The ethics of reporting on radical nationalist groups in Sweden

Radical nationalist groups are growing in Sweden as well as in the rest of the world due to contemporary political, cultural and social rationale, where the internet is used as a catalyzer and tool to organize and spread their ideologies. Simultaneously, the structures and the system that hold journ...

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Main Author: Axelsson, Sofie
Format: Others
Language:English
Published: Södertörns högskola, Institutionen för samhällsvetenskaper 2019
Subjects:
Online Access:http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-38397
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spelling ndltd-UPSALLA1-oai-DiVA.org-sh-383972019-06-20T04:22:51ZThe ethics of reporting on radical nationalist groups in SwedenengAxelsson, SofieSödertörns högskola, Institutionen för samhällsvetenskaper2019Radical nationalismjournalismextreme-right movementsethicsMedia and CommunicationsMedie- och kommunikationsvetenskapEthicsEtikRadical nationalist groups are growing in Sweden as well as in the rest of the world due to contemporary political, cultural and social rationale, where the internet is used as a catalyzer and tool to organize and spread their ideologies. Simultaneously, the structures and the system that hold journalism seem to be altering at a similar speed. The journalistic reporting on radical nationalist groups has, for this reason, become increasingly difficult. The alt-right, a radical nationalist group in the US expanded much because of the oxygen that American journalists added in an attempt to raise awareness of the danger or the highly problematic opinions that these groups sometimes stand for (Faris et.al 2018). A similar trend in Sweden is not yet visible but the lack of an ethical code of conduct when reporting on radical nationalist groups speaks for unpreparedness. This study aims to understand the ethical approach of Swedish journalists when reporting on radical nationalist groups through the interviews of 8 journalists. ¨´The theoretical approach is based on the structures that affect ethical decision-making along the hierarchy of influence model, by Shoemaker and Reese (1996) as well as journalists’ positioning of ideology and relativism, an ethical concept developed by Plaisance (2005). Based on the interview data collected for this study, some of the journalists in Sweden claim to be consequence neutral, thus it can be assumed that the responsibility of providing accumulated attention to radical nationalist groups which contribute to their expansion is not taken by many journalists. The focus of the interviewed Swedish journalists is rather on up front nazis than the dubious groups spreading online, with some exceptions, which could help explain the more carefree approach. However, the challenges of similar groups’ potential spreading in the near future is an important reason to address ethical approaches on how to best report on radical nationalist groups promptly. Student thesisinfo:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesistexthttp://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-38397application/pdfinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
collection NDLTD
language English
format Others
sources NDLTD
topic Radical nationalism
journalism
extreme-right movements
ethics
Media and Communications
Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap
Ethics
Etik
spellingShingle Radical nationalism
journalism
extreme-right movements
ethics
Media and Communications
Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap
Ethics
Etik
Axelsson, Sofie
The ethics of reporting on radical nationalist groups in Sweden
description Radical nationalist groups are growing in Sweden as well as in the rest of the world due to contemporary political, cultural and social rationale, where the internet is used as a catalyzer and tool to organize and spread their ideologies. Simultaneously, the structures and the system that hold journalism seem to be altering at a similar speed. The journalistic reporting on radical nationalist groups has, for this reason, become increasingly difficult. The alt-right, a radical nationalist group in the US expanded much because of the oxygen that American journalists added in an attempt to raise awareness of the danger or the highly problematic opinions that these groups sometimes stand for (Faris et.al 2018). A similar trend in Sweden is not yet visible but the lack of an ethical code of conduct when reporting on radical nationalist groups speaks for unpreparedness. This study aims to understand the ethical approach of Swedish journalists when reporting on radical nationalist groups through the interviews of 8 journalists. ¨´The theoretical approach is based on the structures that affect ethical decision-making along the hierarchy of influence model, by Shoemaker and Reese (1996) as well as journalists’ positioning of ideology and relativism, an ethical concept developed by Plaisance (2005). Based on the interview data collected for this study, some of the journalists in Sweden claim to be consequence neutral, thus it can be assumed that the responsibility of providing accumulated attention to radical nationalist groups which contribute to their expansion is not taken by many journalists. The focus of the interviewed Swedish journalists is rather on up front nazis than the dubious groups spreading online, with some exceptions, which could help explain the more carefree approach. However, the challenges of similar groups’ potential spreading in the near future is an important reason to address ethical approaches on how to best report on radical nationalist groups promptly.
author Axelsson, Sofie
author_facet Axelsson, Sofie
author_sort Axelsson, Sofie
title The ethics of reporting on radical nationalist groups in Sweden
title_short The ethics of reporting on radical nationalist groups in Sweden
title_full The ethics of reporting on radical nationalist groups in Sweden
title_fullStr The ethics of reporting on radical nationalist groups in Sweden
title_full_unstemmed The ethics of reporting on radical nationalist groups in Sweden
title_sort ethics of reporting on radical nationalist groups in sweden
publisher Södertörns högskola, Institutionen för samhällsvetenskaper
publishDate 2019
url http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-38397
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