Framing the Israel-Palestine conflict: A comparative analysis of Svenska Dagbladet and Dagens Nyheter
2024 (English) Independent thesis Basic level (degree of Bachelor), 10 credits / 15 HE credits
Student thesis
Abstract [en]
The Israel-Palestine conflict, infamous for its complexity, recently escalated with the devastating October 7th Hamas attack on Israel. Simultaneously, the role of media, both historical and contemporary, has become ever more crucial in highlighting the ongoing atrocities of the conflict. Through a comparative small-N case study, we seek to answer the question: how does the Swedish media frame the Israel-Palestine conflict? We conducted a quantitative content analysis on 60 articles from DN and SvD, using generic framing. The analysis aimed to reveal how Swedish media framed two significant events of the conflict, in turn capturing a potential connection between foreign policy, ideological bias and media framing. Our findings reveal that the attribution of responsibility frame, while prominent, evolved from portraying Israel as the principal aggressor in 2014 to a more balanced attribution by 2023. This shift reflects the diverging Swedish foreign policy stance and fragmented consensus among the coalition government today. Additionally, the human interest frame increased by 2023, highlighting individual stories and indicating a trend toward sensationalism. Differences between DN and SvD also emerged, with DN increasingly focusing on humanizing the narrative, while SvD continuously emphasizes conflict and accountability.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages 2024. , p. 83
Keywords [en]
media framing, foreign policy, Israel-Palestine conflict, editorial bias, Swedish media, generic frames
National Category
Political Science
Identifiers URN: urn:nbn:se:hv:diva-21932 Local ID: EIS502 OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hv-21932 DiVA, id: diva2:1874897
Subject / course Political science
Educational program International Programme in Politics and Economics
Supervisors
Examiners
2024-07-082024-06-202025-09-30 Bibliographically approved