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Journalistisk gestaltning i amerikanska och svenska medier under demokraternas primärval 2020

Abstract

The journalistic framing of politics as a game, as opposed to focus on the issues, has long been discussed in terms of consequences for potential voters and in the long run, democracy. Research shows that the game frame is especially prevalent in highly market-driven media systems such as in the United States, but that it also appears, albeit to a lesser degree, in systems marked by a mix of public service and commercial media, such as Sweden. This paper examines news stories in both US and Swedish media, covering the well-publicized 2020 Democratic primary election in order to elucidate patterns of journalistic framing. The results indicate that the game frame is indeed in frequent use in both systems, and that with notable exceptions, when it comes to a foreign election such as a US primary, Swedish media focuses less on the issues compared to a selection of US media.