Elected Officials’ View on Disinformation - On a Municipality level

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Department of Informatics and Media

Master’s Programme in Social Sciences, Digital Media and Society specialization

One-year master’s Thesis

Elected Officials’ View on Disinformation - On a Municipality level

Student: Jenny Björk

Date: June 2020

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Abstract

Many actors in society want to influence the debate and many even want to undermine Swedish democracy, which for example, happened during the corona crisis progress in the spring of 2020. It is easy to fool somebody when one does not have to relate to facts, ethics, and current standards. Disinformation is when misleading and inaccurate information is deliberately disseminated for one’s own gain. It is not a new phenomenon, but the way disinformation is spread changes as society develops. Digital media has made it possible for not only elites to influence the debate, but also private individuals and groups can express their opinions that can have far-reaching consequences for democracy. The purpose of this study was to investigate the spread of disinformation in a local context. By mapping a mid- sized Swedish municipality council’s understanding of disinformation as well as to analyze its potential impact on local democracy, it is possible to raise awareness among decision-makers.

It also intended to explore the council’s discussion on appropriate measures for counteracting disinformation. A qualitative interview was chosen, and the goal was to interview one elected official from each of the eight political parties in the council. Five out of eight political parties are represented in the study. The interviews provided a large and abundant material.

The study’s theoretical framework consists of three political communication theories,

Habermas’s public sphere theory, Chadwick’s hybrid media system and Lazarfeld’s two-step flow theory. Through a thorough analysis and help from the theoretical framework, the aim and research questions of the study could be answered. It turned out that the elected officials both have awareness and understanding of the phenomenon of disinformation. They

mentioned both traditional media and social media as an intermediate, but that the spread of disinformation has increased since the birth of social media. Further they felt that spread of disinformation could be negative for democracy and could lead to tougher debate climate, social vulnerability, not knowing the original source, not wanting to get involved politically etc. When counteracting disinformation in their own social media channels, one could note that respective political parties in the council did not have a clear strategy. And to decrease disinformation’s influence in the municipality, the elected officials want to see increased participation to reduce loneliness which was identified as a problem. This study has

potentially raised awareness in a relatively understudied field which may be of interest in the digital society we live in.

Keywords: Disinformation, municipality, elected officials, public sphere, social media

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... 25 8.2 Research Question 2: What are disinformation’s potential effects on local democracy according to municipality council members? ... 25 8.3 Research Question 3: What are considered appropriate measures for counteracting disinformation in the municipality? ... 27 9. Conclusion ... 29 9.1 Future Research ... 30

References………....

Appendix A- Interview guide ...

Appendix B – Consent form ...

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Table of Figures

Figure 1. Power structure in a municipality………3 Figure 2. Four degrees of response……….6 Figure 3. Gal-Tan scale, political parties in Sweden 2017………...16

List of Tables

Table 1. Respondents area of responsibility in the municipality………..15 Table 2. Response rate from the political parties………..15 Table 3. Represented political parties and their abbreviations……….20

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Acknowledgement

Thanks to my supervisor at Uppsala University, Cecilia Strand, for your guidance and

commitment throughout the process of the study. I would also like to thank Mats Lindskog at Västerås Stad for discussing thesis ideas with me and introduced me to the subject. Also, a big thank you to the elected officials who chose to participate in the study, without you, this study would not have been possible.

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vii Definition of terms:

Disinformation- Intentionally spreading false or misleading information

Västmanland – One of Sweden’s counties where the city of residence is Västerås Abbreviations:

MSB- Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency

SKL- Swedish Association for Local Authorities and Regions

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1. Introduction

In a democracy, there is a free debate, and many actors try to influence our everyday lives, such as political parties, commercial actors, journalists, or even private individuals. Actors share information, knowledge, and perspectives between each other, and Oksanen (2018) describes a problematic type of influence that is considered illegitimate that can harm society with misleading information, the spread of disinformation. Over the years, the Swedish system has been built by an open and permissive dialogue without an actual control of who contributes to social debate. This can be problematic as there are certain actors whose goal is to give a negative picture of Swedish society (MSB, 2017).

The corona eruption has led to a global disinformation pandemic and during the corona crisis’s progress in Sweden in the year of 2020, Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist warned that disinformation could be spread deliberately from various actors, and specifically addressed right-wing alternative media as an example. Right-wing media and other actors have the purpose of diluting the image of Sweden as a country in systemic collapse, who are weak and lack political strength in decision-making. This, to undermine confidence in the state

authorities and political parties (Kausurinen, 2020).

In 2019, the Swedish Security Service identified potential threats to Swedish society and claim that the development of technology gives both state and ideological actors increased capacity to influence Swedish democracy. It is easy to influence people politically through propaganda and modern technology. These new behaviors provide a picture of today’s

political debate. Through digitalization, the debate also becomes cross-border which leads to a greater risk of manipulation from foreign states and therefore it is necessary to see increased awareness generally in society. Russia continues to use military and non-military means of power to influence (Swedish Security Service, 2019:21), indicating that they want to retain their position as a superpower. Digitalization has created mutual dependencies that can contribute to vulnerabilities in society. The unstable political situation in the world today leads to the need for increased knowledge about how authorities and organizations can identify, understand and respond to the spread of disinformation. Campaigns to try to influence community residents have become increasingly sophisticated and is used both in peacetime and war. Disinformation can be used to exploit vulnerabilities, which can impair democracy, legal certainty and human rights. This further leads to the deterioration of free opinion and democratic conversation. Sometimes misleading information can be disseminated covertly to influence decision-making to increase one's own influence, examples of which have been identified in presidential elections in both France (2017) and the United States (2016) (MSB, 2018).

In Sweden it is hard to impose restrictions on the spread of disinformation, the country is a democracy and has four fundamental laws which are more difficult to change than other laws.

They can only be rescinded if the government makes two similar decisions and between the decisions, an election should be held. Two of them, The Freedom of the Press Act and

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Freedom of Expression, expresses the freedom of speech for citizens. They emphasize the right to produce, disseminate and print writings and information without hindrance and censorship in different channels such as media, television, film and technical recordings (Regeringen, 2015). The authorities therefore have no opportunity to extinguish information.

These laws are a democratic pillar and are prerequisite for a state to function and not to violate human rights. However, it makes it difficult in the digital society to identify which information is correct and which information is false as individuals can spread what information they want to anybody with a digital device. This leads to Sweden being

vulnerable to the spread of false information. A prerequisite for counteracting it is to spread awareness and understanding to all actors of society, it creates a defence.

Disinformation can affect community institutions where elected officials and political parties play a central role. On a local level it is possible to get closer to the citizens, Sweden has 290 municipalities (SKR, 2020), Västerås being one of them and will be analyzed in this study. By mapping Västerås municipality council's understanding of disinformation, as well as analyze its potential impact on local democracy will open new perspectives. It will contribute to new and much-needed input in an understudied field. It will also contribute to increased awareness of spread of disinformation of different actors in different channels, which may be of interest in the digital society we live in. Often, community residents take the information they read for granted and do not think about being source critical. The worse a target group is informed of the circumstances of a matter, the easier it is to play with their emotions and influence them (Oksanen, 2018). Thus, there is a general interest in the awareness to the phenomenon as other municipalities in Sweden face the same problems.

1.1 Aim

The study's aim is to map a mid-sized Swedish municipality council's understanding of disinformation as well as analyze its potential impact on local democracy. It also intends to explore the council’s discussion on appropriate measures for counteracting disinformation, as the municipality does not have a clear action plan.

The research questions are:

• How is the awareness level of elected officials on disinformation?

• What are disinformation’s potential effects on local democracy according to municipality council members?

• What are considered appropriate measures on how to counteract disinformation in the municipality?

1.2 Delimitations

The study is limited to one of Sweden’s municipalities, Västerås, but it could show a generalizable result similar to other municipalities. The study could also have been made more extensive by, for example, interviewing more respondents from each political party. But due to superficial conditions, this demarcation was made. The study therefore only shows the

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perspectives of the interviewed elected officials and does not represent the entire municipality council.

2. Background

2.1 Municipality Structure

In Sweden, elected officials in the municipal council are responsible for making all overall decisions in the municipality. They manage the financial situation in and control how the money should be used and decide which areas should be prioritized. The council also has the responsibility to elect board members that coordinate the work of the committees and ensure that the council’s decisions are enforced (Västerås stad, 2019). Elected officials should be equipped to lead a changing society and run a function with great influence from citizens. It is a meaningful mission that includes wrestling with the everyday life of politics (SKR, 2019).

The power structure in a municipality is presented below in figure 1.

Figure 1. Municipality power structure (Västerås stad, 2019)

As an elected representative in a middle-sized municipality council assembly holds a great public responsibility with constant interactions with its citizens. This means that they have great influence and power over a geographical location. Being a representative, one always must be updated and ready to act. Digital media provides further opportunities for dialogues between politicians and citizens and gives citizens a chance to make their voices heard.

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media provide what is described as direct meetings between people. It is considered important that politicians are active on social media as these platforms provide the most extreme opinions and expressions from people (SKR, 2019:14). Strömbäck and Van Aelst (2013) argue that political institutions and political parties cannot avoid adapting to the media as they have become more dependent. By using media proactively and reactively, politicians can incorporate the reactions of the public into decision-making. The degree in the use of media may also vary between political parties as parties in opposition possibly have a higher need to adjust to the media logic than parties in government. The advice from Svergies Kommuner and Regioner (SKR) to politicians is to always be prepared and have a strategy so that they can respond to others’ posts in a thoughtful way. Social media has also led to an increased opportunity to spread

disinformation. This can create polarization and threatening confidence in democracy. On social media, there is no factual review of what is being published which can affect public decision-making (SKR, 2019:15).

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4 2.2 Internal Threats

Overall, Swedish democracy is strong, there are few individuals who question democracy within our national borders. All public decision-making must be based on democratic

government. Sweden has one of the highest measurements in the world when it comes to trust in the democratic institutions, and the media are free to analyze the political power that affects society. However, one of the challenges in Swedish society is the democratic exclusion which reflects the part of the population who do not feel involved and expresses that they do not trust in the state. This may indicate a link between exclusion and social vulnerability and because of this, SKR proposes in-depth citizen dialogues (SKR, 2019:13). As Oksanen (2018) mentions, the worse a target group is informed on different matters, the easier they are to influence and take part of disinformation. Right-wing extreme forces are more often than others identified when it comes to disinformation. New York Times has examined the right- wing nationalist machinery and found that ads that are distributed in right-wing websites in Sweden are links to right-wing extreme websites which is an example of actors in Sweden are also trying to destabilize society. Further, they also claim that young people in a segregated area in Stockholm have been offered money by the Russian state to throw stones and burn up cars in front of the camera. These are examples of different ways of showing a Sweden in crisis (DN, 2019). Swedish Defence Research Agency has also criticized left-wing groups for gathering in different groups on social media to spread propaganda. Animal rights activist groups, anti-fascist action and environment activist groups are mentioned among these as they have also used violence in the past (Gagliano, 2018).

2.3 External Threats in a Swedish Context

It is not only national actors who want to influence Swedish society. According to Oksanen (2018), Russia is the international actor that is trying to influence Sweden the most at this day.

They do this with the aim of creating chaos and giving the image of a Sweden in disrepair, preventing Swedish NATO entry, shatter the EU and delaying Swedish military upgrading (Oksanen, 2018:4). In the spring of 2017, the top commander in chief Michael Bydén and Peter Hultqvist published an article in Dagens Nyheter. They warned for increased risk of Russian impact operations before the defence exercises AURORA 17. Russia is designated to have an active role in spreading disinformation (Hultqvist & Bydén 2017; Holmström 2016).

Thomas (2014) mentions that the strategies of the Russian IT specialists make clear that Russia is putting more focus into IT as key focus in the conduct of war, both in peace and wartime. This to uncover vulnerabilities and to conduct espionage. Swedish authorities therefore require increased understanding of the weaknesses of different social functions and want to plan collaborations between different sectors. Because of this, MSB has, together with Lund University on behalf of the Government written a handbook to help authorities

understand, identify and respond to the spread of disinformation (MSB, 2018). This handbook has proven to be useful not only to state agencies, but also other stakeholders in society.

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3. Previous research

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The chapter begins by presenting a summary on previous research on disinformation, beginning with other Scandinavian examples and ending with international research on the subject. This will allow the reader to understand which direction the thesis will pursue.

3.1 Scandinavian Research on the Subject

In 2018, the municipality of Helsinki published a report to raise awareness about hybrid threats and spread of disinformation to members of municipal councils and authorities, because the world is seeing new types of threats. The report is based on studies of literature, public documents, a survey with members of the council and interviews with experts and is based on the authors opinions. They believe that it is not only the state actors that should prepare for threats and spread of disinformation, but also municipal actors, they are not only a target of influence, they also control many methods to protect cities and its population from threats. To counteract spread of disinformation and hybrid threats they place great emphasis on trust in the state apparatus and the municipality. It is these instances that are the closest to the individual, and trust in these agencies can have a big impact on the state environment, education and health care centers. High trust can therefore positively affect the city

atmosphere and at the same time avoid being hurt by disinformation. To reach this, state and municipal bodies should cooperate and at the same time have good communication with associations and schools. The Finnish population does however have a longstanding culture of overall security and trust in the state apparatus (Harjanne et al, 2018).

Pamment et al (2018) published a report with collaboration from MSB from a Swedish point of view to provide an overview of current thinking on how to counteract disinformation. The report consists of three different chapters which was designed to help communicators at authorities to become aware of the spread of disinformation by understanding, identifying and counteracting. To understand the spread of disinformation they present different influence activities that may occur and explain how it can affect the democratic debate as one needs to know the meaning of influence before one can identify it. Disinformation can happen at a societal, group or individual level and the information can either be constructive, disruptive or distractive. Cognitive hacking is a common way when trying to influence a target. A message must be cognitively processed to have an effect and cannot be forced upon targets (Pamment et al, 2018:30). Therefore, its purpose is to activate psychosocial trigger points to be able to reach a targets vulnerability and emotions and thereby have an influence on them. “Fake news”, satires, cyber-attacks, bots, trolls are common ways of spreading this type of disinformation. MSB (2018:17) mainly warns against “fake experts”, incorrect statistics, manipulated reality and lack of context in messages and posts. To counteract the spread of disinformation, a great deal of preparation is needed, that includes raising awareness, debunking, making risk and vulnerability analysis, target audience analysis, strategic

narrating, messaging and social media. When an organization is prepared it is easier to act, the authors suggest a four-step model including assess, inform, advocate and defend.

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Pamment et al (2018) argue that there is no ready solution to how to handle disinformation because different organizations face different problems. The authors, therefore, suggest a model with four different degrees of response depending on the severity of the situation, see figure 2.

Figure 2: Four degrees of response (Pamment et al, 2018:36-37)

Steps 3 and 4 should be used with caution, and if they are relevant to the situation, the

management should approve it. The measures taken should also be consistent with democratic principles, freedom of expression and public regulations (Pamment et al, 2018:38). Regarding social media one must be aware of the logic used there. There is a greater challenge as

information spreads quickly (Pamment et al, 2018:40).

Farkas and Schou (2019) is on the same path and believe that one should take the fight against disinformation seriously and that the truth should be found without costing democracy. They consider this possible through transparency and believes that politicians and researchers who compare fake news with “plague” or “disease” depoliticize the problem of disinformation.

They propose four measures to strengthen democratic resilience to disinformation:

• Politicians and tech leaders must stop chasing the truth at the expense of democracy by using increased transparency and focus on orchestrated campaigns.

• Decisions must be made closer to the citizens, listen more to the voters.

• Do not underestimate our democratic institutions. Democracy requires trust.

• Limit the influence of companies in politics. For example, by regulating the growing influence that political advertising has in democracies.

One way to equip citizens against disinformation is increased media literacy. A measure to improve citizens’ media literacy (MIL) was initiated 2018 in the Nordic countries Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The initiative includes citizens of all ages and is an important tool to be able to equip people from being influenced by incorrect information. The idea was to

strengthen democracy, freedom of expression and information literacy and learn how to

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identify hate speech online. Included in the initiative is also a national strategy to maintain a sustainable democracy, it also refers to a future MIL organization with the aim that everyone should have the potential to democratic participation (Carlsson, 2018). SKL is one of several actors working to support municipalities, regions and county councils to take advantage of the possibilities of digitalization through organizational developments, service and guidance.

Competence, source critical and film-enhancing efforts through various theme days, lectures and short courses in MIL for library staff, teachers, cultural staff and managers are developed and implemented. However, the authors mention that it differs between municipalities how the work is carried out and whether it exists at all (Carlsson, 2018 :96-97).

3.2 International Research on the Subject

Information war and influence policy is not a new phenomenon. A term sometimes used in information warfare is “active measures”, this method was widely used by the Soviet Union during the Cold War (Abrams, 2016:8). The development of technology in a global world has made the methods even more effective. The digital media landscape has enabled

dissemination of disinformation from many different actors who can be recipients and

distributors at the same time (Abrams, 2016:27). Aro (2016) claims that pro – Russian spread of disinformation will continue to grow; the Russians are using various measurements to increase their control over the Internet and are investing money into infowar operations.

Examples exist of Russian actors in Sweden and Finland, such as politicians, academics and newspapers who perform a role as agents of influence with the purpose of spreading

disinformation. Other Finnish examples show that many citizens counter organized trolling and disinformation campaigns without realizing what they are facing, which makes it impossible for security officials to be of any bigger help. It is also important to bear in mind that information operations against citizens is only one form of warfare, as other cyber operations and espionage may follow. Aro (2016) suggests that proper information defence mechanisms are needed in order to counteract the spread disinformation and that the state should be responsible when citizens are exposed. Otherwise, there is a risk of further dissemination of false information being spread if citizens are to enlighten themselves.

The European Union also put efforts to protect democracy from the spread of disinformation.

In October 2017, the commission launched a public consultation on online disinformation and fake news. It ended with an EU wide Code of Practice which was signed by online platforms such as Facebook and Google. The measures are about ensuring transparency by explaining how algorithms work and select news and improving the visibility and accessibility of reliable news (Epthinktank, 2018). These companies have fundamentally changed society. Gelin and Pettersson (2019) have tried to investigate the transparency of these technology giants and for them it was impossible to get an interview with Google at their headquarters. Therefore, one can question how transparent these tech giants really are and the authors claim that it points to a democratic deficit.

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However, Benkler et al (2018) claims that the Internet as such does not put pressure on democracy, filter bubbles and echo chambers could not possibly break a society with a well- functioning public sphere just because digital media is present. Mainstream media is by far the most powerful voice in producing disinformation. However, they do claim that different social groups are not equally sensitive to accessing disinformation. Since the 1980’s, liberal and conservative media consumption has been diverging. While self – identifying liberal and independent voters tend to follow a variety of news sources and not hold an overrated trust in any particular source, conservative voters follow a narrower group of news sources

“propaganda” and trust in them to a larger extent. In the American case, they found that the problem with the right - wing media is that they almost exclusively tell people what they want to hear. This can lead further to political dilemmas. Benkler et al (2018) do not ignore the risks of social media sharing disinformation, but traditional media will, in the end, have a larger impact on democracy. Scaramuzzino et al (2017) did find in the Swedish case that Civil Society Organizations use social media alongside other strategies to influence politics both on a local and national level. They claim that the Internet as a channel will strengthen already elite organizations to become even more powerful, and it will introduce a younger generation to political debate.

After the presentation of previous research, it can be noted that there are no deeper studies made at a local level, with Helsinki as an exception, which has taken the problem seriously.

No Swedish studies at a municipal level were found, most of the research is carried through at a state level with MSB as a client. However, their studies may be applicable on a municipal level. It is also possible to identify Russian interests on foreign land, Sweden included and they show how uncomplicated it can be to disseminate information.

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4. Theoretical framework

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The aim of this study is to map a mid-sized Swedish municipality council’s understanding of disinformation and to discuss appropriate measures of how to counteract it, as it can

potentially have an impact on local democracy. With this aim, three political communication theories were chosen. The public sphere is a central theory to democracy and focuses on open democratic values in society; the hybrid media system applies a holistic approach of new media logics and the power relations within; two-step flow theory explains increased vulnerability in the media landscape due to digital media. It is in the open conversation and communication between different actors that disinformation risk being spread. In the

interaction between political actors and citizens, information can flow in many directions and different media play an active role as an intermediary.

4.1 The Public Sphere

The meaning of the public sphere is that everybody can take part in it, and according to Habermas (2003) it is not a public sphere if certain social groups are closed out. Thompson (2008:97) mentions that the bourgeois public sphere explained by Habermas has been criticized for not including the entire population, as it did not include women and the poor.

The bourgeois public sphere required financial assets and it was educated men at the time who had strong positions in society. Additionally, Habermas has also been criticized by Calhoun (1992) who claims that a public sphere should contain four basic requirements in order to apply to a public:

• Everyone who participates in the public debate must do it under the same conditions regardless of their affiliation.

• Arguments must be rational at nature and not affected by the social status that cannot determine the outcome of the debate.

• Issues that are sensitive or considered inappropriate must be able to be discussed in the public arena.

• Everyone should be able to make their voices heard regardless of social background.

In the bourgeois public sphere from the 1700s onwards, a new public sphere in the western world began to take shape in salons and coffee houses. There, equal citizens in society gathered in a public where everyone could take part in free and liberal conversations. This gave them the opportunity to set their own agenda free of state interference (Habermas, 2003:39). The distinction between public and private appears to be somewhat philosophical and can be abstract in its meanings. At that time in western societies, the dichotomy between the two meant that the private consisted of private economy and personal relationships that the state did not monitor, and the public consisted of state institutions (Habermas, 2003). In today’s western society, the private has somewhat the same meaning, while the public sphere also includes state-owned economic organizations, state and semi-state organizations and social organizations. Thompson (2008:155) includes intermediate organizations such as political parties, pressure groups, cooperative businesses etc.

As society develops, around 1830 public conversations reduced in terms of quality, and according to Habermas (2003) it is mainly due to financial interests having greater influence in the public. At the same time, many argue that the dichotomy between the private and the public becomes diffuse and is not as clear as it previously was, because of the states’ growing influence (see for example Habermas (2003) and Thompson (2008)).

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Over time, new forms of public sphere are created as society develops, Thompson (2008:159) calls it the development towards the mediated public sphere. It is explained to be a complex network which consists of a variety of actors participating in conversations, due to electronic media. Today’s public sphere is an arena for the exchange of new ideas, opinions, discussions and problem-solving. Politicians who are often in the public sphere face these aspects every day as their profession involves serving the public. Politicians also act on social media as private individuals, which makes the situation complicated for them as they also must use it for work purposes. As an elected official today, this can be problematic and limiting as they may want to share more on social media then they feel safe to do.

Today, digital media has taken over much of the public space. The Internet and social media have made it possible to participate in public discussions and debates regardless of social affiliation or status and regardless of time and space. This is a development from the past, now, everyone with a digital device can access the public space if desired as the accessibility is improved. The difference between the public and the private has also changed as society develops in the media space to become more diffuse (Castells, 2013).

As social community and participation in political discussion happen in the public sphere (Dahlgren, 2002), social media can be seen as an extension of the public sphere for a number of reasons: the internet allows us to easily obtain all sorts of information; in a democracy, people are allowed to partake in political discussions as “thinkers” instead of “listeners” as the internet makes it possible; the internet creates new opportunities to actively mobilize and coordinate political actions. Through these perspectives, it is considered that social media has changed the public sphere which has easily led to an increased accessibility. Thus, the public sphere has been expanded. This leads to the possibility for actors to disseminate false

information that can ultimately harm society and even undermine democracy.

4.2 The Hybrid Media System

Political communication has always been central to the policymaking process and is described by scholars to be an interactive process between politicians, the news media and the public concerning the transmission of information. The communication process can operate

horizontally between political actors, upwards when governing citizens and downwards when forming public opinion; it all depends on who is the information source (Norris, 2001).

Since the 1990s, political communication has changed in several ways as many Information Communication Technology developments have altered the impact on the information flow.

Traditional mass media is still a relevant news source and has been so since the end of the Second World War. Television broadcasting, radio and newspapers provide citizens with information daily on what is happening in society, both on a local and global level. However, there are now alternative ways for different actors to absorb news and spread information, and the Internet has opened to additional ways of communication which has changed the way we look at political communication as a theory. Now everyone can spread information, elites to masses (top-down) and masses to elites (bottom-up) which has been reconstructed by social media (Hogan & Melville, 2015).

Chadwick (2017) argues the need to reconsider the position that new information technologies have on political communication. Digital media has induced a chaotic transition period in western democracies where “old” media is existing alongside “new” media systems. This requires a need to understand how newer media can adapt and intergrade older media logics

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and how older media can integrate newer media logics. Logics are referred to as technologies, genres, norms, behaviors, and organizational forms in between the fields of media and

politics. To make this possible, a holistic approach is considered by Chadwick. Old and new are relative terms, “New” media and “old” media should not be viewed as two dichotomous normative and conceptual positions, instead it should be viewed as a hybrid system where all information is integrated into a nonstop, constantly changing environment. A hybrid approach in political communication provides an overview of how politics and media overlap,

intermesh and coevolve together in complexity (Chadwick, 2017:5).

An important aspect of understanding the hybrid media system is power and how it is

generated in different media. Power is wielded by actors who create, tap and manages to steer information flows in their own directions to gain influence and control while disabling power of others. Actors who manages to blend new and old media together will be the ones with the biggest success of gaining power. This can sometimes be problematic for political elites when wanting to change their agenda and spread information in a particular direction as they have to perform that alongside ordinary citizens, activists and people engaged in the subject. This can result in a destabilization of elite-driven political communication environment that was typical in the earlier days with broadcast television and newspapers. However, this has caused political elites to rethink their strategies as it is sufficient for politicians to adapt to societal changes as they happen. As people encounter a great amount of their daily news in alternative media and social media, it has caused citizens to question their level of trust in political elites.

On the other hand, traditional media are renewing themselves which indicates that the media landscape is facing major changes. It is not a question of whether social media is destroying traditional media, it is more like a reorganization (Chadwick, 2017).

Chadwick (2017) suggests that the roles of platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram are problematic and that the platforms need to be careful about their information environment as much of the information that is being posted in their channels can be misleading and even false. However, these platforms also provide positive aspects such as open dialogues which presents a new public sphere useful for citizens.

4.3 Two-Step Flow Theory

Lagerfeld and Katz are the two main researchers who founded the two-step flow theory (Lazarsfeld et al, 1944; Katz & Lazarsfeld, 1955), they argue that mass media’s message reaches the opinion leaders before it reaches the public, it occurs in two steps. The theory goes against the belief that the media’s message reaches the public directly. The opinion leaders are explained to be an influential people in our direct geographic network who can be a family member, friend or colleague. The opinion leader influences the news we receive and interprets the media message for us. The opinion leader is usually a media consumer and has a central role in social groups (Katz, 1957:10). Further, this shows that these people act as a kind of filter as they select news and information and spread them further to people who do not consume news regularly. The two-step flow theory is thus based on the fact that there is a part of the population that is not involved politically or interprets the media’s message itself.

As a result, politicians must find a way to reach out to opinion leaders. Opinion leaders are not limited to physical contact but can interact with people on, for example, social media to convey their messages. Furthermore, the message is filtered and interpreted by the recipient (Strömbäck, 2014). Opinion leaders are often familiar to the recipients and are therefore seen as more credible, the information is not seen as propagandist as it would if it came from a politician.

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Due to major technological and social developments around the mid-2000s, some researchers believe that the two-step flow should evolve into a multi-step flow. Everette and Weaver (2008) show examples of people taking part in more niche and target-oriented production of news, as now is proven in the year 2020. Thanks to the internet, millions of people can search whatever information they want and the communication between the media and private individuals should become more direct than it was before (Bennett & Mannheim, 2006).

However, Choi, (2015) explains that the two-step flow is still relevant as examples can be found for example on Twitter where media consumers can access the opinion leaders’

information flows. Some Twitter accounts were even perceived as more credible than others.

Additionally, a Canadian study shows that it was twice as likely that users preferred news links and recommendations from family members and friends rather than stories directly presented by news organizations (Hogan & Quan-Hassse, 2010). Sveningsson (2015) presents the same results in her study when she divides comments on information and news in social media in three steps where established news comes in third place:

1. Comments on news and information in our own channels and circles

2. Comments on news and information from famous people and the public space 3. Comments on news and information from established news sources

The fact that digital technologies has affected the way we absorb information is no news, it has changed how opinion leaders and opinion makers disseminate information at the same time as the public themselves in new ways can spread information. Therefore, there is a higher risk of disinformation being spread. The two-step flow theory is a model with a clear sender, which through an established channel reaches opinion leaders who then influences people in their social network. In this study, the elected officials are perceived as opinion leaders who want to spread their political parties’ ideas and at the same time to analyze how the public operates. The model shows the increased vulnerability in the fact that it is

increasingly difficult to know who is the sender when we operate in a multi-flow

environment, as we are not always reached directly by the media landscape when we retrieve our news from digital media to an increasing extent.

4.4 Theory Reflection

Today’s public sphere can be considered expanded due to digital media and because of this, it can be challenging to control what sort of information is being spread between the actors in the public. On the other hand, it is important to maintain the public sphere as it describes fundamental democratic values in society that the elected officials and citizens operate in together and were open debate is central. Further, Chadwick’s theory shows the impact and effect the hybrid media system have on todays’ information flow. It explains how power is wielded between different actors and shows how easy it can be to control an information stream. It shows the challenges the elected officials face in their everyday life at work. In the hybrid media system, it is sometimes challenging to know who the original sender is, which the two-step flow theory shows. And since there is no control over who the source is and when people choose to consume news in their own social media feeds, it will be more difficult to develop counter measurements to erase false information.

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5. Methodology

___________________________________________________________________________

This chapter begins with a description of the research approach, research method and

research strategy used in the study. Thereafter, a presentation of respondents, data collection technique and analysis method are described. The chapter is concluded with ethical

considerations and reliability and validity.

5.1 Choice of Approach

In regard to the aim, qualitative interview method was chosen. Qualitative methods and interviews are described to be useful when new information is to be collected and where experiences from respondents create an understanding to the topic in question (Danielsson, 2012a:163). In quantitative research it is unusual to meet the respondents, it is more common to send out surveys or analyze data. This further leads to that there is no relation between researcher and respondent which can be a positive aspect as objectivity can be maintained (Bryman, 2011). In a qualitative study, the researcher has the opportunity to get close to the respondent which is desirable in order to be able to get an overall picture of how a situation is perceived by the respondent. “Being able to see the world with their eyes” (Bryman,

2011:272). One weakness of the qualitative method is that it is not as generalizable as the quantitative method and can therefore not speak for an entire population. But there are

possibilities to dig deeper into the subject that is being studied, which this study intends to do.

The result will therefore not be considered absolute; it needs confirmation from other research that can check the reliability. The study can be viewed as a process that can be used in

development of further ideas in the area of disinformation (Denscombe, 2010:69).

For this study, qualitative research is to prefer because the aim is to investigate how elected officials understand of the spread of disinformation. Thus, personal interviews are appropriate as it gives decision-makers (politicians) the opportunity to talk about their everyday

environment and relation to disinformation. Another reason qualitative method chosen is that the content of the collected material is hidden beneath the surface and to gain a deeper understanding, the text was reworked several times (Esaiasson et al, 2007:237). Furthermore, the study’s method could possibly have been improved by a supplementary quantitative survey method, but due to the frameworks that existed, this was not possible.

In relation to theory, it is fundamental in a study that the empirical result obtained is supported by the theoretical framework. Otherwise, the result tends to be only stand-alone descriptions of a single problem which has limited value. To avoid this problem, researchers can choose between a deductive, inductive or abductive approach. This study is abductive, Denscombe (2014) mentions that abductive method has features from both deductive and inductive methods but also provides new insights. During the abductive process, theory and empiricism combine in a circular motion to understand a phenomenon. In this paper, I have alternated between collected empirical material and previously formulated theories according to the abductive approach.

5.2 Research Design

The overall strategy I chose to integrate is a case study, it is particularly appropriate for individual researchers because it gives opportunity to study one aspect of a problem in-depth on a limited time scale. A case study is mostly defined as an intense study of a single unit or a small number of cases to be able to understand other similar cases that look alike (Gerring, 2007:37). It is crucial that the case has a distinctive identity that allows it to be studied in

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isolation from other cases. In this case it is a medium-sized Swedish municipality that is similar to other municipalities in terms of population and area. An advantage of case studies is its possibility to delve into the subject to be able to explain what is going on in that

environment and why certain events occur. Case studies are a good fit when the focus is on small spaces to gain new insight and information, my concentration will be on the spread of disinformation to gain new perspectives of the phenomena. The information from the

conducted case studies are considered valuable as it explains how new aspects are intertwined (Denscombe, 2010).

5.3 Data Collection

To collect the empirical data, interviews were chosen. Interviews can be formulated in three different ways, structured, semi-structured and unstructured. The difference between them is how the questions are formulated, if the researcher only wants answers to the questions included in the interview guide or if one wants open dialogues. If a researcher wants to have a great deal of control over the situation, they benefit from choosing a structured interview method as the questions created give limited response options. Unstructured interviews are the opposite of structured interviews and offers the respondent to talk freely about the subject and the study focuses on their thoughts completely (Denscombe, 2010; Johannesson & Perjons, 2014). For this study, semi-structured were chosen and it is an intermediate of the two above.

It allows a certain structure as well as it allows for the respondent to speak freely and add comments that the researcher did not ask for. It offers the possibility of a larger material which can make the study more comprehensive and the interview more flexible as follow-up questions can be asked immediately. The interview guide was created with a couple of prepared questions that allowed the respondent to design their answers in their own ways. In semi-structured interviews, the researcher does not have to follow the interview guide completely and can ask other questions during the interview (Bryman, 2011). The interview questions are supposed to contribute knowledge and information (Kvale, 2014).

According to Kvale (2014), the study is influenced by how well the researcher manages to establish good contact with the respondent. If the researcher shows interest and attention while is clear in what he/she wants to know, the respondent will be more open to sharing his/her experiences. This was considered while the interview guide was being prepared.

The interviews were held at Västerås Stad offices, and before the interviews took place the researcher made small talk with the respondents and the theme was introduced. The structure was considered important as it counteracted mistakes and made the interviews go as planned.

All interviews followed the same structure and interview guide and the interviews lasted about thirty minutes each. Everyone who participated chose to complete the interview and it came to an end when the researcher achieved saturation.

5.4 Selection of Respondents

In an interview study similar to this, a so-called “centrality” is sought. This means that the researcher wants to capture respondents who are centrally located sources (Esaiasson et al, 2007). The aim of the study is to investigate the municipality council’s understanding of disinformation and how it can possibly affect local democracy. Therefore, the respondents are strategically selected. To represent the council, themselves and their political parties’

opinions, one elected official of each party were chosen. Those who participated in the study have areas of responsibility in the municipality that were considered relevant to the study’s aim. The areas of responsibility are presented in table 1.

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Table 1. Respondents area of responsibility in the municipality

In the table above it is noticeable that different areas of responsibility are represented by the respondents, areas that many actors want to influence.

However, case study researchers argue that single case studies can never be statistically representative, and instead believe that alternative logics are available. Analytical and

theoretical generalization is recommended by letting the theory do the job of generalizing the result. In this way, it is possible to highlight universal valid aspects that can be expected to be somewhat significant to related cases in the population (Esaiasson et al, 2007:159).

5.4.1 Response Rate

To get in touch with the elected officials, e-mails were sent to each of them in the

municipality council where I explained the aim of the study etc. The aim was to interview one from each political party in order to achieve a representative dissemination of answers from the council. Five out of eight parties responded to my e-mails and they all took part in the study. From the ones that did not take part, nobody answered with a “No”, instead, they chose not to respond. The response rate is presented in table 2.

Table 2. Response rate from the political parties

From table 2 it appears that those who did not respond to the emails and who chose not to participate in the study was Vänsterpartiet, Kristdemokraterna and Sverigedemokraterna. The drop of analysis units usually is no problem in strategic selections as the researcher can replace involuntary individuals with more willing individuals that are easier to encounter (Esaiasson et al, 2007:185). However, in this study, all available respondents were given the opportunity to participate as the purpose was to interview an elected representative from each party in the council. Therefore, there are no other party members outside of the council who can represent the population. The response rate was thus not as desired beforehand. Because of this, a dropout analysis may also be of value for this particular study. Esaiasson et al

(2007:187) mentions that the dropout analysis indicates whether the respondents can represent the population or not. Three out of eight potential sources of information disappeared which makes a dropout analysis interesting in this study.

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The dropout rate in this study may be due to several things. Bryman (2011:112) mentions that people today are less likely to participate in research and are less willing to answer research questions and surveys in general which can be one factor in this study. However, it may be due to other factors. The figure below shows the political parties in government in a gal-tan scale. GAL stands for Green, Alternative and Libertarian and TAN stands for Traditional, Authoritarian and Nationalistic. It measures values, people’s basic attitude towards, for example, internationalization, globalization and multiculturalism. The scale has recently had greater impact in the debate as the right-left scale has become less relevant over the years (Haggren, 2018).

Figure 3: Gal-tan scale, political parties in Sweden 2017 (Haggren, 2018)

According to the scale, it is feasible to see that the political parties who did not respond to take part in this study (Vänsterpartiet, Kristdemokraterna, Sverigedemokraterna) are positioned at the borders. Parties who are positioned at the borders often tend to have more radical views on certain issues. On March 20^th this year, just as my interviews took place, an article was published that noted that Kristdemokraterna in Västmanland are spreading right- wing populist fake news on their Facebook page to attract voters (Bblat, 2020). It may be a reason not to participate in a study that researches the spread of disinformation.

5.5 Data Analysis

According to Perjons and Johannesson (2014), a qualitative study needs a qualitative data analysis method to draw conclusions about the collected material. Collected data cannot speak for itself, it must be analyzed. It should be iterative, inductive and it puts the researcher at the center of attention. The material should move from being specific to being general (Perjons &

Johannesson, 2014). For this study, a qualitative thematic content analysis was chosen.

Content analysis is used when the researcher does not know what the interviews will contain, and the answers will have to be compared with each other for a general picture to be created.

A content analysis gives the researcher the opportunity to encode the text and divide it into different themes to be able to categorize the pieces of material relevant to the study, which is sufficient for a high-quality analysis (Bryman, 2011).

In order to familiarize oneself with every little detail of the material, it is necessary to do a thorough coding. It can be useful when there are large amounts of data to be able to get an overview of the material (Kvale, 2014). Krippendorf (1980) mentions that a content analysis as a research technique developed to be able to make identical hints from data to relevant

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context. The aim of the research is to get a feel for the entirety, and it is possible if one studies the small parts in the working process and then integrate them into a holistic perspective.

To finally be able to code, sort and reduce the material from the interviews, it was

predetermined how to encode data to create an index from the information collected. The index was established based on themes in order to find the essence of the interviews. The themes were determined based on what was of greatest value to the study and read as follows:

• Awareness

• Understanding

• Effects

- Downgrading democracy

- Examples of disinformation in municipality

• Municipality responses - Political party positions

- Suggestions on how to counteract disinformation

These themes were given different colors to distinguish them from each other. Using this method, one can discover whether respondents have different views on the same phenomenon (Bryman, 2011: 528-530).

5.6 Validity and Reliability

Bryman (2011) claims that validity and reliability is hard to define in qualitative research. He argues that validity should be replaced with the term authenticity with the reason that the chosen method intends to examine what is really being examined. However, validity is the consistency that occurs between the theoretical definitions and the operational research questions. It deals with the absence of systematical errors and verifies that the researcher is examining what it intends to examine, and this should be shown throughout the research process and not only in the result section of the paper. The researcher’s reliability, precision, and skill, therefore, play a significant role in the research process and the result of the study.

In qualitative research there is always a certain subjectivity to take into consideration as it is the researcher who interprets the theoretical concepts and operationalizes the collected material. The research process should therefore be carried through with accuracy (Kvale, 2014).

The reliability of the study is determined by the measurement being stable and not exposed to random effects. At the same time, the interview study should have the same results if it is carried through by another researcher at another time (Kvale, 2014). This can be achieved if the study is systematically organized and that the handling of the interviews is analyzed in the same way. If the researcher keeps a distance not to affect the results by natural occurrence of events there is a possibility to avoid the observer effect. Johannesson & Perjons (2014) mentions that it is difficult to completely avoid the observer effect as individuals possess different experiences and skills. With support of a content analysis, one can reduce the mistakes that can occur as the process becomes clear and simple.

5.7 Ethical Aspects

In social science research, four basic research ethical principles are discussed, the information requirement, the consent requirement, the confidentiality requirement and the utilization requirement (Vetenskapsrådet, 2019). During the study, ethical considerations were taken into mind. The confidentiality requirement is about taking care of personal data properly. In this

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study, no names are mentioned in the interviews or transcription, but instead which party they represent. Only the researcher and supervisor take part of the transcribed material.

Bryman (2011) highlights the importance of those who are willing to participate in research, are doing so voluntarily. A high degree of integrity should exist, and the researcher should inform the respondents about the study’s purpose and objectives. Before the interviews took place, the respondents were informed of the aim and were asked to fill out a consent form as approval to participate. Those who participated had the opportunity to quit if they felt so, as there is a high risk of being identified. In some studies, there is a risk that reliability will be lost unless the source is mentioned (Esaiasson, 2007). This study is mainly dependent on knowing political party names, which then allowed to exclude the respondent’s name. None of the respondents chose to quit, everybody completed the interview. Some anonymity could then be obtained. The participants were also informed that they could take part of the study once it was completed.

5.8 Method Discussion

Bryman (2011) discusses whether the quantitative reliability and validity criteria should be applied to qualitative studies or not. Some researchers suggest alternative criteria that correspond to the above concepts. However, I chose to use the concepts of reliability and validity as there are no better alternative as I see it. High validity means that the researcher is examining what he intends to (Kvale, 2014). Through my interview questions, I hope that I have been able to answer the research questions and aim of the study as closely as possible to reach high validity. When the interview guide was created, the purpose was to keep the

questions as open as possible to examine the elected officials’ awareness and understanding of the topic of disinformation. It was fulfilled even though I later noticed that I could have asked a certain follow up question at some point to get a deeper understanding. To maintain high reliability, I have been systematic throughout the process of the study and I have relied on the empirical material to able for the text to follow a systematic order. Further, the interviews were analyzed in the same way to maintain a neutral stance and the subjective experiences of the respondents have been the basis for the answers I received. I also assume that the answers they gave have been based on how they view the question at this moment and might change different over time.

However, the interview method is not entirely unproblematic, some factors can influence how the respondents design their answers. According to Bryman (2011), the researchers’

personality can influence the answers from the respondents, this was taken into consideration.

During the interviews I tried to act in a way that made the respondents feel comfortable.

Another negative aspect of interview method is the so-called “social desirability”, which means that one wants to give off a positive image of oneself, which does not match reality (Bryman, 2011, p.141). On the topic of disinformation, one might choose to leave certain things out when it comes to personal experiences, this could possibly have affected the results in this study. But all of them found the topic interesting to discuss.

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6. Case

Västerås is a medium-sized city that sees an increased degree of segregation, which can also be found in other cities in Sweden. Västerås is one of 32 municipalities in the country who receive financial segregation support from the government. In 2018, Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth issued a three-year support to municipalities with high unemployment, low levels of education and low voter turnout (Tillväxtverket, 2019).

Therefore, it is becoming increasingly important that information spread among the

community's residents in various media is accurate so that local democracy is not adversely affected. Västerås municipality is Sweden's seventh-largest municipality with a population of 153,000 inhabitants, and in the municipal council assembly, 61 seats are distributed between Sweden's eight parliamentary parties. Socialdemokraterna have the most mandate but

decreased by two seats in the last election in 2018, while Sverigedemokraterna and

Liberalerna increased by two seats. The municipality has eighteen committees that govern different business areas and it is common that an elected official is chairman in the

committees (Västerås Stad, 2019). SKR conducted a survey in 2016 where they investigated how satisfied the citizens in Västmanland were with their local politicians and elected officials. They find that the elected officials are well-representing to the people and the foreign proportion is higher than in the rest of the country. This was considered positive by the researchers as is gives different perspectives in decision making. The results show that the citizens of Västmanland are satisfied with the democratic system in which they live. However, they are more dissatisfied with their chances for influence in politics, which lowers the

confidence in the elected officials. The elected officials are found to have lower levels of trust than the organization itself. This may have to do with the uncomfortable decisions they sometimes have to make, while the citizens may not always see the link between the overall responsibility (SKR, 2016:19).

In early 2019 a Russian orthodox church was built only a few hundred meters away from Västerås Airport, and it is the first one of its kind that was ever built in Sweden. This event was widely publicized in media and many experts have been critical since its interception, claiming that it is an activity that favors Russian state interests, a military strategy. The Russian congregation has close links with the Russian state and because the church is close to the airport, the Russians can land people there and prevent NATO from landing at the airport.

The airport is close to both Stockholm and Gävle which are important cities in this context (Vlt, 2019).

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7. Results

___________________________________________________________________________

This chapter presents the results of the interviews that aims to answer the purpose of the study. Here, a selection process takes place on the part of the researcher, where the focus has been on reproducing parts of the interview that are relevant to the research questions and which have the strongest connection to the theoretical framework. This, to facilitate myself in maintaining high reliability.

The results are presented thematically below based on selected themes that are important for answering the research questions, the analysis units. It is considered more readily

comprehensible for the reader to be able to orient themselves through the text rather than to outline each interview which can make it difficult to see patterns. The elected officials are presented based on the political party they represent in the council, one for each party. Thus, no names are shown, and in the text, abbreviations are used which are presented down in table 3.

Table 3: Represented political parties and their abbreviations which are used in the result and analysis

7.1 Awareness

All elected officials agree that there are many different actors who want to influence us in society, including themselves to reach out with their politics. It was recurring among the answers that it is important for democracy that people do and should have the right to express themselves and share their opinions and information. (MP) expresses that even the stupidest opinions should be visible and claim that it can sometimes be difficult to distinguish what is commercial and what are news articles in certain platforms. (M) explains that even events that happen internationally will affect a municipality like Västerås because that is how the world works today because of its global brilliance.

Information can, according to the officials, be disseminated in various ways, such as debate articles, advertising in different media, via emails, people you meet, lobby groups, political opponents and foreign power. (S) defines the spread of information as follows:

“The way I see it is that there is a question, or a topic people can have different opinions about. It is about angles in different ways in order to promote their position for a final result”

(M) fills in: ”Everything can affect ones opinion in a certain way and obviously we are affected all the time, look at social media”

(L) interprets the topic in a negative tone as follows:

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“When I hear the word just like that without having any background then I think about trying to disseminate targeted information as in order to influence political decisions. I think of the US election, Russia’s attempt to interfere in…those kinds of processes”

(CP)(MP) is on the same track and claims that the spread of disinformation does not make the world a better place when someone wants to manipulate someone to benefit one’s own needs.

7.2 Understanding

Recurring platforms mentioned in the interviews are traditional media and social media which the officials consider to be well-used platforms where it is easy for anybody to spread

information, not always correct information. (L) mentioned that people always have tried to influence each other, but the way it is done is constantly changing. During the Second World War, influence operations were carried out and propaganda spread in traditional media.

Today, spread of disinformation is taking place in digital channels, so the strategies for

counteracting it must follow, it is in constant change. (S) says that all media is good media but the problem with social media is that it does not have any kind of source reviewing that the traditional media has. The traditional media has press support and press ethics, on social media we see a high degree of alleged truths, which makes traditional media more objective.

(M) mentions that it is cheaper and better to buy advertising on social media while it is possible to reach out to more people. She goes on to say that the material they publish on social media is not false:

“It is not fake news, it is what we stand for and what we want. It is about ideology which of course is not the same as research results”

All interviewed parties have a local Facebook group. (MP) feels like the debate climate has become tougher in recent times. The party itself has experienced that people from the outside can be evil:

”Some have a caricature image of how an environmentalist is and call us man- haters, vegans, that we all carry backpacks, etc. even if it is not true, it is exaggerated.”

(CP) says she has seen Facebook friends whom she has known for years sharing and

commenting on fake news. She has then tried to go in and comment and ask if they have been source critical with the information they share. She further mentions that a message can spread quickly through social media which was not possible in the analogue times, when something, for example, was heard on the radio. Now, messages can lose their original purpose in a couple of hours. (M) analyses another aspect of social media, search engines clean your feed so you get a confirmation of your own vision. What you have liked comes up even more in the feed and in the end, people start to feel like everybody likes what you like. It is customized so that you get the information that suits your thoughts. (M) claims that this aspect is dangerous for society.

To conclude, (L) mentions that it can be difficult in which way one should react to the spread of disinformation at times, as it can also be spread for good causes, for example to help homeless people.

Elected Officials’ View on Disinformation - On a Municipality level

Department of Informatics and Media

Master’s Programme in Social Sciences, Digital Media and Society specialization

One-year master’s Thesis

Elected Officials’ View on Disinformation - On a Municipality level

Student: Jenny Björk

Date: June 2020

Abstract

Table of Contents

Table of Figures

List of Tables

Acknowledgement

1. Introduction

2. Background

3. Previous research

4. Theoretical framework

5. Methodology

6. Case

7. Results