Summary: | In October 2015, a masked man armed with a sword and a knife entered the school Kronan in the Swedish town Trollhättan. Four people, including the perpetrator, were killed and another two severely injured. The aim of this study is to examine the frames in medias description of the event and of the perpetrator from the view of the journalistic responsibilities. The event in Trollhättan can be seen as an act of terror and during such events the journalistic responsibilities sometimes changes. There is a conflict in the aspect of telling the truth on one hand and protecting the citizens from harm on the other, in order not to reproduce the terrorist’s message in the press. This study is a qualitative framing analysis of 11 articles from the local newspaper TTELA. We found that the most salient frame of the event was grief rather than drama and that the media acted on the responsibility of protecting the citizens from details. The perpetrator was described as a lone wolf with connections to racist groups on the Internet. There was a shallow frame regarding the danger with the groups on the Internet but the main problem was described as gone with the death of the lonely perpetrator.
|