Mellan granskning och underhållning. En kvalitativ studie av Sportbladet och Fotbollsmorgons bevakning av det svenska herrlandslagets VM-kval i fotboll hösten 2025

Sammanfattning

This thesis examines how journalistic roles are expressed in contemporary sports journalism. The aim of the study is to analyze how journalistic roles are articulated in two contrasting Swedish sports media outlets, newspaper Sportbladet and the sports talk show Fotbollsmorgon, in their coverage of the Swedish men’s national football team’s weak performance during the 2025 World Cup qualification campaign. Specifically, the study asks how roles differ between formats and how they are affected by a period of sporting underperformance. Two main research questions have been formed to reach a conclusion: 1. Which professional roles are most prominent in each medium, based on Mellado’s (2015) theory of journalistic roles? and 2. How are journalistic roles expressed in Sportbladet’s and Fotbollsmorgon’s reporting on Sweden’s weak 2025 World Cup qualification? The theoretical framework is grounded in research on journalistic role performance, primarily drawing on Claudia Mellado’s (2015) role typology. The analysis focuses on three roles: the watchdog role, the infotainment role, and the loyal-facilitator role. Professionalization theory (Wiik & Nygren, 2024) and media logic (Strömbäck, 2019) are also used to interpret and understand the results. Methodologically, the study employs a qualitative content analysis of journalistic material from Sportbladet and Fotbollsmorgon. The empirical material consists of articles and program episodes published during a selected period of the World Cup qualification campaign. The analysis focuses on how criticism, interpretation, emotional engagement, and support for the national team are articulated in the content. The results show that journalistic roles are expressed differently depending on format. Sportbladet demonstrates a more consistent watchdog role through structured criticism and evaluative reporting, while Fotbollsmorgon primarily emphasizes infotainment and conversational analysis. However, the findings also reveal that Fotbollsmorgon temporarily adopts more critical and professionalized role expressions when granted access to central actors. Overall, the study highlights how journalistic roles are not fixed but negotiated through format-specific conventions and contextual circumstances, particularly during periods of sporting crisis.