In this essay I want to investigate how the poodle strategy affects a person?s credibility when he or she uses it. The poodle strategy is a strategy, which someone uses when he or she is scrutinized by the media. It?s primary purpose is to suppress further media coverage but it is also a strategy for defending oneself and hence rescuing one?s reputation either as a private person or as an official.The essay?s research questions are:How has the strategy been applied for defensive purposes and what are the results?To which extent can the Stasis theory and Benoit?s theory on Apologia be connected to the strategy?Does the strategy affect the user?s credibility?To answer these questions four cases from the political sphere in Sweden where persons have been said to have ?done a poodle? have been analyzed.

In this essay I want to investigate how the poodle strategy affects a person?s credibility when he or she uses it. The poodle strategy is a strategy, which someone uses when he or she is scrutinized by the media. It?s primary purpose is to suppress further media coverage but it is also a strategy for defending oneself and hence rescuing one?s reputation either as a private person or as an official.The essay?s research questions are:How has the strategy been applied for defensive purposes and what are the results?To which extent can the Stasis theory and Benoit?s theory on Apologia be connected to the strategy?Does the strategy affect the user?s credibility?To answer these questions four cases from the political sphere in Sweden where persons have been said to have ?done a poodle? have been analyzed.

Aim: The nuclear accident in Fukushima, Japan, raised global criticism against nuclear power. In Sweden, the criticism has not been very visible and the government now allows a renewal of the nuclear power plants. The purpose with the study is to have a closer look on how Swedes in position of power motivate their positive attitude to nuclear power and how they conduct themselves to each other and to their opponents. The rhetorical perspective will be in focus for the analysing.Method: Four different artifacts represented by Swedes in position of power having a positiveattitude to nuclear power were chosen. Three rhetorical theories (the rhetorical arena, Stasis andethos, pathos and logos) were used with the research question in focus.Result & Conclusions: The analyses resulted in conclusions about the strategies used by the participants such as: the importance of contexts, meaning for example that the greenhouse effect legitimizes nuclear power as a source of energy with important benefits.

The Authorities attitudes towards Gypsies have been characterized by prejudice for a long time. This has lead to the relief actions of the Authorities being formed by discriminating acts. In purpose of eliminating the discrimination of the Gypsies, the Delegation for Gypsy matters formulated a strategy for solving this problem in the report ?Gypsy rights ? a strategy for Gypsies in Sweden?. Despite the goodwill of the Authorities this report has been criticized by Gypsies in Sweden. In the investigation of the derivation of this criticism the aim of this essay is to look at how the Authorities attitude towards Gypsies is shown in this report and how it affects the creation of their ethos.

On the 12:th of April 2011, the Swedish tabloid magazine Expressen publishes a story, claiming that Ola Lindholm, presenter of critically acclaimed TV-show ?Wild Kids? has been suspected and apprehended on cocaine allegations. The serious allegation called for Ola Lindholm to defend himself against the allegations. His only public response was a blog-post where he claimed his innocence, albeit with some reservations.  The purpose of this paper is to analyze Lindholm?s rhetorical defense.

Introduktion: Under 2011 till året därpå var två politiker, Carl Bildt (moderat utrikesminister) och Håkan Juholt (Socialdemokraternas partiledare), utsatta för mediedrev: Etiopiensvenskar-na och bostadsaffären. Juholt var som en svamp som sög upp all kritik medan Bildt framstod som teflon i jämförelse. Hur kommer det sig att Bildt klarade sig och fick sitta kvar som mi-nister, medan Juholt avgick?Problem: Vad är det som skiljer Bildt från Juholts retorik under mediedreven 2011 enligt sta-tusläran? Hur ramar journalisterna in debatten för Bildt respektive Juholt?Teori: Med statusläran (Stasis theory) kan en sakfråga analyseras retoriskt genom ett av fyra status (?ställning?): fakta, definition, kvalitet eller procedur. Exempelvis, ett dödande kan handla om huruvida det ägt rum (fakta), om det var mord eller självförsvar (definition), om det var rätt (kvalitet) samt om frågan ska avgöras i annat forum (procedur).

On the 12:th of April 2011, the Swedish tabloid magazine Expressen publishes a story, claiming that Ola Lindholm, presenter of critically acclaimed TV-show ?Wild Kids? has been suspected and apprehended on cocaine allegations. The serious allegation called for Ola Lindholm to defend himself against the allegations. His only public response was a blog-post where he claimed his innocence, albeit with some reservations.  The purpose of this paper is to analyze Lindholm?s rhetorical defense.

Political scandals are constantly abound in the media, rulers face the global tribunal of the mass media and are forced to defend their actions and above all, their position in society. This essay concerns itself with that defence ? more specifi- cally with the defence of four Swedish politicians in high office during four different scandals. Gudrun Schymans? eva- sion, Laila Freivalds? dealing with the tsunami disaster in Thailand, Annie Lo?o?fs? tangle concerning representation notes and public documents and Tobias Billstro?ms? statements concerning undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers.