Media Framing and Public Discourse of Youth-Involved Shootings in Sweden (2016-2024): A Longitudinal NLP Study

Abstract

In the last ten years, Sweden has seen a noticeable increase in shootings involving young people, which has led to growing media attention and public concern. This thesis explores how Swedish newspapers frame these shootings and how those frames align with public discourse in an online forum in Sweden. The study examines the connection between media framing of youth-involved shootings and public discourse, focusing on how media narratives align with or diverge from public discussions. Drawing on Media Framing Theory and Social Representations Theory the study used Natural Language Processing (NLP) tools like topic modeling, sentiment analysis and a frame classifier to study a corpus of roughly 500 articles from four major news outlets (Dagens Nyheter, Svenska Dagbladet, Aftonbladet and Expressen) and over 10,000 forum posts between 2016 and 2024. Results show that almost all articles focused on individual cases (episodic framing) and carried a predominantly negative tone. Tabloids started significantly more negative than broadsheets but only a modest ease in tabloids over time narrowed that gap. Thematic framing remained rare. In online forums, users often repeated these news frames at first but later brought in wider discussions about things like legal responses and social issues. This suggests that while media framing has a strong influence, public forums also play a role in shaping new interpretations.

Popular Abstract

In the past decade, shootings involving adolescents have become increasingly common in Sweden. These events often dominate headlines and trigger stronger reactions in both the media and the public. This thesis explores how these shootings are reported in national newspapers and how those reports are discussed, challenged and reinterpreted in an online forum. The aim is to examine how media narratives about youth-involved shootings emerge in traditional media and how these narratives are discussed, challenged or reinterpreted in digital spaces.

The study is based on around 500 newspaper articles from four major Swedish newspapers (Dagens Nyheter, Svenska Dagbladet, Aftonbladet and Expressen) and over 10,000 posts from an online forum in Sweden, spanning 2016 to 2024. Using computational tools such as topic modeling and sentiment analysis, the analysis identifies patterns in how the media frames these events, what emotional tone is used, and which themes are emphasised.

The results show that almost all news articles focused on individual cases, rather than linking the violence to deeper social issues like poverty, segregation or education. Most of the reporting carried a strongly negative tone. Tabloids were initially more negative than broadsheets but only slightly less so by 2024. In online forums, discussions initially aligned with the media’s framing but gradually shifted toward broader themes such as emergency response, legal systems and wider social context behind the shootings.

These findings suggest that while media coverage sets the tone and focus of early public discourse, online communities do not merely passively accept these narratives. Rather than simply absorbing what is reported, forum users question and reinterpret the stories, contributing to more layered public understanding. The study shows why more context centred and balanced reporting is needed and highlights the powerful role that digital platforms can play in shaping how society talks about youth violence.

• author: Demirbas, Melisa
• supervisor: Tobias Olofsson
• organization: Graduate School
• course: SIMZ51 20251
• year: 2025
• type: H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
• subject: Social Sciences
• keywords: media framing, youth shootings, public discourse, online forum, NLP, episodic framing
• language: English
• id: 9198565
• date added to LUP: 2025-06-25 11:20:27
• date last changed: 2025-06-25 11:20:27