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When They Do They Don't – A Study on How the Swedish News Media Perform Their Democratic Task of Informing the Public on EU Affairs

Lundell, Jonathan LU (2015) STVM23 20151
Department of Political Science
Abstract (Swedish)
In the literature on democracy, the media is often recognized as a fundamental pillar. Doubtlessly, a healthy democratic society requires an actively ongoing and informed public debate on matters of significance. Recognizing that we are to some extent dependent on the news media for our understanding of the world around us, this thesis sets out to study how the Swedish nation-wide news media perform their democratic task of informing the public on EU affairs, by examining how they reported on and conveyed the political conflicts surrounding the ten most important votes taken by the 7th European parliament (2009-2014). The daily mornings news paper Dagens Nyheter stands as a critical and most likely case, and the remaining selections are... (More)
In the literature on democracy, the media is often recognized as a fundamental pillar. Doubtlessly, a healthy democratic society requires an actively ongoing and informed public debate on matters of significance. Recognizing that we are to some extent dependent on the news media for our understanding of the world around us, this thesis sets out to study how the Swedish nation-wide news media perform their democratic task of informing the public on EU affairs, by examining how they reported on and conveyed the political conflicts surrounding the ten most important votes taken by the 7th European parliament (2009-2014). The daily mornings news paper Dagens Nyheter stands as a critical and most likely case, and the remaining selections are based on the same principles. Results indicate that the performance of the news media is fundamentally flawed, as a majority of the votes received no attention. In addition, in one case only did the media manage the crucial task of conveying the words and actions of political alternatives, i.e. political conflict. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Lundell, Jonathan LU
supervisor
organization
course
STVM23 20151
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Swedish news media, democracy, political conflict, European Union, EU affairs, European Parliament.
language
English
id
5425469
date added to LUP
2015-07-13 11:39:07
date last changed
2015-07-13 11:39:07
@misc{5425469,
  abstract     = {{In the literature on democracy, the media is often recognized as a fundamental pillar. Doubtlessly, a healthy democratic society requires an actively ongoing and informed public debate on matters of significance. Recognizing that we are to some extent dependent on the news media for our understanding of the world around us, this thesis sets out to study how the Swedish nation-wide news media perform their democratic task of informing the public on EU affairs, by examining how they reported on and conveyed the political conflicts surrounding the ten most important votes taken by the 7th European parliament (2009-2014). The daily mornings news paper Dagens Nyheter stands as a critical and most likely case, and the remaining selections are based on the same principles. Results indicate that the performance of the news media is fundamentally flawed, as a majority of the votes received no attention. In addition, in one case only did the media manage the crucial task of conveying the words and actions of political alternatives, i.e. political conflict.}},
  author       = {{Lundell, Jonathan}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{When They Do They Don't – A Study on How the Swedish News Media Perform Their Democratic Task of Informing the Public on EU Affairs}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}