Journalism at the Borders Avh_Johan Östman_290809.indd 1 2009-07-30 10.01 Avh_Johan Östman_290809.indd 2 2009-07-30 10.01 Örebro Studies in Media and Communication 8 Örebro Studies in Conditions of Democracy 3 Johan Östman Journalism at the Borders The Constitution of Nationalist Closure in News Decoding Avh_Johan Östman_290809.indd 3 2009-07-30 10.01 © Johan Östman, 2009 Title: Journalism at the Borders. The Constitution of Nationalist Closure in News Decoding Publisher: Örebro University 2009 www.publications.oru.se Editor: Heinz Merten
[email protected] Printer: intellecta infolog, Göteborg 08/2009 issn 1651-4785 isbn 978-91-7668-679-9 Avh_Johan Östman_290809.indd 4 2009-07-30 10.01 Abstract Östman, J. (2009) Journalism at the Borders. The Constitution of Nationalist Closure in News Decoding. Örebro studies in Media and Communication 8, Örebro Studies in Conditions of Democracy 3. This dissertation is a contribution to the social analysis of nationalism. Its disci- plinary context comprises the field of empirical studies that explore how forms of mediated quasi interaction can function in processes of reproduction and trans- formation of nationality. The study poses the question of how news journalism can establish national frames of reference within which social reality is made meaningful by citizens. The research design facilitates a novel contribution to a field of research that is largely dominated by studies of media output. Two distinct but intertwined do- mains are empirically studied: news as a form of discourse and the moment of news decoding as a form of social interaction between readers and texts.