Tabloidization in Swedish news media? The ongoing pandemic in focus

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Tabloidization in Swedish news media? The ongoing pandemic in focus

A quantitative content analysis of how Swedish news media communicates about the COVID-19 vaccine

Tabloidisering i svenska nyhetsmedier? Den pågående pandemin i fokus En kvantitativ innehållsanalys hur svensk nyhetsmedia kommunicerar om COVID-19 vaccinet

Annie Brandelid and Evelina Eklund

Faculty of Humanities and Social Science

Media and Communication: Digital Media and Analysis 15 HP

Susanne Almgren 01/06/2021

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Abstract

In times of crises such as pandemics, wars or natural disasters, the responsibility of the news media increases. Previous research has shown that people in crisis tend to seek information in traditional media and find it the most reliable source. Today's media landscape has faced a new paradigm shift in the form of digitalization that has had an extensive impact on society and information is now more easily available to the public. As a result, this study will examine the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic with a focus on vaccination, which has received strong media attention in Sweden. The purpose of this study is to contribute with new research by analyzing how Sweden's largest morning newspaper Dagens Nyheter and the largest evening newspaper Aftonbladet communicated regarding the COVID-19 vaccine. The study's four research

questions aim to investigate whether there are any differences or similarities in how Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter communicated through source power, tabloidization, and dimensions from previous research:

RQ1. How does Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter use and mention sources in their articles?

RQ2. How are the articles conducted in Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter regarding focus dimensions (societal or individual, episodic or thematic)?

RQ3. How are the articles conducted in Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter regarding style dimensions (personal or impersonal, emotional or unemotional)?

RQ4. Do the articles in Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter have tendencies of tabloidization based on the content and headline (positive or negative, match between headline and text)?

To answer the four research questions, a quantitative content analysis has been used by

analyzing a total of 200 newspaper articles over a six-month period. With assistance of the tool Retriever, 100 articles from each newspaper were retrieved and produced through an unbound random selection. With help of the designed code sheet and the code book the units have been analyzed in SPSS. The theoretical framework is based on the basic principles of journalism, from event to news, agenda-setting, framing, and tabloidization. The data have been analyzed, reflected and discussed with the theoretical framework along with the previous research, the results show that Swedish media has shown a high scale of objectivity however, tendencies of tabloid permeate in both newspapers. The most important finding of the study is the indication that Dagens Nyheter, which according to previous research tends to cover hard news, instead strive against further tabloidized news coverage.

Keywords: Tabloidization, news media, COVID-19 vaccine, hard and soft news.

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Abstrakt

I tider av kriser så som pandemier, krig eller naturkatastrofer ökar nyhetsmedias ansvar. Tidigare forskning har visat att människor i kris tenderar att söka efter information i traditionella medier för att hitta den mest pålitliga källan. Dessutom har dagens medielandskap stött på ett nytt paradigmskifte i form av digitalisering som har haft en vidsträckt påverkan på samhället och information är nu lättare tillgänglig för allmänheten. Som ett resultat kommer denna studie att undersöka den pågående COVID-19-pandemin med fokus på vaccination, som har fått mycket uppmärksamhet i media. Syftet med denna studie är att bidra med ny forskning genom att analysera hur Sveriges största morgontidning Dagens Nyheter och den största kvällstidningen Aftonbladet kommunicerat angående COVID-19-vaccinet. Studiens fyra forskningsfrågor syftar till att undersöka om det finns några skillnader eller likheter i hur Aftonbladet och Dagens Nyheter kommunicerat genom källkraft, tabloidisering och dimensioner från tidigare forskning:

RQ1. Hur använder och nämner Aftonbladet och Dagens Nyheter källor i sina artiklar?

RQ2. Hur är artiklarna i Aftonbladet och Dagens Nyheter utformade gällande fokusdimensioner (samhällelig eller individuell, episodisk eller tematisk)?

RQ3. Hur är artiklarna i Aftonbladet och Dagens Nyheter utformade gällande stildimensioner (personlig eller opersonlig, känslomässig eller okänslomässig)?

RQ4. Har artiklarna i Aftonbladet och Dagens Nyheter tendenser till tabloidisering baserat på innehåll och rubrik (positiv eller negativ, matchning mellan rubrik och text)?

För att svara på de fyra frågorna har en kvantitativ innehållsanalys använts genom att analysera totalt 200 tidningsartiklar under en sexmånadersperiod. Med hjälp av verktyget Retriever har 100 artiklar från varje tidning valts ut genom ett obundet slumpmässigt urval. Med hjälp av det utformade kodschemat och kodboken har enheterna analyserats i SPSS. Det teoretiska ramverket bygger på journalistikens grundläggande principer, från händelse till nyheter, agenda-setting, framing och tabloidisering. Datan har analyserats, reflekteras och diskuteras med hjälp av teoretiska ramen samt tidigare forskning. Resultaten visar att de svenska medierna har kommunicerat med en hög grad av objektivitet, men att tabloidiseringen genomsyrar båda tidningar. Studiens viktigaste resultat visar bland annat att Dagens Nyheter, som enligt tidigare forskning tenderar att rapportera hårda nyheter, istället lutar mot en mer tabloidisering i sin nyhetsrapportering.

Nyckelord: Tabloidisering, nyhetsmedia, COVID-19-vaccin, hårda och mjuka nyheter.

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Acknowledgments

This thesis is co-authored by Annie Brandelid and Evelina Eklund. We certify that both co- authors have jointly written on all parts of the thesis and taken an even distribution of commitment, responsibility, and time to fulfill the thesis.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank our supervisor and course coordinator Michael Karlsson for giving us advice, guidance, and feedback throughout this semester.

01/06-2021 - Annie Brandelid and Evelina Eklund

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Table of figures

FIGURE 7.1 DATES OF ARTICLES 42

FIGURE 7.2. RQ1: HOW DOES AFTONBLADET AND DAGENS NYHETER USE AND MENTION SOURCES IN

THEIR ARTICLES? 43

FIGURE 7.3. RQ2: HOW ARE THE ARTICLES CONDUCTED IN AFTONBLADET AND DAGENS 45 NYHETER REGARDING FOCUS DIMENSIONS (SOCIETAL OR INDIVIDUAL, EPISODIC OR THEMATIC)? 45

FIGURE 7.4. RQ3: HOW ARE THE ARTICLES CONDUCTED IN AFTONBLADET AND DAGENS 46 NYHETER REGARDING STYLE DIMENSIONS (PERSONAL OR IMPERSONAL, EMOTIONAL OR

UNEMOTIONAL)? 46

FIGURE 7.5. RQ4: DO THE ARTICLES IN AFTONBLADET AND DAGENS NYHETER HAVE TENDENCIES OF TABLOIDIZATION BASED ON THE CONTENT AND HEADLINE (POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE, MATCH

BETWEEN HEADLINE AND TEXT)? 47

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1. Introduction

A new structural trend has emerged that shows that news coverage has shifted from hard news into soft news, which indicates a further tabloidized media landscape (Plasser, 2005).

Tabloidization can be shown in news coverage through scandals, entertainment, incident-based, and personality-oriented in order to attract a wider audience (Patterson, 2000). Furthermore, during crises such as pandemics, wars, or natural disasters, news media's responsibility and influence increase. Media has an extensive impact on what the public will have opinions on and there is a strong connection between what the media chooses to pay attention to and what issues people consider important (McCombs & Shaw, 2006). Previous research states that during crises, people tend to seek information in traditional media and find it to be the most reliable source.

News media has the crucial ability to communicate important information to the public as they rely upon the information given (Weibull & Wadbring, 2014). In late 2019, a virus began to spread from the Chinese city Wuhan to other countries across the world. During the spring of 2020, the virus SARS-CoV-2 and the virus disease COVID-19 spread rapidly and caused international threats to human health. The virus precipitates countries to close borders, encounter curfews, and forbid human contact. On March 11 the World Health Organization (2020) declared COVID-19 as a pandemic that will soon affect all countries in the world. At first, Sweden was reached by minor news of the new virus. However, the news coverage changed its tone and within a few weeks, the topic dominated the Swedish news media (Truedson &

Johansson, 2021). Throughout history, the world has fought against several viruses and pandemics such as the swine flu A (H1N1) in 2009 which caused a large information flow in Swedish news media, although the world was facing a new paradigm shift in the form of

digitalization. This led to fundamental changes for the Swedish media society (Strömbäck, 2009).

Digitalization has had an extensive impact on society and businesses. Its development has increased exponentially, and information is now more easily accessible for the audience (Anschober et al., 2018).

The current pandemic has been followed by an excessive amount of information for over a year and as right now, the COVID-19 vaccine is a major focus in the news media. The high-intense communication regarding the pandemic has increased in line with the death toll and during the first months of the pandemic, the news coverage was alarming rather than reassuring. In Swedish news media, the pandemic seems to have been not only a health crisis but also a societal crisis (Truedson & Johansson, 2021). Due to the role of news media as information communicators, and their influence over the audience and society, it is important to be able to understand how

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they cover crises. This thesis will examine how the Swedish news media communicates about the COVID-19 vaccine with support from the theory of tabloidization through two of the largest newspapers in Sweden Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter (Svanfeldt, 2021). Since Aftonbladet belongs to the category evening press, and Dagens Nyheter morning press, they are based on different media conventions. In today's media landscape, the different types of media have been forced to compete for the audience's attention, which has contributed to Swedish news media becoming more commercialized and market driven (Jönsson & Strömbäck, 2005). From this perspective, it is interesting to investigate whether the reporting of the COVID-19 vaccine between the newspapers may have differed or resemble each other.

1.1 Disposition

The first part of the thesis will provide an introduction followed by the research problem, research gap, and limitations. The section of background will provide the purpose, research questions, and lastly introduce the definitions of terms to ensure that the reader will understand the thesis the way as the co-authors intend. Further, the section of theoretical framework will be included and subsequently the section of previous research. A summary and a section of how the theory/previous research will be applied to the thesis will sum up each section. This has been included to give the reader a recap on what the theoretical framework and previous research contained to understand how the frameworks will be used. The section thereby will present the method and empirical material, this section will include what quantitative content analysis is, briefly provide the empirical background, and will also include the data collection, sampling, procedure, operationalization, validity, reliability, generalizability, ethical aspect, and reflection of method choice. Further, a section with the results will be provided followed by the analysis and discussion, and the section after will present the conclusion, followed by future research and lastly implication for society and profession. Reference list, appendix, and figures will be shown in the very end of the thesis.

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2. Research problem

Examining how the media sets the agenda is relevant for society from several different

perspectives. In media research, it has long been studied both what the media reports on, as well as, what effects the media have on public opinion. During a crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic, it is critical for effective information sharing (Paton, 2008). Therefore, it is crucial to examine in-depth how the current pandemic and vaccination is communicated in the Swedish news media as well as in different media types. With the increased media supply, a more market- oriented content has emerged, which mainly aims to sell the news to the audience (Jönsson &

Strömbäck, 2005). These events have led to news organizations focusing on news that they think people are interested in, instead of news that the audience should take part in. Additionally, researchers have seen a new shift in tabloidization where media content has been transformed into a breakdown of hard news such as politics, economics, and societal in favor of soft news such as emotions, fears, individual (Strömbäck, 2008; Esser, 1999; Plasser, 2005). The

tabloidization of news can be seen as beneficial for increasing sales of tempting content (Esser, 1999), which makes it interesting to examine how the Swedish media has acted during a

prevailing pandemic that affects the whole of society. As previously mentioned in the introduction, the different Swedish media types have been forced to compete for people's

attention, which has contributed to a further commercialized and market-driven media landscape (Jönsson & Strömbäck, 2005). For that reason, there is a need to examine competition and tabloidization in the industry, in this case between Sweden's largest morning newspaper Dagens Nyheter and the largest evening newspaper Aftonbladet. Additionally, news sharing enhances efficiency throughout different predicaments, therefore, communication plays a crucial role for the society during crises (Paton, 2008). Media possesses the power as gatekeepers who can filter and present health information to the public and in ways, media is a key to effective health sharing by encoding, sharing, and displaying news to the public (Marinescu & Mitu, 2016). The agenda-setting theory by McCombs and Shaws (1993) shows that the priorities in the news have an impact on audience priorities. In other words, the way the media reports can directly change what news the audience are thinking of. There is also evidence that the design of news has measurable behavioral consequences on people (McCombs & Shaws, 1993). The agenda-setting theory will however be more discussed in detail under the theoretical foundations. The media is the most effective way to reach the public in a short time. In such a manner, the public's perception of risks and related behaviors changes due to the approach the media chooses to communicate in crisis situations (Chang, 2012). With this in mind, changes in how news is produced and consumed have also given rise to misinformation, disinformation, and even so-

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called ‘fake news.’ Given the great interest in how the media communicates about pandemics, we believe that our study has great societal relevance and can be used for future research on how different types of media report during pandemics and vaccines.

2.1 Research gap

Since the Corona pandemic has lasted for over a year and is receiving immense media attention, it is highly interesting to investigate how the Swedish media has communicated about the

vaccination against the pandemic that is ongoing. The relationship between different media types and their news coverage is an interesting and relevant subject area from an extracurricular

perspective as well as from an internal science perspective. The study will primarily focus on examining differences and similarities in how the two largest morning and evening newspapers in Sweden communicate about the COVID-19 vaccine over a six-month period. There is previous research in the field on how the media has communicated during crises and diseases (Ghersetti &

Andersson Odén, 2010; Joye, 2010; Fidler, 2004). However, as the COVID-19 pandemic takes place in a more digitized media landscape, unlike when the latest pandemic Swine flu (H1N1) took place in 2009, social and digital media was not as widespread as today. We will examine 200 digital articles in order to distinguish the differences in news reporting and in their capacity to set headlines and content. Yet our hope is that since the COVID-19 vaccination is ongoing and the intense coverage in Swedish media, that it can contribute to new knowledge to media research on how different types of media communicate about an ongoing pandemic.

2.2 Limitations of the study

Within the framework of this study, delimitations have been drawn for the choice of newspapers and articles. The purpose of the study is to investigate how the Swedish news media

communicated regarding the COVID-19 vaccine and thus we have chosen to delimit and place the primary focus on two different media types: morning and evening newspapers. To shed light on the general reporting of the media rather than reporting from individual media, we have chosen to use the two largest morning and evening newspapers in Sweden: Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter. After that, 100 articles from each magazine were selected through an unbound random selection and downloaded and retrieved through the tool Retriever, which we had access to through Karlstad University. Another limitation for this study was the delimitation of ideas.

Our first research ideas were based on how the news media reports about the COVID-19 vaccine and how the audience would respond to that. We realized pretty fast that the thesis would have been too extensive and with the time limit it would not be suitable to conduct both quantitative

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content analysis and a survey with the results that we would be proud of presenting. A further distinct limitation is the fact that is an ongoing pandemic, which means that the units are

representing a short period of time and are not covering the overall presentation of how Swedish news media communicates about the COVID-19 vaccine. A full cover of the media

representation of the pandemic and vaccine in Sweden should be conducted a year or years after the end of the pandemic, and as well include a larger selection of Swedish newspapers.

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3. Background

This section will provide the purpose of the thesis, the four research questions, and the last section in terms of definitions to be able to fully understand the thesis. The empirical background will be provided in 6.2.

3.1 Purpose

The purpose of this study is to compare how the Swedish news media have communicated about the COVID-19 vaccine through the two largest newspapers: Aftonbladet as an evening paper and Dagens Nyheter as a morning newspaper. The pandemic has been reported frequently in the media since it started to spread at the end of 2019 and early 2020. The Swedish news media reports several times a day about the Coronavirus and the vaccine which affects the public, the country, and the world. It is of interest to examine if there is a connection between the chosen theories and how the Swedish news media presents a world health emergency. Since the two newspapers are based on different media conventions it is crucial to examine the connection as well as the difference between them in the news coverage. In addition, the aim is also to

investigate if the articles headlines and content are tabloidized in form of soft and hard news, this is further discussed in in our theory part (Reinemann et al., 2012).

3.2 Research Questions

This study intends to investigate how the two different media types and Swedish newspapers Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter have reported about the COVID-19 vaccine. The research questions are based on theories and previous research that are further discussed in section 4 and 5 and is addressing the following questions:

RQ1. How does Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter use and mention sources in their articles?

RQ2. How are the articles conducted in Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter regarding focus dimensions (societal or individual, episodic or thematic)?

RQ3. How are the articles conducted in Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter regarding style dimensions (personal or impersonal, emotional or unemotional)?

RQ4. Do the articles in Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter have tendencies of tabloidization based on the content and headline (positive or negative, match between headline and text)?

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3.3 Definitions of terms

This section will shortly clarify and identify words and terms that will be used in the thesis. A definition of terms is included to assure that the reader will comprehend the terms and words as the writer desires.

● COVID-19 - is a shortening for CoronaVirus Disease 2019 which is an illness with high contamination risk caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2 (NCI, 2021).

● Coronavirus - is another way to define CoronaVirus Disease 2019 (NCI, 2021).

● News media - the thesis will have a Swedish perspective. News media in this meaning will be referred to the Swedish news media as in digital newspapers.

● Pandemic - is defined by an illness that is spread across international boundaries (WHO, 2021).

● Hard news - Hard news is news that concerns society in various ways most commonly found in politics, international affairs, natural disasters, and socially important issues (Patterson, 2000).

● Soft News - According to Esser (1999) the term tabloid indicates that news media has become commercialized in order to attract the audience with entertainment, illustrations, scandals, and sensation that would please the wider audience.

● Tabloidization - Is that hard news has become soft news which in other terms is defined by commercialized/tabloidization. Tendencies of tabloidization can for instance be focusing on the journalist's comments on a political issue rather than the news itself or statements of a politician (Plasser, 2005).

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4. Theoretical Framework

This section will introduce the theoretical framework that will be used in this thesis. Firstly, 4.1 Tabloidization, the theory of tabloidization will introduce and discuss how hard news has turned into soft news and in regards of the different dimensions by Reinemann et al., (2012). Secondly, at 4.2 the theory of “basic principles of journalism” by Knowlton and Parsons (1995) will present guidelines and the elements for journalism by introducing simple ethics, obligations, and

responsibilities. Thirdly, at 4.3 “from events to news” will present the lifeline of an event and how the events are selected, delimited, valued, and then finds its way to the newspapers through the sub headlines: Gatekeeping, News selection, News value and Media logic. Fourthly, 4.4 the theory of agenda-setting by McCombs (2014) will present how the news media are successful in presenting a topic that the audience will talk about. Lastly, 4.5 the “extended version of agenda- setting theory”: the theory of Framing by Goffman will discuss how the audience perception of a news is dependent on how the news content is presented (Severin & Tankard, 2001). These theories are all connected in how the news media and journalism operates and these are

important in order to investigate if the news media are tabloidized and how they are covering the news of the ongoing crisis of COVID-19. The theories are structed and ranked by relevance.

4.1 Tabloidization; Hard news and Soft news

Hard news and soft news are terms that researchers in the communication field are familiar with and have in over 30 years of research on the definition. Likewise, Reinemann et al., (2012) state the terms have been used to classify news content, and to determine the quality of the news. In addition, researchers have investigated news media and discovered a structural trend that has shown that news coverage has shifted from hard news into soft news (Plasser, 2005). News concerning political and public affairs has become more personalized and a further privatization point of view about politics has eventuated. Tendencies of tabloidization can for instance be focusing on the journalist's comments on a political issue rather than the news itself or statements of a politician (Plasser, 2005). Researchers have then been interested in why media content has transformed from hard news into infotainment and tabloidization (soft news), also how the content has changed, and what effects it might have or already have on the audience (Reinemann et al., 2012). However, according to Reinemann et al., (2012), the terms of hard news and soft news are yet not specifically classified, and researchers do not agree on what the terms signify. According to Esser (1999), the term tabloid indicates that news media has become commercialized to attract the audience with scandals, entertainment, illustrations, and sensation

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that would please the wider audience. A short and concise description of tabloidization is according to Esser (1999) degradation of “hard news” to benefit for scandals, sex, and

infotainment. Not to mention, tabloidization will appear as beneficial for the media agencies to increase sales by having tempting content (Esser, 1999).

According to Patterson (2000) hard news is news that concerns society in various ways most commonly found in politics, international affairs, natural disasters, and socially important issues.

News that is not categorized by hard news is identified as soft news. Soft news can be identified by some characteristics, for instance more incident-based, sensational, personality-oriented, and entertainment-based which will attract the audience (Patterson, 2000). Furthermore, Strömbäck (2008) states that hard news often is focused on social areas of the society which for instance includes politics and economics. While soft news is often written to desire emotions, fears, and threats (Strömbäck, 2008). Another characteristic feature for soft news is negative reporting which is an inherent feature of soft news or tabloidization (Semetko & Schoenbach, 2003).

However, as previously mentioned the terms of hard and soft news differ among different researchers and scholars (Reinemann et al., 2012). Tabloidization will be measured and based on the terms focus and style dimension by Reinemann et al., (2012). The terms are defined and used in this thesis to determine in which way the articles have shown tendencies of tabloidization.

Focus dimensions can be measured in two different ways. According to Reinemann et al., (2012) focus dimension 1 can determine if the article has a societal or individual perspective, and the focus dimension 2 it is possible to measure if the article is episodic or thematic. Style dimension can in the same way be measured in two different ways as well. Style dimension 1 will provide with the information, if the article is written in a personal or impersonal perspective, and style dimension 2 will determine if the article is written in an emotional or unemotional way

(Reinemann et al., 2012). A complete description of focus and style dimensions will be given in the operationalization.

4.2 Basic principles of journalism; code of ethics

Knowlton and Parsons (1995) claim that the leading organization of journalism known as the Society of Professional Journalists argues that the news media’s duty and responsibility is to serve and enlighten the audience with the truth and with facts. The Society of Professional Journalists states that with responsibility in that manner is that the news media carries the obligation to conduct news reports with intelligence, objectivity, accuracy, and fairness (Knowlton & Parsons,

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1995). The requirements are stated below;

• Responsibility

The first one, responsibility which indicates that the audience has the right to know of news that concerns them as well as has the right to know the news media's agenda. The purpose of the news media is to enlighten the audience with opinion and according to Knowlton and Parson (1995) who states that the news media's purpose is to “serve the general welfare”.

• Freedom of the press

The freedom of the press was founded to restrain and to be a non-negotiable right of the

audience in a free society. Knowlton and Parsons (1995) states that “it carries with it the freedom and the responsibility to discuss, question, and challenge actions and utterances of our

government and of our public and private institutions”. Having that said, it maintains the journalist’s right to discuss undesirable opinions and having the privilege to settle with the audience (Knowlton & Parsons, 1995).

• Ethics

The most important ethical aspect is that the journalist and news media must be free from all other interests than the public’s interest and the truth. The journalists are responsible for conducting news that should not get in any conflicts with the audience or employees. Political interest, private sources, statements without evidence, and plagiarism is devious and undesirable (Knowlton & Parsons, 1995).

• Accuracy and objectivity

The audience trust is the foundation of all valuable journalism. Every journalist should always have in heart that the truth is the absolute goal as well as being objective, additionally news reports should always be impartial and free of opinion. According to Knowlton and Parsons (1995) there is no excuse for lack of knowledge or inaccuracy as a journalist. It is the journalist's obligation to inform with reliable sources and to conduct news with corresponding headlines and articles. Lastly, if an article is written by the journalists with their own or a proponent's thoughts, conclusions, and interpretations the article must be labeled as such (Knowlton & Parsons, 1995).

• Fair Play

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According to Knowlton and Parson (1995) the journalists should at all times respect the individual’s personal lives, rights, and well-being of those who have contributed to the news reports. An important element of journalism is to encourage a healthy relationship between the journalism and the audience. It is therefore significant that the news media should never satisfy the audience with unhealthy curiosity of details in crime or vice (Knowlton & Parsons, 1995).

• Pledge

The basic principles of journalism; codes of ethics are intended to maintain and strengthen the relationship of trust and honor between the journalists and the audience. Society should encourage the individual journalists to behave and act on the basic principles of journalism, to encourage journalists’ publications, and broadcasters to act on their responsibility to frame codes of ethics to incorporate the employers and the employees to follow these guidelines (Knowlton

& Parsons, 1995).

4.3 From event to news

This theory section will introduce a brief description of how events become news and how the news are selected, delimited and sorted to be placed in the newspapers. The sub headlines that will be included in this section are Gatekeeping, News selection, News value and Media logic. All these are connected and are theoretical reasons of why a specific happening becomes news.

• Gatekeeping

Gatekeeping is a term often used in news contexts. The first studies on gatekeeping showed that the news back then was mainly covering events of politics on a national and international level, and as well about the news that was of the audience's interest. The main reason for a selection as such was due to limited space in the newspaper (Nord & Strömbäck, 2005). Other possible reasons why news must be limited according to Weibull and Wadbring (2014) are firstly, the most important one, the financial resource, other reasons could also be the organizational culture, role perception, journalists, news agency, internal decision-making, or which company leader who determines. This kind of delimitation was in turn given its own term called intra-individual gatekeeping processes (Weibull & Wadbring, 2014; Nord & Strömbäck, 2005). According to Nord and Strömbäck (2005), the selection of the news editorials was based on the journalists' experience and determined how to distinguish events and phenomena that can be transformed into selling news. The journalists will subsequently choose the news and events that are

convenient and news that they feel comfortable with, which can have great significance for what

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is selected as news (Nord & Strömbäck, 2005).

• News Selection

Of all the number of events, there are significantly more events than what is presented in the news. What the news editorials manage to focus on and write about can never correspond to what reality looks like, as it is only a small sample of all national and international events (Weibull

& Wadbring, 2014). Alternative reasons that are decisive for the news selection are the time limit and deadlines, however, the news format is also significant as there must be a reasonable and suitable spot for the news to be presented (Nord & Strömbäck, 2005). The ideal of objectivity, which is a basic criterion for journalists, becomes in this case completely impossible to achieve because the delimitation is subjective. On the other hand, major events such as disasters and world news will always have a safe spot (Weibull & Wadbring, 2014). In news selection, it is important to include a variety of news, as both “hard” and “soft” news which can attract a wider audience (Nord & Strömbäck, 2005; Berkowitz, 1997). Journalists usually delimit the news to what the audience considers important and to a large extent adapt the delimitation to what could be of interest to the audience (Gans, 2004). Critics in the field claim that journalists distort and angle their articles that mislead the audience. The journalists' defense to the criticism is that their duty is to present and convey the news in such a way that the news becomes comprehensible (Wadbring & Weibull, 2014). As previously mentioned, the limitations of resources and deadlines are very important factors of the news delimits. The greater the time pressure the journalists are exposed to, the greater the risk that the news selection will summarize other established

newspapers and sources (Nord & Strömbäck, 2005).

• News Value

The news value relates to both gatekeeping and news selection. What journalists write about is based on what is of interest, however, not all articles may be of interest for any individual. It is yet not clear what factors that are dependent and will make an event become news. However, Weibull and Wadbring (2014) claims that some distinct features seen on news events are any of these following; simple, dramatic, important events that evoke emotions that take place nearby, have negative elements, or an event that has been going on for a long period of time. As previously mentioned, major disasters and world news will always take place in both local and national news media. However, small local news will most likely never get to the national media newspapers unless it is a very dramatic event. News that is spread in a society is usually related to the society's ideology and the level of economic development, i.e., Dramatic or significant news in city or

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country X may not be considered as news in city or country Y (Weibull & Wadbring, 2014).

According to Weibull and Wadbring (2014), an event that is ongoing has the greatest news value and outdated news has a lower value. Additionally, if the news doesn't affect the audience the audience will not be as interested. Likewise, if news takes place far away the less likely it will become news which will be displayed below; a figure by Henk Prakke which Weibull and Wadbring (2014) have cited from the book Kommunikation der Gesellschaft, 1969.

(Weibull & Wadbring, 2014)

The graph above shows different dimensions of news value. It measures three factors: time, culture, and location. The graph indicates what is considered important and how a news will achieve a high news value, however, a criticism of the graph is that the model does not introduce what should be a news. According to Weibull and Wadbring (2014) news values are dependent on norms and what the audience finds interesting. On the other hand, Swedish journalism is equivalent throughout the nation. The main reason is that the Swedish education system is homogeneous and the journalists' interactions with the news are usually the same (Weibull &

Wadbring, 2014).

• Media logic

Besides the eventful factors there are also media related factors that matter to news selection and news value. As previously mentioned, great events will most likely get to the national or

international news media, however, some other important aspects to have in mind is that news selection and news value will be affected according to the media logic which demands a

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dramaturgical narrative (Nord & Strömbäck, 2005). According to Nord and Strömbäck (2005) the media logic will most likely value threats and conflict, especially between different distinct parties with different characters. These kinds of news events will get a larger media attention than other news because it favors journalistic storytelling. Visualization and pictures are as well

important regarding media logic, the journalistic storytelling becomes even simpler and more comprehensive. With this in mind, advanced reasoning and potential news are better visualized in tables, diagrams, and unusual visualizations. To this point, it is considerable to evaluate how valuable the news is to monitor and report on. If the potential news is expensive, it will less likely become a news that will take place. Every news that is conducted today is dependent on making profit and being sellable. Nord and Strömbäck (2005) means that all journalism and the media agency will convey news that the companies themselves believe are in the audience interest.

4.4 Agenda-setting

All I know is just what I read in the newspapers (Rogers, n.d., p.17; as cited in McCombs, 2014, p.17)

The citation of Will Rogers illuminates how the reality for the audience looks like. The audience who consumes news in various ways receives the news reports in a secondary reality constructed by the journalists’ perception of the events and reports. According to McCombs (2014), the agenda-setting theory indicates that the news media cannot tell the audience what to think, however, they are successful in presenting a topic that the audience will have an opinion and talk about (McCombs, 2014). To get the audience’s attention, the news media's role is to identify the key issues and topics and to influence the audience’s perception of what the most important issues on the public's agenda are daily. This is what McCombs refers to what is being called the agenda-setting role of the news media (McCombs, 2014). McCombs (2014) claims the audience has always had a lot of opinions, but merely a few concerns matter to them. Accordingly, the more the news media emphasizes a topic or an issue, the more the audience will suppose that the issue is of value and most important. Which in turn means that the news media will set the public agenda (McCombs, 2014).

4.5 Framing

The theory of framing can be referred to as an extension of agenda-setting theory which was described in section 4.4. The framework was first developed by sociologist Erving Goffman and became a proponent of framing after the book was published in 1974. The theory of framing indicates that the audience’s perception of news depends on how the content is presented

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(Severin & Tankard, 2001). According to Eid and Dakroury (2012), framing is generally seen in news coverage, however, framing can occur in other contexts as well. Eid and Dakroury (2012) argues that research about framing has shown that media may have an impact on the audience’s interpretations of a topic or an issue. News coverage frames can be seen on headlines, quotes, and leads, which Eid and Dakroury (2012) refers to a category called “advanced organizer”. The key to framing is based on how the news coverage is presented. With that in mind, news media can emphasize, and highlight determined information and then present it with a particular context to either encourage or discourage the audience’s perception (Severin & Tankard, 2001).

4.6 Summary and theories applied to the thesis

The first theory of Tabloidization; Hard news and Soft news indicates that news has evolved from hard news to soft news to attract the wider audience (Esser, 1999). However, the terms of hard news and soft news are yet not agreed by all researchers, anyway this thesis will use the terms hard news as of news concerning politics, public affairs, and economics while soft news will be used in the sense of sensational, scandals, entertaining and personalized news. The theory of tabloids will be used to discuss the results of the variables of the different dimensions by Reinemann et al., (2012) which was briefly provided in this section, however, it will be properly discussed in the section of operationalization and is connected to the research question two and three which is “How are the articles conducted in Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter regarding focus dimensions (societal or individual, episodic or thematic)?” and “How are the articles conducted in Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter regarding style dimensions (personal or impersonal, emotional or unemotional)?” The second theory is the basic principles of journalism which indicates how a journalist should conduct news in a responsible and ethical way to gain the audience's trust and maintain their obligation of telling the truth and being objective (Knowlton & Parsons, 1995). The theory of basic principles of

journalism will be used to discuss the results from the variables and to provide information to the research question four which is “Do the articles in Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter have tendencies of tabloidization based on the content and headline (positive or negative, match between headline and text)? “. The third theory indicates and visualizes the journey of how an event reaches the headlines and articles, this theory will contribute with information that can be useful to discuss the results of the variables that are connected to the research question four. The fourth and fifth theories, are the theories of agenda-setting and Framing, which are important elements to understand how the news media can affect the audience's perception. Other important elements from the two

theories are that the news media may have an impact on the audience’s interpretations of a topic or an issue. The variables that are of interest to investigate with these theories are the variables of

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headlines and content which relates to research question four. Research question 1 which is “How does Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter use and mention sources in their articles?” will be covered by the researcher Gans (2004) and Reich (2009) in the section below; previous research.

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5. Previous Research

In this chapter, previous research that forms the basis of the study will be presented. The research deals with the following topics: the digitalization, professionalization, decentralization, and commercialization of the media landscape. The media structure in the form of morning and evening papers. News coverage on previous diseases, and the functions of journalism as in headlines, content and sources.

5.1 Changes in the media landscape

The changes that have taken place in the media landscape in recent years have created new conditions for the important communication between media and the audience in crisis situations (Eriksson, 2014). Professionalization, decentralization, and commercialization have had a major impact on news coverage. Researchers Djerf-Pierre and Weibull (2001) have examined the Swedish media development from a societal perspective, including the development of

journalistic practice. Also, the relationship of journalism to the prevailing climate of opinion in society and to the audience. Modern society is not conceivable without media and likewise, does the audience expect to retrieve major societal events and important information from the press.

However, this has not always been the case whereas what now is perceived as self-evident, was in the middle of 1900-century considered inappropriate and doubtful (Djerf-Pierre & Weibull, 2001). Prior to the 1960s, the news was characterized by precautionary measures and respect.

During that time further critical and questioning news began to be covered in the Swedish radio and television, which the audience today takes for granted and considered to be one of the media´s most important tasks. During the 1990-century commercialization was used as a concept to characterize new journalism. Djerf-Pierre and Weibull (2001) argue that the commercialization phase has meant that news organizations shift to focus on reporting events that are considered to interest the audience rather than what is important for the audience to take part in. In addition, indicates Eriksson (2014) what mainly governs the selection of news is the unifying effect of technological advances and economic changes that have affected the media landscape. The increased commercialization of the media system is a starting point for which production conditions are most dominant today. The Swedish news media´s economy and content have changed markedly in recent times, the increased supply and the intensified competition between companies have contributed to market adaptation and cost awareness. This means that the newspapers must be profitable and that the content risks displacing what is more central from a democratic point of view: informative and debating (Eriksson, 2014).

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Another key change in the media landscape is digitalization which had a major impact on our entire contemporary society and its development is taking place exponentially (Anschober et al., 2018). Information is now more easily accessible, and several industries have seen major changes.

One of them is the newspaper industry, whose traditional business model is threatened and has led to them needing to adapt their models and digitize. Digitalization among companies has been going on for a long time and companies are trying to take advantage of new methods of creating competitive advantages (Anschober et al., 2018). The information is becoming more accessible in digital form and computers and mobile phones have become increasingly powerful and can handle the immense amount of information. Although digitalization has been evident among companies for a long time, it is something that is constantly evolving. Technological advances enable new, more efficient solutions to processes that companies can take advantage of to stay at the forefront in the new digital era. Due to digitalization, there have been both positive and negative outcomes. With this in mind, many newspapers have major problems with capitalization on the changing consumption habits that have arisen around the media and news. Furthermore, replacing papers and manual processes with digital software allows newspapers to automatically collect data to see the performance and get live feedback. With this in mind, the digital era is an important element to acknowledge and take into consideration.

5.2 Different types of media

The change in the media landscape has led to a large and multifaceted news offering whereas the newspaper market has developed radically in recent decades. The printed newspaper editions have decreased substantially hence the digitalization. The media structure is of great importance for media consumption, where the larger the range, the more choices (Bergström & Wadbring, 2010). Equivalently, researchers Jönsson and Strömbäck (2005) argued that the increasing competition between Swedish media has led to a more market-oriented and commercializing media landscape. They state that there are three major reasons for this, firstly through the commercial companies that have largely taken over the media supply. Secondly, that a large part of the media market is advertising-financed, and thirdly, through the dominant economic profitability of companies. However, the Swedish media companies are not only purely publicist or commercialized, but they are somewhere between the two (Jönsson & Strömbäck, 2005).

Bergström and Wadbring (2010) have studied the development of Swedish newspapers in the outline of competition and complementarity. They mention that there are five different types of newspapers in Sweden: morning, evening, daily, country, and free newspapers. According to the study, the reading of morning and evening newspapers has increased dramatically. A key finding

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is a decline for the traditional morning newspaper contrary to the free version of newspapers in digital form which increases. Notably, in 1980, the morning newspapers had a large majority of the readers in Sweden, while the evening newspapers had a very low percentage. The conditions for the newspapers have changed since and today about 75 percent read both morning and evening newspapers regularly (Bergström & Wadbring, 2010).

In addition, researcher Strömbäck (2008) studied the similarities and differences of the news coverage in Swedish news selection of morning press, evening press, and TV. In order to explain the differences between the media types, Strömbäck (2008) clarifies that the morning newspapers and the evening newspapers are in two completely separate categories. The morning newspapers focus to a greater extent on hard news which includes politics, administration, and economics that affect the cultural and social areas of society. Whereas the evening newspapers have their main focus on soft news, such as entertainment, sports, and health, with a desire to evoke emotions like fear and threats towards the audience. Strömbäck (2008) however believes that not only negative news is given a place in the news selection in either the morning or evening press.

The selection is more multifaceted and the different media types thus draw attention to both negative and positive events. However, there may be differences when it comes to which to the extent that different media deal with negative news. The news coverage during crises shows that evening newspapers have a higher prominent role than the morning newspapers. Strömbäck (2008) argues that people tend to remember negative information from news, which explains why news media communicates such information. This leads to problems as the media unjustifiably reinforces people's fears during crises. Thus, the news media have an important role in providing the audience with information, yet the focus on crises can lead to an unwarranted fear and vulnerability for the audience. This can lead to negative effects for both individuals, companies, and organizations. For better or worse, crises play a prominent role in the news agenda and in the news selection (Strömbäck, 2008).

5.3 News coverage on previous diseases

Researchers Ghersetti and Andersson Odén (2010) have examined the Swedish news media´s reporting during the swine flu (H1N1) pandemic in 2009 relating to the trust from the audience.

The media's dissemination of news, information, and opinions is of great importance for how people view events in society. The study examines how media consumers have been able to take part in the news reporting on the swine flu, and how they have reacted to the information.

During the summer of 2009, the National Board of Health and Welfare issued information that

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Sweden had a contract with a vaccination company that would be enough to vaccinate the entire Swedish population. The vaccination campaign in Sweden was initially about two things,

identifying and obtaining information about the vaccination plan, as well as, vaccinating the whole Swedish population despite the vaccination skepticism. The study distinguishes that the trust in Swedish news media was reduced during the swine flu pandemic. According to Ghersetti and Andersson Odén (2010), it shows that the reliance was lowered towards the morning news media that previously had a high level of trust, thus, the previous low confidence towards the evening news media was at the same level. The researcher believes that the contributing factor to the low level of trust is that the reporting tends to portray events rather than topics. A further conclusion of the study is that the audience's trust in the media can be damaged by simple and information-oriented reporting instead of more investigative journalism (Ghersetti & Andersson Odén, 2010). Similarly, does Nord and Strömbäck (2005) state that media is the most important source of information during crises. Including their choice of news coverage that may result in a significant consequence for people's perception of reality, as well as their opinions, risk

assessments, and behaviors. Modern society is characterized by means that the audience is mediated and to a large extent gets health and crisis information and knowledge via the media (Nord & Strömbäck, 2005).

An additional study that has investigated how media handled a disease is Fidler (2004) who examined the SARS-CoV-1 or more commonly referred to as SARS, which was mishandled and silenced in Chinese media. In late 2002, a contagious disease infected and killed several people in China, however, the outbreak did not reach the public until February 2003. During the outbreak of the disease, the Chinese authorities restricted any news coverage in the country. The attempt did not succeed as news leaked out through the internet to the rest of the world. The SARS outbreak was covered with an unprecedented amount of news coverage across the world. During this time, China admitted there was a problem with a disease, however, they tried to forbid WHO personnel to visit hospitals in the country. The cover-up destroyed the credibility of the Chinese government, leading to excessive disrepute. Prior to this event, various public health officials and political leaders criticized China´s failure to notify WHO and the rest of the world about the real truth about the SARS virus (Fidler, 2004). Since the SARS outbreak in 2003 and the silence from the Chinese government, new duties for the rest of the world have been introduced to directly report diseases internationally. A broader and deeper international cooperation among states during such events has been improved since the SARS outbreak. Given this expansion with wider surveillance in the media and among states, WHO´s capabilities and efforts strengthen in order

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to intervene more rapidly against virus outbreaks (Fidler, 2004). This event serves as evidence of how important it is to inform the public about global health concerns, which the media plays a crucial role in.

With this in mind, a study conducted by Joye (2010) that similarly to Fidler investigated the media coverage of the SARS outbreak shows that media maintain a hierarchy of power and convey compassion to the news recipients. The study confirms that for the population, disasters only exist when they are covered by the media. Notably, the news coverage became increasingly intensive when WHO declared the SARS virus as a global security threat. The news media had strategies in order to convey the feeling of global panic in regard to the SARS virus. For instance, results showed that the geographical and cultural distance from the affected countries was of great importance for the news value in the international news (Joye, 2010). The news coverage in Europe had an intense period when confirmed cases of SARS were detected in Europe, thus, the coverage then reduced in line with the decreased contagious cases. Joye (2010, p.20) refers to this as “Events happening in neighboring countries, Western-Europe or the USA, and news events with the occurrence of Western victims appear to have a substantially greater chance to be selected and covered in greater detail than others”. The study concludes that news coverage of distant events uses the role of proximity, which is of great importance with how frequently such events will be reported in news media (Joye, 2010).

5.4 Newspapers headlines and content

In journalism, article headlines are considered to fulfill two functions, the first is to summarize and the second to draw attention. Despite this, these functions have been questioned as the headlines do not always represent the content and the readers' understanding can be misled. The headlines have started to direct content in an exciting but non-objective way, which can lead to incorrect representation for the audience (Saxena, 2006). In order to understand this further, researcher Ifantidou (2009) has examined the interpretation of newspaper headlines and how they are designed by virtue of pragmatic norms. Ifantidou (2009) argues that the audience creates their own interpretation when they read an article's title based on background, interest, and assumptions. Which can lead to them not questioning the content but confirming their existing opinion, even though they read the entire article. Furthermore, mentions Dor (2003) that the reader of an article generally views the headlines rather than reading the accompanying content.

The headlines should be clear, concise, and not make it difficult for the audience to understand what the content is concerning. In short, there must be a clear connection between the title and

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the content and be sufficiently summarized for the reader to form a general opinion but with the aim of reading through the entire content, which is not always the case.

An additional factor concerning the entirety of articles is the importance of sources. Gans (2004) has conducted a study that shows that news media are dependent on credible and authoritarian sources. He believes that journalists and sources control the news service, but that it is above all the sources that carry great importance. Journalists and sources are part of a symbiotic

relationship where journalists want context, perspective, and comment, while sources demand that journalists contribute accurate information to the news. The reason why some news takes a larger place in the news media depends on source power and efficiency. It is important for news media and the news coverage to provide several different perspectives from sources, for example from institutions and auctioneers (Gans, 2004). In addition to the fact that sources are highly important for journalism, there is a constant negotiation between journalists and sources, where the parties alternate in the role of active and passive (Reich, 2009). The interaction between the journalist and its sources is the result of obvious and necessary routines. Journalists delight in using regular sources that rank high on a confidence scale, this to avoid skepticism. This interaction forms the basis for articles and this routine is created to streamline journalism and strengthen credibility and ethics in the process (Reich, 2009).

5.5 Summary and previous research applied to the thesis

From the previous research, the focus will mainly be on how morning and evening newspapers can vary in how they report on certain events. Additionally, the power of content, headlines and sources in the articles in each newspaper which relates to research question 1 “How does

Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter use and mention sources in their articles?” and research question 4 “Do the articles in Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter have tendencies of tabloidization based on the content and headline (positive or negative, match between headline and text)?”. This is to later be able to analyze and discuss the results of the study. The increased competition between Swedish media companies has formed a further commercialized media landscape which relates to our aim of the study, to investigate how the Swedish morning and evening paper may or may not differ in their news coverage of the COVID-19 vaccine. Dor (2003) and Ifantidou (2009) findings that the audience often read the headline instead of reading and understanding the whole article. It is therefore important to examine how the headline and content differ during the reporting of the COVID- 19 vaccine and how the newspapers differ or resemble each other. To measure the tabloidization in the headlines and content of the articles, the theory of tabloidization (see 4.1) will be used.

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Additionally, previous research shows that certain news items take a larger place in the news media due to source power and efficiency (Gans, 2004). It is then important for the news media to give the content several different perspectives from credible sources. This information is used in our study to distinguish any differences in content of the articles in each newspaper.

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6. Method and empirical material

The chapter firstly provides a detailed description of the quantitative content analysis that will be used. Then a brief description of the empirical background about Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter is described in 6.2. The study’s material is presented, which consists of 100 articles from each newspaper and describes the data collection and execution. The operationalization of the variables is described in detail and the chapter concludes with a discussion of the studies quality, generalizability and ethics, as well as an account of how we proceeded to make the study's validity and reliability as high as possible.

6.1 Quantitative content analysis

The method that will be used in this study is quantitative content analysis. The method is a beneficial method to use when one aims to make a larger material available for analysis. A systematic and formalized approach is required for the analysis to be able to draw general conclusions from the results on statistical grounds. The quantitative content analysis was based on performance to review the content and examine the transformation of the mass media. Based on assumptions from 1930 and 1940 when attitudes and attitude formation were in focus, researchers claimed that media content had the power to influence the audience’s attitudes and behavior. At that time, the interest was to examine whether the content was objective and balanced (Nilsson, 2010).

The chosen method is suitable for the study we aim to conduct since our study will be examining Swedish news media which is the same category as the starting point for quantitative content analysis, although, back then, traditional newspapers were their research basis. Essential elements of quantitative content analysis are based on four terms: objectivity, systematic, quantitative, and manifest content (Ekström & Larsson, 2010).

6.2 Empirical background

This section will provide a brief background of the empirical material which are Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter. The section is provided to get a picture of each newspaper's background to further investigate the developments and if the newspapers indicate any tendencies of tabloidization.

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6.2.1 Aftonbladet

Aftonbladet founded in 1830 by Lars Johan Hierta is considered one of the first modern and profitable newspapers in Sweden. Hierta had an interest in the English and French press, from which Aftonbladet got its inspiration from. Aftonbladet became a newspaper that contained numerous news items, both in terms of content and politics. Hierta was not only a newspaper publisher, according to Weibull and Wadbring (2014) his occupation was also a liberal opposition man in politics and a working industrialist - two core aspects that were important for

Aftonbladet's character. As a politician, Hierta ran a fierce campaign against the king in his newspaper, which in turn led to the withdrawal forces trying to silence and stop Hierta's opposition. Persistent as Hierta was, Aftonbladet survived on account of the freedom of the press and with Aftonbladets several name changes: Aftonbladet the second...Aftonbladet the thirteenth, Aftonbladet the fourteenth, etc. By this time, Aftonbladet had become so successful that it was not possible to stop Hierta and successfully won the battle against the king. After only a few years, a newspaper edition from Aftonbladet had over 3000 copies, which at that time, was the largest number of copies of one edition of the newspaper in Sweden. With that said,

Aftonbladet’s edition alone had basically the same number of copies as the entire Stockholm press had together (Weibull & Wadbring, 2014).

6.2.2 Dagens Nyheter

Dagens Nyheter was founded in 1864 by Rudolf Wall and had the ambition to create a new newspaper with modern journalism, as Aftonbladet and other Stockholm newspapers have remained the same and seem to live in old patterns, without any updates or developments. Wall's goal was to develop a cheap magazine, which would be easily accessible and be an attractive magazine for the wider audience. Dagens Nyheter became significantly cheaper than other newspapers and the reason why Dagens Nyheter could have an affordable price was mainly that Wall had calculated and based the production on advertisements such as "to rent", "want to buy",

"newborns" etc. that could be withdrawn the cost of distributing Dagens Nyheter, these advertisements did not only increased revenue, but it also received a high reading value.

Beneficial for Dagens Nyheter was that Wall managed to conquer the competitors with news as being a morning paper in compassion to the others as evening papers, which in turn means that the audience who bought Dagens Nyheter got the news before the others who read, for example, Aftonbladet. Dagens Nyheter did not only become successful by being an affordable newspaper, but other factors also that made Dagens Nyheter successful were the well-developed distribution, the fast conducted news, it had simpler language and a clearer outline. According to Weibull and

Tabloidization in Swedish news media? The ongoing pandemic in focus