“Who is really in power here?”
A critical discourse analysis on the Facebook discussion concerning the media representation of Greekazo in Malou Efter Tio
En kritisk diskursanalys av Facebook-diskussionen gällande mediarepresentationen av Greekazo i Malou Efter Tio
Axel Bjerkland Thomas Forssell
The faculty for humanities and social sciences
Media and communication
Bachelor thesis 15hp
Elizabeth Van Couvering
VT 2020
Abstract
The purpose of this essay is to investigate the confrontation of the Facebook group that was developed in response to the interview with the rap artist Greekazo in Malou Efter Tio. The study investigates the research questions: How is the discursive practice of Facebook utilized to challenge a mainstream television production? How are the stereotypes of contemporary marginalized rap artists reproduced in the Swedish news media? Our key interest lies in the moment of conflict between a section of the public and a mainstream media organization where we discuss how the media representation of a Swedish contemporary rap subculture is confronted by a minority of people online. To support the research questions, the study relies on two additional working questions: How do resistance and group formations develop in terms of dynamics within the Facebook comment section of Malou Efter Tio? Why are the stereotypes of contemporary marginalized rap artists reproduced this way in the Swedish news media? Th e focus is to analyze how the discursive formation of Facebook presents alternative viewpoints to challenge the mainstream media.
The theoretical framework of the essay is constituted by the theory of social discourse in which we have embarked on the critical discourse theory (CDA) by Norman Fairclough (1993).
This approach uses theories and methods to theoretically problematize and investigate the relationship between the text, the discursive practice, and the sociocultural dimension (Fairclough, 1993; Winther Jørgensen & Phillips, 2000). The notion of media representation has been approached from two perspectives: The Agenda Setting theory and the Framing Theory, here we have particularly emphasized the idea of moral panic in which we have investigated how Malou Efter Tio was speaking about moral panic fears concerning the contemporary rap subculture in Sweden.
Previous research includes Djerf-Pierre and Shehata (2017) in which they applied the Agenda Setting theory in a Swedish news media environment, Nilsson (2009) who investigated the media representation in Swedish television, Lindholm (2014) who researched the notion of self-presentation in Swedish rap music, and Johnen, M., Jungblut, M. & Ziegele, M. (2018) who investigated what incites participation in online discussions.
In the analysis, we distinguished three prominent themes: social injustice, responsibility, and solidarity. These themes were established from the selection process in which 19 Facebook comments were collected and analyzed through the critical discourse analysis. The study showed how the Facebook discourse was utilized as a space for resistance of which the dispute
betokened an abruption in ideology. This abruption was consequently challenged by the Facebook users in which they collectively built authority throughout the affordances of the Facebook discourse. The study will end with a discussion concerning the role of Facebook in a wider context in which the democratic space of the platform is contextualized from a societal and political point of view.
Sammanfattning
Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka konfrontationen i Facebook-gruppen som utvecklades som svar på Greekazo-intervjun i Malou Efter Tio. Studien undersöker frågeställningarna: Hur utnyttjas den diskursiva praktiken av Facebook som ett sätt att utmana en tv-produktion i mainstream media? Hur reproduceras stereotyperna av samtida förortsrappare inom svensk nyhetsmedia? Vårt huvudintresse ligger i konflikten mellan allmänheten och en mainstream mediaorganisation där vi diskuterar hur medierepresentationen av en svensk samtida rap-subkultur konfronteras av en minoritet människor online. För att svara på syftet i studien använder vi oss av två arbetsfrågor: Hur utvecklas motstånd i form av gruppdynamik i kommentarsfältet hos Malou Efter Tio? Varför reproduceras stereotyperna av samtida förortsrappare på detta sättet inom svensk nyhetsmedia? Vårt fokus är att analysera hur den diskursiva praktiken av Facebook presenterar alternativa sätt att utmana mainstream media.
Det teoretiska ramverket för uppsatsen består av teorin om social diskurs där vi i synnerhet har fokuserat på den kritiska diskursteorin (CDA) av Norman Fairclough (1993).
Detta tillvägagångssätt använder teorier och metoder för att teoretiskt problematisera och undersöka förhållandet mellan texten, diskursiv praktik och den sociokulturella dimensionen (Fairclough, 1993; Winther Jørgensen & Phillips, 2000).
Vi har studerat medierepresentationen utifrån två perspektiv: Dagordningsteorin och gestaltningsteorin, här har vi särskilt betonat konceptet om moralisk panik där vi har undersökt hur Malou Efter Tio talade om en typ av moralisk panik kring den samtida rapkulturen i Sverige.
Tidigare forskning inkluderar Djerf-Pierre och Shehata (2017) som forskade kring svensk nyhetsmedia genom att applicera dagordningsteorin, Nilsson (2009) som undersökte medierepresentationen i svensk television, Lindholm (2014) som undersökte identitetsprocesser inom svensk rapmusik och Johnen, M., Jungblut, M. & Ziegele, M. (2018) som undersökte vad som motiverar användare att delta i online-debatter i sociala forum.
I analysen urskiljde vi tre framstående teman: social orättvisa, ansvar och solidaritet.
Dessa teman fastställdes genom urvalsprocessen där 19 Facebook-kommentarer samlades in och analyserades genom den kritiska diskursanalysen. Studien visade hur Facebook-diskursen utnyttjades som ett utrymme för motstånd, varvid konflikten på Facebook visade på en ideologisk diskrepans där Facebook-användare följaktligen kollektivt byggde auktoritet genom den diskursiva praktiken av Facebook. Studien avslutas genom en diskussion gällande Facebooks roll i ett bredare sammanhang där plattformens demokratiska utrymme kontextualiseras ur ett samhälleligt och politiskt perspektiv.
Keywords: Malou Efter Tio, TV4, Greekazo, media representation, Facebook discourse, moral panic, Agenda-Setting
Table of content
1. Introduction 7
1.1 Background 8
1.2 Purpose 9
1.3 Research questions 10
1.4 Definitions 10
1.4.1 Text 10
1.4.2 Media Ecology 11
1.4.3 Swedish marginalized rap 11
1.4.4 Ideology 12
1.4.5 Discourse 13
1.5 Limitations 14
1.6 Outline 14
2. Theory and previous research 16
2.1 Discourse Theory 16
2.2 Culture 17
2.2.1 Culture as a concept 17
2.2.2 Cultural Hegemony 18
2.3 The media 19
2.3.1 Media representation 19
2.3.2 Agenda-setting theory 20
2.3.3 Framing theory 21
2.4 The online audience 22
2.4.1 The process of group formation 22
2.4.2 Moral panic 22
2.4.3 Online firestorm as a moral panic 23
2.5 Previous research 24
2.5.1 Agenda setting and public perception 24
2.5.2 News television and its influence 25
2.5.3 Self-presentation and marginalized rap subculture 26
2.5.4 Participation in an ‘online firestorm’ 27
3. Method 28
3.1 Selection process and data limitation 28
3.1.1 Search query 29
3.1.2 First selection 29
3.1.3 Second selection 29
3.2 Research approach 29
3.3 Thematic model 30
3.4 Critical discourse analysis (CDA) 30
3.5 Critical discourse analysis in social media 33
3.6 Analysis of the text level 34
3.7 Validity, Reliability and Generalizability 35
3.7.1 Qualitative validity 35
3.7.2 Qualitative reliability 35
3.7.3 Generalization in qualitative studies 36
3.8 Ethical considerations 36
4. Results and analysis 37
4.1 Text analysis of the production 37
4.1.1 The title of the weblink 38
4.1.2 The Facebook post 38
4.1.3 Multimodality 40
4.2 Text analysis of the thematization 41
4.2.1 Presentation of subjects 41
4.2.2 Theme 1: Social injustice 42
4.2.3 Theme 2: Responsibility 45
4.2.4 Theme 3: Solidarity 47
4.3 Analysis of the discursive practice 49
4.3.1 The discursive formation of Facebook 50
4.3.2 Challenging the discourse 54
4.4. Results 55
4.4.1 Production 55
4.4.2 Thematization 56
5. Discussion and conclusion 58
5.1 Discussion 58
5.2 Conclusion 59
6. Future research 63
7. Implications for society 64
Bibliography 67
Appendix 76
Acknowledgments
This essay is co-authored between Axel Bjerkland and Thomas Forssell. Both authors have been equally valuable to the research process but with different areas of responsibility. The exact contributions will be presented in the appendix.
We want to thank our supervisor John Lynch for valuable discussions and feedback throughout the work process.
1. Introduction
The televised media representation of contemporary youth subcultures has been an established issue within media studies since the 1970s. It has revolved around how youth subgroups have been presented and framed by the news media to the public (Cohen, 1980; Gibson & Pagan, 2006; Hall et al. 1978). In the 1960s it was the “mods” and “rockers”, and in the 1980s and 1990s, it was the “rave culture”. While the notion of media representation 50 years ago, undoubtedly, shares many similarities with media representation today, there is, however, an essential difference that sets the media ecology apart, and that is social media. Due to social media, the audience in today’s media ecology now has the possibility to respond, address, and openly criticize issues online. In turn, this takes away part of the influence and power of the media as they have to avoid “online firestorms” that could potentially damage their reputation.
News organizations, therefore, walk a fine line as they, on the one hand, need to assure that they capture the attention of the audience in competitive media ecology. But, on the other, they have to avoid misrepresentations that may result in confrontations amongst the audience. A recent example of this was seen in the Facebook discussion concerning the media representation of the Swedish marginalized rap culture (Clason, 2019; Elmervik, 2019; Mohammadi, 2019 ). The discussion evolved in response to an interview that took place in the esteemed Swedish morning show, Malou Efter Tio, where the Swedish rap artist Greekazo was criticized by the 67-year old journalist Malou Von Sivers for glamorizing drugs and violence in his lyrics. The show Malou Efter Tio airs on Sweden's largest advertising-funded TV-network, TV4, and averages 178,000 daily viewers, which in the context of the Swedish media ecology, makes the show rather prominent in relation to viewership. In response to the interview, the social media discussion quickly emphasized issues regarding stereotypes, ethnicity, social injustice, and media responsibility.
The study will approach the concern of media representation by focusing on the Facebook discussion in relation to these issues. This will be done in two ways. First, the study will critically analyze the linguistic discourse in the Facebook post published by Malou Efter Tio.
This is to investigate how meaning was mediated from the production point of view, in which the essay will be analyzing themes of hegemony, ideology, and power. The study will then focus on the public response to the post by critically analyzing the discourse in the Facebook comments. This is to establish people's perspectives on how they believe Greekazo was framed
in the interview, but also to invest igate how people expressed support and solidarity with the artist. The Facebook discussion attests to the notion of fixed meaning, particularly emphasizing the issue of stereotyping. This is viewed from two perspectives. On the one hand, it seems as the media portrays Greekazo as an advocate for crime by visually stereotyping attributes through a fixed meaning. This goes in line with Hall (1997), who claims that by re-presenting images, the media is continuously stereotyping characteristics among people, genders, social classes, and ethnic backgrounds — subsequently providing the assumption that by re-presenting images, meaning is made. This way of understanding representation is viewed as an established predicament within media and communication as it indicates the power that the media has of presenting ideas, values, or beliefs to the viewers with the use of stereotyping. But on the other hand, it seems contradictory to accuse the media of stereotyping as the artist himself relies on stereotypes throughout his music. This opens up a critical discussion as it addresses the belief that rap artists are merely “performing” this idea of being marginalized by relying on well-known stereotypes.
The proliferation of social media has established new ways of communicating and not only amongst the public. Government institutions, news organizations, and other companies all communicate via platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. With a new media ecology, Bouvier and Machin (2018) claim that to conduct a valid critical discourse analysis on media texts today, the study has to include the context of social media. Only when validating user responses on these platforms, can we begin to depict and analyze ideological meanings on a larger scale.
Foregrounded in this statement we believe that this essay is relevant to media and communication as it investigates these concerns. It explores the influence that the news media have over the audience in a contemporary media ecology, but it also investigates how this dynamic has changed in which the audience now holds influence over the media as they are able to confront and dispute the media at any time on social media platforms. The essay also discusses the role of Facebook in a wider context in which the democratic space of the platform is contextualized from a societal and political point of view.
1.1 Background
Malou Efter Tio is a Swedish morning television show that is broadcasted every weekday on the television network TV4 between 10.00-12.00. The show addresses social issues and current news stories while interviewing artists, authors, and politicians. The program has been hosted by the
67-year-old journalist and moderator Malou Von Sivers since 2006 (TV4, 2020). In an interview with Dunér (DI, 2015), Von Sivers expressed that her main audience are seniors, culture workers, people on parental leave, and University students and that the show averages 178,000 daily viewers. Von Sivers also explained that she accepted the job in 2006 with the condition that she would be in charge of the show´s budget and of the staff, “being in charge of the budget equals power, and power is needed to be able to do whatever you want. It allows me to be more creative, but it also saves me time as I don´t have to confirm decisions with people above me”
(as cited by Dunér, 2015).
TV4 is a Swedish commercialized TV-network owned by TV4 Media that began broadcasting via cable and satellite in 1992, today it is the largest advertising-financed TV channel in Sweden and the second biggest TV channel after the public service network Sveriges Television (De Vries, 2019). The TV4-network broadcasts a variety of shows including news, drama, comedy, entertainment, feature films, community programs etcetera (Fast, 2010).
Alexander Cielma Miliarakis, known as Greekazo, is a 19-year-old Swedish rapper from Stockholm, Sweden who has an ethnic background of Poland and Greece (Genius, 2019).
Greekazo has more than 70 million streams on Spotify and close to 600.000 listeners monthly (Spotify, 2020), his debut single ‘Hotspot’ was released in 2019 which gained quick recognition.
Facebook was initially launched in 2004 and was developed as a social networking platform for students at Harvard (Rutledge, 2008). Today it has 2.6 billion users worldwide (statista, 2020).
Apart from Facebook being a social network for individual users, the platform provides opportunities for companies and brands to engage and interact with their audience. By creating a Facebook page, organizations can promote events, products, and services as well as directly interact with their audience and receive engagement on their posts in forms of likes, comments, and shares (Ruiz, Blas & Marti-Parreno, 2014). These pages also provide organizations and businesses with the opportunity to build relationships with their audience for a minimal cost.
1.2 Purpose
The purpose of this essay is to investigate the confrontation of the Facebook group that was developed in response to the interview with Malou Efter Tio. The focus is to analyze how
Facebook presents alternative viewpoints that challenge the mainstream media. As we investigate the discourse on a social media platform, part of the objective is to recognize the effect that Facebook has had on the media ecology. The key interest lies in this moment of conflict between a section of the public and a mainstream media organization.
1.3 Research questions
To achieve the purpose of this study we will conduct the following research questions (RQ):
● RQ1: How is the discursive practice of the Facebook platform utilized to challenge a mainstream television production?
● RQ2: How are the stereotypes of contemporary marginalized rap artists reproduced in the Swedish news media?
The research questions will rely on two additional working questions (WQ):
● WQ1: How do resistance and group formations develop in terms of dynamics within the Facebook comment section of Malou Efter Tio?
● WQ2: Why are the stereotypes of contemporary marginalized rap artists reproduced this way in the Swedish news media?
1.4 Definitions
The following section provides clarification and definition of key terms and concepts used throughout this paper.
1.4.1 Text
The term text is referred to as a semiotic construct, which, within the linguistic tradition means that images, writings, speeches, and films can all be interpreted and depicted as texts (Fairclough, 1993). The premise is that all different forms of expression can be read. In the context of this
essay, the term text will, therefore, be referring to videos, images, conversations, interview transcripts as well as written speech and writings.
1.4.2 Media Ecology
The concept of Media Ecology has several definitions. For this study, the term is used as a reference to the connected media landscape whereas texts are seen as patterns rather than independent objects. We will refer to the concept of media ecology as a kind of "media environment" where individual parts are connected to other media (Fuller, 2005). The concept of Media Ecology was introduced by McLuhan in the 1960s but has since then been widely explored by media scholars, and therefore, now has several definitions (Gamaleri, 2019; Strate, 2014). The expression "the medium is the message" (McLuhan, 1964 p.7) is perhaps the most popularized approach towards the concept, which refers to the idea that communication is influenced and impacted by the form of the medium itself (Strate, 2014).
Neil Postman developed McLuhan's ideas further during the 1970s. He came to refer to the concept as a type of media environment in which modes of information act in the mutual interaction between human beings and the media (as referenced in Fuller, 2005). A more recent approach to the idea was developed by Matthew Fuller (2005), who deploys the term "media ecology" in a modern media landscape as an allotment on informational roles within organizations as well as the collaborative computer systems within, primarily explaining the flow of information amongst these roles. Fuller argues that media ideology is a concept that refers to media being interconnected by "knowledge and time management processes, intellectual property regimes, database, and software design, content control, access structuring..." (Fuller, 2005, p.3). Put differently, the concept is complex and is somewhat open for interpretation.
However, what scholars on media ecology have in common, is the view on the media environment as a connected and much global environment, of which the focus lies on the interplay between technology, information, and human beings (Gamaleri, 2019; Strate, 2014;
Fuller, 2005).
1.4.3 Swedish marginalized rap
Swedish marginalized rap refers to a particular style within the Hip-Hop music genre that is often produced in smaller marginalized communities in suburban areas in Sweden. The word
“marginalized” is perhaps a bit contradictory as the music is often played on mainstream radio.
Nevertheless, the definition in this paper refers explicitly to the production aspect, in which the music is often geographically associated with marginalized and suburban areas in Sweden.
Although Hip Hop and Rap are commonly used synonymously by the general public, there are distinct differences. Keyes (2004) states that “Rap is something one does or performs, whereas Hip Hop is something one lives or experiences.” (p.6). Much of the heated controversy about the rap genre relates to the crude language that is expressed through the lyrics. Rose (1994) suggests that male rap artists formulate sexist narratives about women primarily due to a lack of self-worth, economic, or social status. In an article by McLeod (1999), it was suggested that showing off feminine qualities in Hip Hop is within the culture considered “going soft” and reduces the artist´s quality of authenticity and “realness”. In many cases, it is therefore presumed that in order to be successful as an artist, the language is expected to follow certain criteria, often characterized by crude language, including drugs, violence, and sexism. These expressions have been established as stereotypical within the genre and are often reflected in the genre as
“performative acts”, in which artists reproduce the same stereotypical attributes because it is expected within the culture. Contemporary rap makes an excellent illustration as the genre often concerns a deviant group of people that are not following the classic traditions and values presented by the mainstream media. The apparent digression from the “status quo,” illustrates the epitome of the media representation narrative.
1.4.4 Ideology
The modern concept of ideology relates to the Marxist definition, which suggests that it is a system of ideas and ideals that relates to political and economic theory (Larrain, 1991).
Economic determinism permeates the beliefs of Marxist scholars on ideology as they believe that economic forces define, shape, and determine all cultural, social, political, and intellectual aspects of a civilization. Ideology is a collection of ideas that together constitutes a belief or a conviction about something (Berglez, 2009). This belief is produced and reproduced in the relationships among people, through rituals and social practices by spreading influence. This idea relates to the notion of power as the objective is to reach and influence as many people as possible, and to get them to practice a specific ideology so that it becomes the dominant one, i.e., hegemonic in society.
Althusser's work (1970) reintroduced the Marxist idea of the State apparatuses, which is the belief that the "state is a machine of repression, which enables the ruling classes" (p. 9).
Althusser used the term to refer to how western values were reproduced through ideology in favor of capitalism. Althusser presented two ideas on apparatuses; the repressive state apparatus (RSA), which referred to authorities such as the army, the police, and other military organizations in which he explained how they favored the state by maintaining capitalistic class structures by force. The ideological state apparatuses (ISA), however, emphasized the power of the mass media, religious institutions, educational institutions as well as the family sector, in which, Althusser explained how these groups exercised power through the notion of ideology. In contrast to RSA, these sectors did not use force to accentuate influence; instead, they articulated power through ideology where they encouraged citizens to find their place in relation to the societies they lived in.
1.4.5 Discourse
According to Nationalencyklopedin (n.d), discourse refers to speech, conversations, or discussions. In philosophical contexts, the word denotes coherent expressions, statements, and concepts. For this paper, we will mainly embark on the definition standard within the Foucaultarian tradition, which views discourse as a way to structure knowledge and power within different fields (as referenced in Fairclough, 1993). The use of language is, in this sense mirroring the social values, norms, and behavior of dominating discourses. For example, within the newspaper discourse, the writing is typically formal and informative; this is because the language is presumed to follow certain norms. In the same sense, the expression within medical discourse is restricted to its norms and values, etcetera (Fairclough, 1993). Discourse relates strongly to the notion of power, of which Foucault's central claim is that power is expressed in the use of language, which in turn is constituted within the discourse itself. Foucault disputes that power is something that people come across continually without much thought, simply because it is expected within the discourse. This builds a notion of normalized power, which becomes problematic as it generates norms and social values that are bound to higher-level organizational structures (Foucalt, 1975).
Within the discourse perspective, the social aspects are permeated by notions of conflict and power, and the struggle therebetween is thus an essential emphasis. As Fairclough writes,
"discourse is a difficult concept, largely because there are so many conflicting and overlapping definitions formulated from various theoretical and disciplinary standpoints" (1993, p. 3). While
this is true, discourse as a concept becomes particularly useful in text analysis as it accommodates the interpretation process of the extended relationship between reader and writer.
1.5 Limitations
The paper will examine the relationship between the Facebook discourse and the morning talk show Malou Eter Tio. To conclude about the Facebook discourse we will analyze two connecting areas, first, the Facebook post by TV4 which includes written language and imagery, second, we will conduct a CDA on the comment section relating to the same post.
The empirical material has been collected from a time-perspective of which we have collected 19 comments that were written on the same day as the post by Malou Efter Tio (December 6th, 2019). These 19 comments were selected for analysis with the motivation that we assumed that the reflections in these comments were mostly individual opinions and not reflections influenced by the media ecology since the event had not been discussed in the media thus far. In the days that followed the interview, several media influencers and news providers began discussing the story on various platforms, which then directed attention to the original Facebook post. For this reason, we decided only to investigate the comments added on the 6th of December as these comments were more inclined not to be biassed or influenced by the media ecology. We believe that this is a large enough sample to do an analysis but it's not too big to become unmanageable. In the analysis of the Facebook comments, the focus has, therefore, been exclusively on the comments relating to this post. Other social media posts, comments, and news articles concerning the discussion have for this reason been excluded.
1.6 Outline
The first chapter begins with the introduction, describing the problem area as well as presenting the background of the recent media discussio n. This is followed by the purpose, research questions, definitions, and limitations of the study. Chapter two will introduce the theoretical framework and previous research that is used in the thesis. In chapter three we pre sent the method of the study, the selection of material, and the qualitative methodological approach that is used to analyze the empirical content. This chapter also discusses the aspects of validity and reliability as well as addressing ethical considerations. The analysis is presented in chapter four which is divided into three parts, the first part focuses on the text dimension in which the TV4
production of the Facebook post will be analyzed, the second part will analyze the text dimension of the Facebook comments relating to the post, and third, we will analyze the discursive practice by establishing the Facebook discussion as a discursive formation. The results from the text analysis and of the discourse analysis will be presented subsequent to the analysis in a separate section. Chapter five presents the discussion and conclusion of the study, this chapter will summarize and discuss different parts of the analysis that we found particularly prominent in regards to the purpose of the study. Chapter six will provide a discussion on future research in which we will recommend how the research area could be expanded. The value of the paper and its relation with society will be presented in chapter seven in which we will also conclude the sociocultural significance of the case.
2. Theory and previous research
This chapter will describe, in three parts, the theoretical framework, as well as exploring previous research that relates to the purpose of the study. The first part presents the theory of discourse whose intent is to study the power relationships in social and linguistic norms in media texts.
Next, a presentation will be given on the notion of culture, emphasizing theoretical definitions;
this is then followed by a presentation on the theory of cultural hegemony, which examines the relationship between authoritarian control and minority groups . The third part of the theoretical framework describes the media processes of the Agenda Setting theory and the Framing Theory in which the idea of moral panic will be emphasized.
In the section on previous research, four recent studies will be presented that relates to the purpose of this research. The first study reviews the relevance of the Agenda Setting Theory in a modern and competitive media landscape (Djerf-Pierre and Shehata, 2017). The second study explores the influence of Swedish television in the 2000s (Nilsson, 2009). The third study presents ideas on the media representation and the self-representation of suburban rap music in Sweden (Lindholm, 2014). The last study exemplifies the phenomenon of an “online firestorm”
by adapting the concept of moral panic (Johnen, Jungblut and Ziegele, 2018).
2.1 Discourse Theory
Fairclough (1993) takes an interdisciplinary approach to the study of discourse, which regards language as a form of social practice. Interpreting language as a social practice implies that there is a dialectical connection between social structure and discourse. The discourse in this sense is part of a system where the discourse is continually being reproduced and constituted through social interaction. For example, a journalist is maintaining the media discourse by producing content that correlates to the expectations of a news journalist, and like so, the discourse is reproduced. Discourse is considered an essential concept of social practice which constitutes both the social world but is also constituted by other social practices. As a social practice, discourse is therefore viewed in direct relation to other social dimensions as it both shapes and mirrors them. To explain how social dimensions impact social practice, Fairclough mentions the family relationship between a parent and a child. He explains that the relationship is partly discursively constituted but also part of an institution with practices related to already existing relations and identities.
In discourse theory, discursive practices are seen as essential notions, as they contribute to establishing and reproducing new and already existing power relationships between social groups, for example, among social classes, age groups, gender groups, or between ethnic minorities and the majority. These discursive effects are within discourse theory, referred to as ideological effects (Winther Jørgensen & Phillips, 2000). It is important to note that no discourse is entirely autonomous; discourses are continuously in conflict with each other. For example, the University discourse is characterized by discourses related to the identities of the members within the discourse.
In the book Media Discourse (1995), Fairclough investigates the power of mass media and the role it has of influencing cultural values, knowledge, beliefs, social relations and identities.
The book has three main objectives. The first is to give readers a theoretical framework of linguistic analysis to which they can analyze mass media language. The second objective is to convince readers that mass media discourse should be understood as a dominant element in research regarding sociocultural change. The third objective revolves around contextualizing media discourse with examples from ‘public affairs media’ such as news shows, social science, and television host shows. These ideas will be asserted in a similar way to form the theoretical framework of this paper. While there are different approaches to discourse theory, the analysis of this paper will elaborate on the critical discourse theory developed by Fairclough in which we will use his three-dimensional model (1993) to analyze the text dimension, the discursive practice, and the sociocultural effects. This method of analysis will be explained more thoroughly in chapter 3.
2.2 Culture
2.2.1 Culture as a concept
In Culture, Media, Language (1980), Hall discusses Althusser´s widely influential essay "Ideological state apparatuses", accentuating how this essay had impacted definitions on culture much due to its exploration of ideology. The essay emphasized that culture was more than mere ideas and that the social practices that take place are equally as important when defining culture. The paper had a significant impact on culture from a Marxist perspective, which, according to Hall, was important, as it created new conversations of the relationship between class structured social formations and ideologies. Althusser (1970) claimed that "dominant ideologies" were produced
from within existing doctrines such as in the state, churches, trade union, or family, which consequently meant that they each contributed to the ideological structures of society. Although praising Althusser for this perspective on ideology and culture, Hall and the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS) simultaneously criticized Althusser for emphasizing too much focus on "dominant ideologies". The claim was that culture could be produced and exist outside these dominant ideological structures, subsequently arguing that culture bears different meanings within different ideologies (Hall, 1980). By focusing too much on this perspective, Hall and the CCCS argued that Althusser "consistently down-played the notion of cultural contradiction and struggle," (Hall, 1980, p.22), which was seen problematic when approaching a representation of a culture that would accommodate different ideologies.
Following Raymond Williams's statement "culture as a whole way of life" (Williams, 1958/1960), Hall (1980) similarly asserts that culture cannot be defined nor be explained in one way. Culture, as a concept, has numerous definitions and understandings within different theoretical frameworks. Hall et al. claim that understanding this notion is a vital prerequisite for studying culture (Hall, 1980; Wrigley, 2011).
2.2.2 Cultural Hegemony
According to Hall (1980), an essential view on culture refers to the theory of Cultural Hegemony, developed by the leftwing Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsci. With the notion of Hegemony and the "Marxist structuralism," Gramsci contributed not only with new perspectives on culture but also directly influenced societal power structures and politics with his ideas about class strata.
Gramsci's notion of Hegemony played an immense role within the CCCS as it initiated discussions on the correlations of the ruling class, media, and ideology with the emergence of subcultures.
Gramsci believed that in societies with diverse cultures, dominant groups such as authorities, media, politicians or influential social classes, all share the common goal of seeking to manipulate and unify the masses into thinking like them (Fairclough, 1993; Hall, 1980; Hebdige, 1979; Jackson Lears, 1985). In theory, this happened either by direct force or through what Gramsci believed was more common, by mutual consent. Gramsci held the idea that by accepting the views of the ruling class, the "masses" would let themselves be manipulated without recognizing it. Although these ideas are coming from a Marxist perspective, they are nonetheless crucial as they contribute to the discussion of subcultures and media discourse, and
particularly they emphasize issues regarding control and intellectual leadership. Additionally, they help understand why subcultures mobilize in society as well as explaining the relationship they have with the ruling classes, including the media.
One of the CCCS´s key defining moments of their discussions on subcultures was that they found sights of resistance among “normal people”. Ordinary people that were living life on an everyday basis but yet not acting upon the “ordinary rules” of what was expected from them.
The notion of resistance is important because it distinguishes a subculture from the dominant and hegemonic culture. It is arguably a complex social phenomenon because it can be expressed in many ways. The Birmingham School as well as other media scholars have conceptualized resistance throughout various examples in history. During the 1970s the punk movement expressed semiotic resistance through subcultural style by using ordinary and everyday objects as a form of expression, e.g. the use of pins (Hebdige, 1979). In the 1980s and 1990s, the rave subculture expressed resistance by acting against the status quo in terms of social behaviour where participants would often use illegal drugs while attending “all night dance parties” (Adlaf
& Smart, 1997).
2.3 The media
2.3.1 Media representation
Visual representation (Hall, 1997) is incorporated as an important notion within media studies.
Besides seeing language as a social practice for representation, Hall mentions the role of images in media, whereof a big focus revolves around the notion of stereotyping. The idea is that by representing specific images, the media is continuously stereotyping characteristics among people, genders, social classes, racial and ethnic backgrounds — subsequently providing the assumption that by representing images over and over, meaning is eventually made. This is one of Hall's most central claims, that meaning is created within discourses. Certainly, things can exist outside discourses, but to give meaning to something, you need discourse. Hall exemplifies this notion through the object of a "ball". Without the discourse, a ball is simply a round object filled with air, perhaps with specific colors and patterns, but with no particular purpose. Within the discourse however, the ball relates to the game of soccer, a game that has rules, therefore representing something which in turn gives it meaning. In the same way a ball represents the game of soccer, an image of, e.g., an African American person wearing baggy clothes might
produce various meanings to different people; perhaps it represents poverty, violence, or a particular subculture. Naturally, this way of looking at representation becomes a predicament as it indicates the vast power that the media have of representing ideas, values, or beliefs to the viewers with the use of stereotyping. Although meaning is always contextual and can never have a fixed and absolute meaning, Hall (1997) claims that the media purposely tries to neutralize the many different perceptions that can be made so that the viewer only finds one meaning. The question of power is, of course, very central here; if meaning is generated through discourse and media symbolizes the discourse, then consequently, it means that the media generate meaning through representation. As Hall argues: "we are talking about the fact that it has no fixed meaning, no real meaning in the obvious sense until it has been represented". (Hall, 1997, p.7).
From this perspective, the apparent concern revolves around the notion of creating fixed meanings as it indicates the media discretion of representing media texts as fixed meanings.
Another form of representation, which is equally as important, has to do with the exclusion of media representation. For example, by not including certain news segments on television, or by not playing particular music genres on the radio, a selection of representation occurs. This returns to the idea of power as it exposes a symbolic power operating by the notion of exclusion.
2.3.2 Agenda-setting theory
McCombs and Shaw (1972) argued that the mass media plays a significant role in influencing what issues the public considers the most important in society. The notion of mass media’s agenda-setting was initially developed by Walter Lippmann in the book Public Opinion (1946), where he disputed that the mass media is the primary link between the world's current events and how people perceive these events.
The hypothesis of agenda-setting was tested in conjunction with the presidential election in 1968 when McCombs and Shaw investigated people's perceptions on current issues that they considered to be important. They analyzed the topics that were drawn from the interviews and compared them to the issues published and aired in mass media. The study confirmed that people's most perceived social issues matched the topics that were illuminated by mass media. In fact, they were close to identical with the exposure in the media at the time (McCombs, 2006).
The theory investigates the indirect effects of mass media. The process of setting an agenda is a competitive race among issue proponents to capture the attention of the public, media leaders,
and policy stakeholders (Dearing & Rogers, 1996). It is a process that revolves on the public's perception of what happens in society by promoting specific and dominant political and social issues in front of others.
It should be noted, however, that several media scholars allege that The Agenda-setting
theory needs to be updated as the power relations within the media have changed (Nabi &
Oliver, 2009). With the evolution of Web 2.0, digital platforms, and social media, the conditions of traditional mass media and its previous functions have changed. Contemporary technology allows people to access news, information, and other content from multiple media sources based on their preferences and interests. The argument is that mass media no longer have the same power to control the public agenda as before, mainly due to the altered consumption of media and the audience fragmentation (Yuan, 2011). However, Takeshita (2005) argues that despite the high access of news that is available online, there is not much evidence that claims that people retrieve news from an excessive amount of sources, but instead typically turn to their online version of traditional news providers. Moreover, an interesting assumption on the theory is that web 2.0 seems to have "reversed" the theory and that the audience on social media now conversely has the possibility of setting the agenda for the mainstream media (Nabi & Oliver, 2009).
2.3.3 Framing theory
In media science, framing refers to the process of which media construct news, events, or other productions that reflect an image of reality (Strömbäck, 2000). Similar to the Agenda-setting theory, Framing theory also focuses on how the public perceives representations of reality, but with a particular emphasis on how media conveys selling points to its audience.
Mass media companies are all competing for the public's attention, and therefore it is a necessity for the media to restrict their content and choose what agenda they want to push and how they want to frame it for the best engagement possible. According to Strömbäck, while identifying the framing of a particular event or phenomenon, one should analyze these four attributes of representation:
1) How does the source define a problem?
2) What is the presented cause of the problem?
3) Which moral aspects are expressed?
4) Is there a solution to the problem?
Strömbäck mentions that the attributes above do not need to be evident in any sense. They are, most of the time, subtle for the ordinary reader. Iyengar (1991), one of the original scholars who applied the theory of framing in media research wrote that: "the concept of framing refers to subtle alterations in the statement or presentation of judgment and choice problems" (1991, p.11). The result of the framing is additionally dependent on the consumer's cognitive resonance, which makes the person behave and think a certain way.
2.4 The online audience
2.4.1 The process of group formation
As part of the purpose with this paper is to investigate how Facebook users build support and how they collectively sympathize with Greekazo, some knowledge is therefore required on the notion of group formation. We have used Winther Jørgensen and Philip´s (2000) description of how individuals establish group formations throughout the notion of identity which in turn acts within the discursive practice.
They describe identity as a continuous identification with a subject position in a discursive structure, meaning that identity occurs by identifying with something or someone. The identity is, in this sense, shattered and formed through the discourse, and therefore is constantly changing.
Understanding the premise that individuals have several ongoing identities is important when understanding how group formations occur, individuals are constantly given opportunities to identify with something or someone in different social situations. While it is hard to say that the Facebook users identify with Greekazo on a personal level it is, however, assumed that the users identify with particular Facebook comments by sharing the same values.
2.4.2 Moral panic
Cohen introduced moral panic as a social phenomenon in his book Folk Devils and Moral Panic in 1972. He described the term as a socially recurrent but temporary phenomenon which occurs in conjunction with events, people, conditions or groups that are considered to constitute a threat towards current moral values or interests of the society. Cohen argued that the mass
media, often societal elites, presents certain events in a stereotypical as well as exaggerated and deviant matter, mainly due to their level of newsworthiness (Cohen, 2002).
Since the 1980’s, rap music has been observed in the media as a threat to the social order in society, mainly due to the harsh language in the lyrics which includes sexual and violent content (Deflem, 2019). The way in which the media scatter reports and “demonize” the rap culture can be related to the idea of moral panic where the media tries to make the public associate the music with criminality (Kubrin & Nielson, 2014; Schneider, 2011).
Cohen’s view on moral panic was later developed and exemplified by Goode and Ben-Yehuda in which they refer to the concept as a way to describe the attitudes of the mainstream media and the reactions of society to disturbances which often relates to “youthful disturbance”. They write that:
”At times, then, societies are gripped by moral panics. During the moral panic, the behavior of some of the members of a society is thought to be so problematic to others, the evil they do, or are thought to do, is felt to be so wounding to the substance and fabric of the body social, that serious steps must be taken to control the behavior, punish the perpetrators, and repair the damage” (Goode & Ben-Yehuda 2009, p.35).
Although still relevant, these definitions are moderately outdated, modern theorists of moral panic argue that the term has to be updated due to contemporary technological affordances.
Social media has allowed for a greater connectedness in political solidarity and for people who share similar ideologies (Sutherland, 2016) Additionally, social media and the convergent media landscape have challenged mass media’s previous authority of moral panic narratives, mainly because of the ability for individuals to contest, transform and reproduce moral panics. Although moral panics still originate from mass media, the power of the distribution and circulation process have been decentralized as individuals today possess levels of agency.
2.4.3 Online firestorm as a moral panic
An online firestorm can be described as a “collaborative brand attack” (Rauschnabel, P.A. &
Kammerlander, N., & Ivens, B.S, 2016) or a “Social media backlash” (BBC, 2015). In today’s media ecology this may occur in instances when companies, organizations, or celebrities publish content online that does not match the expectations of the public, which consequently, leads to
confrontation. Often this public response transpires into a negative “word-of-mouth” among users which then leads to an “online firestorm” (Einwiller S, Viererbl, B. & Himmelreich, S, 2016).
In this study, we refer to the concept of moral panic while discussing the way in which Von Sivers addressed the social issues in Sweden by emphasizing the harsh lyrics of Greekazo as problematic. The social media backlash that transpired in response to this makes several aspects of the concept applicable, including the five characteristics presented by Goode and Ben-Yehuda (2009):
● Concern: A significant level of concern has to emerge from the behavior of a person or a group which in turn may cause consequences in society.
● Hostility: An increased grade of hostility towards a subject that is causing the condition
● Consensus: There should be an agreement among a larger group of people.
● Disproportion: The concern of the problem exceed the issue itself
● Volatility: Moral panics tend to arise fairly rapidly, and later subside as suddenly.
2.5 Previous research
Previous research includes Djerf-Pierre and Shehata (2017) in which they applied the Agenda Setting theory in a Swedish news media environment, Nilsson (2009) who investigated the media representation in Swedish television, Lindholm (2014) who researched the notion of self-presentation in Swedish rap music, and Johnen et al, (2018) who investigated what incites participation behavior in online discussions. However, research regarding the media representation of contemporary youth subcultures in Sweden and public resistance on social media appears to be missing.
2.5.1 Agenda setting and public perception
With the substantial increase in news outlets in today's media environment, several researchers have begun to dispute the validity of traditional media effect theories, such as the Agenda-setting theory (Takeshita, 2005; McCombs, 2006). In the Swedish study on news media perception (Djerf-Pierre & Shehata, 2017) the objective was to address this discussion. As Djerf-Pierre and
Shehata write, "The key argument here is that the gradual transformation from a low-choice to a high-choice media environment has left traditional news media as less powerful agenda-setters in relation to the public". (2017, p.737).
Djerf-Pierre and Shehata approached this by testing the hypothesis; have the relationship between the public and the news media changed from 1992 to 2014, and has it been weakened due to the increase of media sources, including Social Media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter? The study solicited these questions by evaluating and comparing the perception amongst public opinion on specific news topics, such as crime, politics, environmental issues, etc., for 23 years. To conclude which topics had the most potent effects on the public, Djerf-Pierre and Shehata conceptualized the sentiment that news topics had various "issue signals", explicitly referring to the level of visibility of an issue within the context of a more comprehensive media environment.
The study concluded that despite the abundant access to news from numerous media sources, the influence of the agenda-setting effect remains high in 2014. This contradicts the many suspicions that public opinion today would be less responsive to prominent news media compared to earlier years. A necessary disclosure on the study, however, is that the focus remained on traditional news magazines. While this is a useful emphasis, the role of television within this context should perhaps also be elaborated on as it is a much important news source amongst the public in Sweden (TU, 2017).
2.5.2 News television and its influence
In her doctoral thesis, Nilsson (2009) seeks to establish a more profound understanding of the distinctive meanings of television as a mediator of representation for scientific knowledge. The thesis focused on the two Swedish public service channels (SVT and SV2), of which 25 popular science programs (between 2002-2005) were analyzed through Norman Fairclough's CDA model. The thesis asked questions such as "how is the program format used to depict certain issues that relate to human nature and behavior, and what representations are the audience offered to relate to?
The author relied on the theoretical basis that television as a medium position acts as a sound and influential channel for spreading information amongst people and because of this, it subsequently constitutes an area for debate and opinion formation in the public sphere (Nilsson, 2009). This notion of medial influence in television has been widely explored in media research;
for example, Corner (as referenced in Nilsson, 2009) mentions how news television continuously constitutes media narratives, which he claims is often oversimplified just so it will match the audience's perceived capability of decoding information. In line with this conjecture, the results of Nilsson's research show that the majority of the information in the Swedish social science programs is "fairly simple" and "unproblematic" and that it lacks well-founded and legitimate scientific support. Nilsson (2009) presumes that this is because the TV-editors create content which is thought to match the knowledge level of the Swedish audience. The belief is, thus, that by airing shows that are "too scientific", the TV-producers risk deterring the audience's attention, which in a media climate characterized by competition, is assumed to be devastating.
2.5.3 Self-presentation and marginalized rap subculture
In the research article "representing the marginalized Other", Lindholm (2014) seeks to investigate the self-representation of the Swedish marginalized rap group, Advance Patrol. The background of the study refers to the riots that appeared in Husby, Sweden, in the spring of 2013. Pointing to media headlines, the author claims that these riots occurred as a response to racism, inequality, and discrimination, which subsequently, she argues, are often prominent themes in marginalized rap music. Thus, the correlation is here made between the media representation of marginalized subcultures and the music genre of marginalized rap. The author further argues that in the context of marginalized rap, lyrics are often characterized by violence and crime, and thus, she notes that it becomes interesting to investigate how the group members view themselves in relation to this. The author approaches this by examining:
1) How the group "stages" and identifies themselves as a marginalized subculture in Sweden.
2) How the group purposely distances themselves from the same kind of representation by establishing an "externalized other" through their lyrics.
The hip hop culture is often portrayed as a unified and homogenous front, of which artists are often perceived to "stand together" in societies where the power structures undermine them.
The key thing to take from study, however, is that the group Advance Patrol seemed to disrupt this notion of a unified "us", and instead, the study showed that although the group identifies as a marginalized rap subculture in Sweden, the group seemed to distance themselves from similar
genres. According to Lindholm, this provides the idea that rap subcultures in Sweden are not entirely analogous, and therefore, cannot be held accountable for the glorification of crime and violence that the media often relate them to.
2.5.4 Participation in an ‘online firestorm’
In the article “What incites participation behavior in an online firestorm?”, Johnen et al., (2018) investigated the reasons why people join and contribute to social media discussions. They use the term “online firestorm” to refer to sudden outbursts or negative responses towards brands or people from groups on social media platforms.
The article refers to the campaign #Upforanything which was released by Bud Light in 2015. In the campaign, the company had printed the text “the perfect beer for removing ‘no’
from your vocabulary” on their cans. Subsequent to the release, people online quickly expressed their discontent in terms of claiming that the campaign was distasteful as it was perceived to promote rape. People on other social media platforms then joined in on the outburst and began verbally attacking the brand with complaints and indignant statements. Johnen et al. (2018) used the concept of moral panic as a starting point for investigating the response of the campaign and they found two key motivations for why people joined the social media debate. Firstly, participation behavior is propelled by a moral compass. Here, Johnen et al. refer to the definition by Eisenberg and Lindenmeier et al. whereas moral compass is the individual’s own opinion about the scenario itself as well as the impression of other opinions expressed within the context.
Secondly, Johnen et al. suggest that what drives participation is a desire for social recognition.
This addresses the individual’s desire for social recognition where the goal is to gain positive and social recognition by others. In the context of an online environment, this is seen in likes, replies, retweets, positive reactions, etc. The findings of the study suggested that the moral compass was mainly influenced by the perceived appropriateness of criticizing the brand, meaning that people would rather criticize the brand due to the “bandwagon effect” rather than their individual intrinsic values. Moreover, the results suggested that high engagement in the post increased people’s level of compliance with the prevalent attitudes towards the brand.
3. Method
This chapter will introduce the selection process for the empirical material, it will also explain the quantitative research method (CDA) which has been used to analyze the material, and lastly it will provide an assessment of the overall research approach.
The paper uses a qualitative content analysis method. This method appeared to be the most appropriate as the main purpose of the study is not to generalize the findings but to analyze particular texts. The analysis is based on Fairclough's three-dimensional model, which consists of the text level, the discursive practice, and the sociocultural practice. Given, however, that the analysis focuses mostly on the Facebook post and the comment section we have mainly focused the critical discourse analysis (CDA) on the first and second dimensions of the model.
Fairclough´s model will be given a more profound explanation in chapter 3.4.
3.1 Selection process and data limitation
The link to the interview with Greekazo was published on Malou Efter Tio's Facebook page on the 6th of December, 2019, the same day as the program aired. Shortly after the Facebook publication, several Facebook users left comments on the post. During the time this writing, the total share of comments is 415, and out of this number, 19 were published on the same day as the Facebook post. These 19 comments were selected for analysis with the motivation that we assumed that the reflections in these comments were mostly individual opinions and not reflections influenced by the media ecology since the event had not been discussed in the media thus far. In the days that followed the interview, several media influencers began discussing the story, consequently creating several social media discussions on various platforms, which then directed attention to the original Facebook post. In the news media, we noted that within three days of the initial Facebook publication by Malou Efter Tio, there had been five news articles from five different news magazines reporting about the interview, some of which referred directly to the Facebook post. For this reason, we decided only to investigate the comments added on the 6th of December as these comments were more inclined not to be biassed or influenced by the media ecology.
