Valda verkligheter
En studie av svenska och engelska tidningars konstruerande av verklighet i rapporteringen kring Julian Assange
Rhetorical criticismCritical discourse analysisWordingPropositionsThemeActive actorsPassive actorsCreated realityFaircloughProcessanalysTema- och propositionsanalysKritisk diskursanalysKonstruerad verklighetMediaFairclough
This is an analysis of how the Swedish newspapers Dagens Nyheter and Aftonbladet and the English newspapers The Independent and The Guardian reported about the sexual molestation and rape charges that were alleged against the Wikileaks founder Julian Assange in August 2010. Through a critical discourse analysis, a theme- and proposition analysis and a process analysis this paper aims to investigate how the above mentioned newspapers create reality in their articles. The purpose is to shed light upon with what means the journalists through the inherited structures of the newspaper illustrate actions and events, how they let other people get visible in the text and who is described as responsible for current events. The results of the analysis shows that Aftonbladet uses a relatively large amount of propositions and speech cues to create an image of the reality that is almost explicitly angled. Dagens Nyheter and The Independent claims a higher degree of objectivity and through micro themes with different perspectives and few explicit statements they create a reality with plenty of room for the reader to make her own conclusions. The Guardian creates an image of the world where the Wikileaks is a great force of democracy and where actions are performed by humans as well as by objects and organizations.