"All the news that´s fit to print"
En kvantitativ jämförelse av The New York Times och Dagens Nyheters framsidor ur ett tabloidiseringsperspektiv.
Title:"All the news that´s fit to print": A quantitative content analysis of The New York Times and Dagens Nyheters front pages on the basis of tabloidization theory.Authors: Pär Brolin & Kristoffer OlofssonAim: We intend to distinguish elements of tabloidization in two daily newspapers as an effect to the increased economic and public orientated business models. The New York Times and Dagens Nyheter has been chosen mainly because they operates within different national media markets, secondly they are well known for their high journalistic standard. Based on the upcoming result, it's in our concern to illuminate these possible changes effect on the overall journalistic quality and discuss its importance. We aim to reveal the actual state of tabloidization in the two high quality newspapers The New York Times and Dagens Nyheter and thus answer the following questions:- In which way are the elements of tabloidization shown in The New York Times and Dagens Nyheter in a contemporary context as well under a twelve years period?- Based on the achieved results, what are the main differences between the two examined newspapers and what potential impact could it have on the journalistic quality?Method/Material: In order to perform this study, we have executed a quantitative study built on content analysis of the two newspapers front pages. To be able to see some individual changes within the two newspapers, two empirical swoops has been done, in September year 2000 and in September 2012. This study covers a total of 120 front pages, 60 per newspaper and thus 30 per month. The selected 9 variables are based mainly on the basis of Ingela Wadbrings study from 2012 concerning commercialized journalism which examines the changes of Swedish newspaper content between the years 1960 and 2010. In addition, the theory of tabloidization is based on the academic discourse on the process which describes journalism that aims to satisfy the public demands to gain economic profit rather than report on more important matters in favor to the democratic society. Furthermore, to facilitate the analysis chapter, an academic discussion regarding the reputable journalistic quality constitutes the theory chapter.Main results: This study's result reveals some major differences between the two newspapers publication models. Dagens Nyheter shows pure elements of tabloidization mainly by prioritizing headlines and large pictures in front of clear text as well an equal distribution between hard and soft news. The New York Times shows on the other hand an over-representation of sequentially written text rather than large pictures and headlines, furthermore they demonstrate a frequent occurrence of hard news in favor of soft news. The content quality is, from a theoretical point of view, of a lower journalistic standard regarding Dagens Nyheter than in The New York Times. Although, during the working process it became clear that the overall quality of newspapers content is rather subjective and that the definition of tabloidization, as something uncompromisingly negative, should be reconsidered.Course: Media and communication studies CUniversity: Division of media and communication, department of information science, Uppsala university.Period: Autumn semester 2012Tutor: Lowe Hedman