War and Press : Swedish Coverage of Soviet Union during World War II on Eastern Front, 1941 - 1945

Sammanfattning

This thesis presents the results of a study on the coverage of the Soviet Union during the Second World War by two Swedish newspapers, Smålandsposten and Socialdemokraten, which was later renamed Morgontidningen. The analysis focused on four key events of the war on the Eastern Front: Operation Barbarossa, the Battle of Moscow, the Battle of Stalingrad, and the Battle of Berlin. The study applies framing theory, which describes how the media portray reality by highlighting certain aspects and assigning them particular significance, there by influencing perceptions of the surrounding world. The method used was qualitative text analysis, through which articles and texts from 25 issues of Smålandsposten and 23 issues of Socialdemokraten/Morgontidningen were examined. The results show that the newspapers presented different images of the Soviet Union during the war, and that these images changed over time. The political orientations of the newspapers and developments on the Eastern Front played a significant role in shaping the representation of the Soviet Union in the Swedish press.