 1:42
15 Hevkariya daîreyan ne baş e 15-2-201
7 No tag 3:00
16 یێج ایکروت ەل ڤۆرم یناکەفام یندرکلێشێپ :مۆرتسڵاڤ ەیینارەگین
15-2-201
7 Jin ... نژ Sîyaset ... تەسایس Civak ... اگڵەمۆک Ewleyî ... شیاسائ
5:28 17 Siyaseta derve ya Swêdê li parlamenê tê
nîqaş kirin
Duplicate post 18 ارد گنەج یکێراکناوات ۆب ییاتەهات یینادنیز یرایڕب 16-2-201
7 Penaberî ... یرەبانەپ Tawan ... ناوات Qanûn ... اسای ،داد
1:49 19 Zilamê sûrî ji ber sûcê şer cezayê miebed
distîne 16-2-201
7 No tag 2:40
20 Zengîn zengîntir dibin û feqîr feqîrtir 16-2-201
7 No tag 1:28
21 ەیادنووبدایز ەل راژەه و دنەمەڵوەد ناوێن ییزاوایج 16-2-201
7 Penaberî ... یرەبانەپ Aborî ...
یرووبائ Civak ... اگڵەمۆک 2:01 22 Erebe li ser şexsên xeyalî têne qeyd kirin 16-2-201
7 No tag 2:01
23 ەوەنراشەد نایەکەناوات ەراپ ەب ناراکناوات 16-2-201
7 Civak ... اگڵەمۆک Qanûn ... ،داد اسای Ewleyî ... شیاسائ Tawan ...
2:40 24 نارد ینادنیز یمکوح یتێچخاچاق یناوات رەسەل سەک راوچ 17-2-201
7 Penaberî ... یرەبانەپ Tawan ... ناوات Qanûn ... اسای ،داد Ewleyî ...
1:46 25 Partiyan li ser zewaca zarokan li hev kiriye 17-2-201
7 Penaberî ... یرەبانەپPenaberî ...
یرەبانەپ Qanûn ... اسای ،داد Zarok ...
1:22 26 ەوەدرک نارەبانەپ ۆب ینۆفەلەت یکێڵێه ناتێهڵۆرت 17-2-201
7 Penaberî ... یرەبانەپPenaberî ...
یرەبانەپ Civak ... اگڵەمۆک Ciwan ...
2:04 27 Êrîşên ser Swêdê yên bi rêya înternetê zêde
bûne 17-2-201
7 No tag 2:15
28 Gumanên bertîlxweriyê ji midûr re hatine gotin 17-2-201
7 No tag 2:26
29 ەوودرک یدایز دیوس ەب ژد ناکەیینۆرتکەلەئ ەشرێه 17-2-201
7 Sîyaset ... تەسایس Civak ... اگڵەمۆک Qanûn ... اسای ،داد Ewleyî ...
2:34 30 تێنەد ادیەکەناواتەبنادد نیلاس انۆم 20-2-201
7 Jin ... نژJin ... نژ Tawan ... ناوات Bûyer & rûdan ... وادووڕ Qanûn ...
1:36
31 Mona Sahlin sûcê xwe qebûl dike 20-2-201
7 No tag 1:37
32 Piştî salekê kesî ceza nexwariye 20-2-201
7 No tag 2:33
33 ەیەوێڕەب امرەس و رفەب 20-2-201
7 Jîngeh û klîmat ... اوەهوشەک و ەگنیژ 1:18 34 Miayeneya diyarkirina temen tê rawestandin 20-2-201
7 No tag 1:09
35 انێهراکەب پارخ یەنومن کەو یدیوس پمەرت 20-2-201
7 Teror û Swêd ... دیوس و رۆریت Sîyaset ... تەسایس Bûyer &
2:15 36 Trump Swêd weke mînaka çavtirsandinê nîşan
da 20-2-201
7 Sîyaset ... تەسایس Penaberî ...
Siyaseta derve یرەبانەپ 2:13 37 نایتڵاواه ەل ەراپ یەوەناڕەگ یاواد ەتخاس ەب ناکایناپمۆک
نەکەد 20-2-201
7 Qanûn ... اسای ،داد Tawan ... ناوات Aborî ... یرووبائ
2:11
Table 2. List of analyzed podcasts from Kurdish SR
the thematic analysis [25]. This thematic analysis was first undertaken to identify initial codes and second, to generate themes and sub-themes.
Although some podcasts are tagged under different names on SR’s web archive, this practice is not consistent across the board. That is, some podcasts are tagged and some are not at all (Table 2). The Kurdish archive of SR lists 9 major topics under which it publishes its podcasts [36].
These tags include: Computers, Kurds in Sweden, Immigration, Education, Middle East, Sport, Terrorism and Culture (translated by the writer).
Once the intended time span was chosen, some podcasts were selected, downloaded and transcribed. Most of the podcasts had their accompanying transcript on SR’s website. Although SR's texts were not completely accurate, they were significantly helpful in speeding up the following stages of the thematic analysis. To create accurate transcripts, some podcasts were listened to several times and the transcripts provided by SR were corrected and completed were needed. Consequently, 36 transcripts were prepared to move to the next phase.
Through the analysis in MAXQDA Plus 12 software and after listening to the podcasts several times, some initial 55 codes were identified. Following that, a total of 740 iterations of those codes were developed (Table 3). The podcasts are in Kurdish and whenever there is another language, e.g. Swedish, translation is offered by the podcasts’ hosts. However, for the sake of the content
analysis, the codes were created and developed in English except for six codes. These codes are “Vänsterpartiet”,
“Ensamkommande barn”, “Sverige”, “Moderaterna” ,
“Migrationsverket” and “UT(Uppehållstillståndskort)”.
The codes cover a wide span of topics which were later used to develop related themes and sub-themes. The codes cover topics from crime to economy and immigration all the way to news from the Swedish parliament.
Once all the data was analyzed and different codes were developed, some themes were constructed. Identifying themes was basically coding the codes to find similarities in the data [25]. The data and the codes were categorized into 10 themes out of which some were more prominent in the data corpus.
4. RESULT
Results are presented under three central themes encompassing the key issues SR Kurdish service covers:
(a) crime and criminality, (b) topics that cover issues related to Sweden’s public affair, and (c) topics pertinent to refugees and immigration issues. These central themes and the sub-themes within them provide evidence to the original research questions about using SR’s platform as a social marketing platform to promote integration.
Out of the 10 generated themes, some were more
prominent, more prevalent than the others in the data
corpus. The most visible and dominant themes were on
crimes, refugees and immigration issues and topics
related to internal and external affairs in Sweden. The
Table 3. List of all initial codes
former two themes dominated around half of the topics covered by the Kurdish podcasts of SR (Figure 3). It is worth mentioning that some codes were shown to be less significant, based on their coverage and frequency of use in SR’s podcasts. Those less prevalent themes were eventually dropped from further analysis.
4.1 Crime And Criminality
Thematic analysis of content published by Kurdish SR revealed significant emphasis on news and programs that deal with crimes and daily events. These topics alone compose around a quarter of the whole broadcasting podcasts (Figure 3). The Crime theme includes 12 other
sub-themes (Figure 4) that deal with issues from drugs to trials and security issues to people killed. Crime/
Criminality theme contains a total of 213 related codes (Table 4).
4.2 Sweden’s Public Affairs
Since the intended audience for SR’s podcasts is the people who reside in Sweden, topics related to Sweden’s public affair comprise another major topic SR's Kurdish programs cover. Hence, this topic makes up its own major theme which is over 20percent of the entire data pool is devoted to this section. This theme has 7 sub-themes
made up of 171 codes. Covered in this theme are issues about different municipalities and events in the Swedish society.
4.3 Refugees And Immigration
Refugee and immigration-related issues are one the major concerns in the Swedish society [3, 28]. SR’s Kurdish service is by no means an exception. As a matter of fact, this topic makes up one of the largest themes in the thematic analysis of this study. That is, refugees related topics take around 20 percent of all the topics SR podcast discuss during the chosen period (Figure 3). This theme comprises 7 sub-themes and a total of 141codes. One sub- themes in this category is issues related to
“unaccompanied minors” or “ensamkommande barn”.
Underage asylum seekers make up a great portion of all refugees who come to Sweden [34]. Other prominent sub- themes (Figure 4) in this theme are: deportation and issues regarding resident permit and topics connected to the Swedish Migration Agency (Migrationsverket).
4.4 Other Themes ! 8
Although culture is one of the topics that the Kurdish SR listed on their archive [26], however, no theme related to culture or cultural activities were found during the period of the analysis (Figure 4). In other words, there was no discussion of culture, neither Kurdish nor Swedish, in the analyzed podcasts.
Kurdish/Kurdistan related issues were the least mentioned topics among all the themes. That is less than 1% of the codes were related to this theme. It could be argued that this theme is rather insignificant and could be ignored (Figure 3).
Cultural programs are very limited in SR Kurdish podcasts. As the matter of fact, during the period of this study, no data could be found on podcasts that discuss neither Kurdish nor Swedish cultural related topics. The focus of Kurdish podcasts of SR seem to lie predominantly on news, crime, politics and refugee- related incidents.
5. DISCUSSION
There are various studies that address the issue of immigration and integration from different angles both in Sweden and in other countries [1]. There are studies that examine the different aspect of immigration such as:
sport, cultural integration, marriage tendencies, education, and the effect of new and legacy media [7, 21, 27, 30].
However, the potential of podcasting as an instrument of social marketing to promote integration has not been extensively researched or scholarly written about within the Swedish context.
As discussed earlier, social marketing principles include:
consumer orientation, behavior change, segmentation and targeting, mixed methods, exchange and competition.
Thus, a campaign or media outlet that meets these criteria has the potential to be a social marketing agent or platform disseminating a message for the betterment of the society.
An analysis of SR’s Kurdish department against the principles of social marketing reveals that the platform has the potential to be used as a social marketing platform to promote cultural integration in Sweden. First, it is
Kurd/Kurdistan 1%
Refugees related 19%
Crime/Criminality 29%
Other Countries Terrorism 8%
4%
Economy/Trade 2%
Politics 9%
Human rights
3%
Media 2%
Sweden 23%
