“Who Is Really in Power Here?”

“Who is really in power here?”

A critical discourse analysis on the Facebook discussion concerning the media representation of Greekazo in Malou Efter Tio

En kritisk diskursanalys av Facebook-diskussionen gällande mediarepresentationen av Greekazo i Malou Efter Tio

Axel Bjerkland Thomas Forssell

The faculty for humanities and social sciences

Media and communication

Bachelor thesis 15hp

Elizabeth Van Couvering

VT 2020

Abstract The purpose of this essay is to investigate the confrontation of the Facebook group that was developed in response to the interview with the rap artist Greekazo in Malou Efter Tio. The study investigates the research questions: How is the discursive practice of Facebook utilized to challenge a mainstream television production? How are the stereotypes of contemporary marginalized rap artists reproduced in the Swedish news media? Our key interest lies in the moment of conflict between a section of the public and a mainstream media organization where we discuss how the media representation of a Swedish contemporary rap subculture is confronted by a minority of people online. To support the research questions, the study relies on two additional working questions: How do resistance and group formations develop in terms of dynamics within the Facebook comment section of Malou Efter Tio? Why are the stereotypes of contemporary marginalized rap artists reproduced this way in the Swedish news media? The focus is to analyze how the discursive formation of Facebook presents alternative viewpoints to challenge the mainstream media. The theoretical framework of the essay is constituted by the theory of social discourse in which we have embarked on the critical discourse theory (CDA) by Norman Fairclough (1993). This approach uses theories and methods to theoretically problematize and investigate the relationship between the text, the discursive practice, and the sociocultural dimension (Fairclough, 1993; Winther Jørgensen & Phillips, 2000). The notion of media representation has been approached from two perspectives: The Agenda Setting theory and the Framing Theory, here we have particularly emphasized the idea of moral panic in which we have investigated how Malou Efter Tio was speaking about moral panic fears concerning the contemporary rap subculture in Sweden. Previous research includes Djerf-Pierre and Shehata (2017) in which they applied the Agenda Setting theory in a Swedish news media environment, Nilsson (2009) who investigated the media representation in Swedish television, Lindholm (2014) who researched the notion of self-presentation in Swedish rap music, and Johnen, M., Jungblut, M. & Ziegele, M. (2018) who investigated what incites participation in online discussions. In the analysis, we distinguished three prominent themes: social injustice, responsibility, and solidarity. These themes were established from the selection process in which 19 Facebook comments were collected and analyzed through the critical discourse analysis. The study showed how the Facebook discourse was utilized as a space for resistance of which the dispute

betokened an abruption in ideology. This abruption was consequently challenged by the Facebook users in which they collectively built authority throughout the affordances of the Facebook discourse. The study will end with a discussion concerning the role of Facebook in a wider context in which the democratic space of the platform is contextualized from a societal and political point of view.

Sammanfattning

Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka konfrontationen i Facebook-gruppen som utvecklades som svar på Greekazo-intervjun i Malou Efter Tio. Studien undersöker frågeställningarna: Hur utnyttjas den diskursiva praktiken av Facebook som ett sätt att utmana en tv-produktion i mainstream media? Hur reproduceras stereotyperna av samtida förortsrappare inom svensk nyhetsmedia? Vårt huvudintresse ligger i konflikten mellan allmänheten och en mainstream mediaorganisation där vi diskuterar hur medierepresentationen av en svensk samtida rap-subkultur konfronteras av en minoritet människor online. För att svara på syftet i studien använder vi oss av två arbetsfrågor: Hur utvecklas motstånd i form av gruppdynamik i kommentarsfältet hos Malou Efter Tio? Varför reproduceras stereotyperna av samtida förortsrappare på detta sättet inom svensk nyhetsmedia? Vårt fokus är att analysera hur den diskursiva praktiken av Facebook presenterar alternativa sätt att utmana mainstream media. Det teoretiska ramverket för uppsatsen består av teorin om social diskurs där vi i synnerhet har fokuserat på den kritiska diskursteorin (CDA) av Norman Fairclough (1993). Detta tillvägagångssätt använder teorier och metoder för att teoretiskt problematisera och undersöka förhållandet mellan texten, diskursiv praktik och den sociokulturella dimensionen (Fairclough, 1993; Winther Jørgensen & Phillips, 2000). Vi har studerat medierepresentationen utifrån två perspektiv: Dagordningsteorin och gestaltningsteorin, här har vi särskilt betonat konceptet om moralisk panik där vi har undersökt hur Malou Efter Tio talade om en typ av moralisk panik kring den samtida rapkulturen i Sverige. Tidigare forskning inkluderar Djerf-Pierre och Shehata (2017) som forskade kring svensk nyhetsmedia genom att applicera dagordningsteorin, Nilsson (2009) som undersökte medierepresentationen i svensk television, Lindholm (2014) som undersökte identitetsprocesser inom svensk rapmusik och Johnen, M., Jungblut, M. & Ziegele, M. (2018) som undersökte vad som motiverar användare att delta i online-debatter i sociala forum.

I analysen urskiljde vi tre framstående teman: social orättvisa, ansvar och solidaritet. Dessa teman fastställdes genom urvalsprocessen där 19 Facebook-kommentarer samlades in och analyserades genom den kritiska diskursanalysen. Studien visade hur Facebook-diskursen utnyttjades som ett utrymme för motstånd, varvid konflikten på Facebook visade på en ideologisk diskrepans där Facebook-användare följaktligen kollektivt byggde auktoritet genom den diskursiva praktiken av Facebook. Studien avslutas genom en diskussion gällande Facebooks roll i ett bredare sammanhang där plattformens demokratiska utrymme kontextualiseras ur ett samhälleligt och politiskt perspektiv.

Keywords: Malou Efter Tio, TV4, Greekazo, media representation, Facebook discourse, moral panic, Agenda-Setting

Table of content

1. Introduction 7 1.1 Background 8 1.2 Purpose 9 1.3 Research questions 10 1.4 Definitions 10 1.4.1 Text 10 1.4.2 Media Ecology 11 1.4.3 Swedish marginalized rap 11 1.4.4 Ideology 12 1.4.5 Discourse 13 1.5 Limitations 14 1.6 Outline 14

2. Theory and previous research 16 2.1 Discourse Theory 16 2.2 Culture 17 2.2.1 Culture as a concept 17 2.2.2 Cultural Hegemony 18 2.3 The media 19 2.3.1 Media representation 19 2.3.2 Agenda-setting theory 20 2.3.3 Framing theory 21 2.4 The online audience 22 2.4.1 The process of group formation 22 2.4.2 Moral panic 22 2.4.3 Online firestorm as a moral panic 23 2.5 Previous research 24 2.5.1 Agenda setting and public perception 24 2.5.2 News television and its influence 25 2.5.3 Self-presentation and marginalized rap subculture 26 2.5.4 Participation in an ‘online firestorm’ 27

3. Method 28 3.1 Selection process and data limitation 28 3.1.1 Search query 29 3.1.2 First selection 29 3.1.3 Second selection 29 3.2 Research approach 29 3.3 Thematic model 30

3.4 Critical discourse analysis (CDA) 30 3.5 Critical discourse analysis in social media 33 3.6 Analysis of the text level 34 3.7 Validity, Reliability and Generalizability 35 3.7.1 Qualitative validity 35 3.7.2 Qualitative reliability 35 3.7.3 Generalization in qualitative studies 36 3.8 Ethical considerations 36

4. Results and analysis 37 4.1 Text analysis of the production 37 4.1.1 The title of the weblink 38 4.1.2 The Facebook post 38 4.1.3 Multimodality 40 4.2 Text analysis of the thematization 41 4.2.1 Presentation of subjects 41 4.2.2 Theme 1: Social injustice 42 4.2.3 Theme 2: Responsibility 45 4.2.4 Theme 3: Solidarity 47 4.3 Analysis of the discursive practice 49 4.3.1 The discursive formation of Facebook 50 4.3.2 Challenging the discourse 54 4.4. Results 55 4.4.1 Production 55 4.4.2 Thematization 56

5. Discussion and conclusion 58 5.1 Discussion 58 5.2 Conclusion 59

6. Future research 63

7. Implications for society 64

Bibliography 67

Appendix 76

Acknowledgments

This essay is co-authored between Axel Bjerkland and Thomas Forssell. Both authors have been equally valuable to the research process but with different areas of responsibility. The exact contributions will be presented in the appendix.

We want to thank our supervisor John Lynch for valuable discussions and feedback throughout the work process.

1. Introduction

The televised media representation of contemporary youth subcultures has been an established issue within media studies since the 1970s. It has revolved around how youth subgroups have been presented and framed by the news media to the public (Cohen, 1980; Gibson & Pagan, 2006; Hall et al. 1978). In the 1960s it was the “mods” and “rockers”, and in the 1980s and 1990s, it was the “rave culture”. While the notion of media representation 50 years ago, undoubtedly, shares many similarities with media representation today, there is, however, an essential difference that sets the media ecology apart, and that is social media. Due to social media, the audience in today’s media ecology now has the possibility to respond, address, and openly criticize issues online. In turn, this takes away part of the influence and power of the media as they have to avoid “online firestorms” that could potentially damage their reputation. News organizations, therefore, walk a fine line as they, on the one hand, need to assure that they capture the attention of the audience in competitive media ecology. But, on the other, they have to avoid misrepresentations that may result in confrontations amongst the audience. A recent example of this was seen in the Facebook discussion concerning the media representation of the Swedish marginalized rap culture (Clason, 2019; Elmervik, 2019; Mohammadi, 2019). The discussion evolved in response to an interview that took place in the esteemed Swedish morning show, Malou Efter Tio, where the Swedish rap artist Greekazo was criticized by the 67-year old journalist Malou Von Sivers for glamorizing drugs and violence in his lyrics. The show Malou Efter Tio airs on Sweden's largest advertising-funded TV-network, TV4, and averages 178,000 daily viewers, which in the context of the Swedish media ecology, makes the show rather prominent in relation to viewership. In response to the interview, the social media discussion quickly emphasized issues regarding stereotypes, ethnicity, social injustice, and media responsibility. The study will approach the concern of media representation by focusing on the Facebook discussion in relation to these issues. This will be done in two ways. First, the study will critically analyze the linguistic discourse in the Facebook post published by Malou Efter Tio. This is to investigate how meaning was mediated from the production point of view, in which the essay will be analyzing themes of hegemony, ideology, and power. The study will then focus on the public response to the post by critically analyzing the discourse in the Facebook comments. This is to establish people's perspectives on how they believe Greekazo was framed

in the interview, but also to investigate how people expressed support and solidarity with the artist. The Facebook discussion attests to the notion of fixed meaning, particularly emphasizing the issue of stereotyping. This is viewed from two perspectives. On the one hand, it seems as the media portrays Greekazo as an advocate for crime by visually stereotyping attributes through a fixed meaning. This goes in line with Hall (1997), who claims that by re-presenting images, the media is continuously stereotyping characteristics among people, genders, social classes, and ethnic backgrounds — subsequently providing the assumption that by re-presenting images, meaning is made. This way of understanding representation is viewed as an established predicament within media and communication as it indicates the power that the media has of presenting ideas, values, or beliefs to the viewers with the use of stereotyping. But on the other hand, it seems contradictory to accuse the media of stereotyping as the artist himself relies on stereotypes throughout his music. This opens up a critical discussion as it addresses the belief that rap artists are merely “performing” this idea of being marginalized by relying on well-known stereotypes. The proliferation of social media has established new ways of communicating and not only amongst the public. Government institutions, news organizations, and other companies all communicate via platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. With a new media ecology, Bouvier and Machin (2018) claim that to conduct a valid critical discourse analysis on media texts today, the study has to include the context of social media. Only when validating user responses on these platforms, can we begin to depict and analyze ideological meanings on a larger scale. Foregrounded in this statement we believe that this essay is relevant to media and communication as it investigates these concerns. It explores the influence that the news media have over the audience in a contemporary media ecology, but it also investigates how this dynamic has changed in which the audience now holds influence over the media as they are able to confront and dispute the media at any time on social media platforms. The essay also discusses the role of Facebook in a wider context in which the democratic space of the platform is contextualized from a societal and political point of view.

1.1 Background Malou Efter Tio is a Swedish morning television show that is broadcasted every weekday on the television network TV4 between 10.00-12.00. The show addresses social issues and current news stories while interviewing artists, authors, and politicians. The program has been hosted by the

67-year-old journalist and moderator Malou Von Sivers since 2006 (TV4, 2020). In an interview with Dunér (DI, 2015), Von Sivers expressed that her main audience are seniors, culture workers, people on parental leave, and University students and that the show averages 178,000 daily viewers. Von Sivers also explained that she accepted the job in 2006 with the condition that she would be in charge of the show´s budget and of the staff, “being in charge of the budget equals power, and power is needed to be able to do whatever you want. It allows me to be more creative, but it also saves me time as I don´t have to confirm decisions with people above me” (as cited by Dunér, 2015).

TV4 is a Swedish commercialized TV-network owned by TV4 Media that began broadcasting via cable and satellite in 1992, today it is the largest advertising-financed TV channel in Sweden and the second biggest TV channel after the public service network Sveriges Television (De Vries, 2019). The TV4-network broadcasts a variety of shows including news, drama, comedy, entertainment, feature films, community programs etcetera (Fast, 2010).

Alexander Cielma Miliarakis, known as Greekazo, is a 19-year-old Swedish rapper from Stockholm, Sweden who has an ethnic background of Poland and Greece (Genius, 2019). Greekazo has more than 70 million streams on Spotify and close to 600.000 listeners monthly (Spotify, 2020), his debut single ‘Hotspot’ was released in 2019 which gained quick recognition.

Facebook was initially launched in 2004 and was developed as a social networking platform for students at Harvard (Rutledge, 2008). Today it has 2.6 billion users worldwide (statista, 2020). Apart from Facebook being a social network for individual users, the platform provides opportunities for companies and brands to engage and interact with their audience. By creating a Facebook page, organizations can promote events, products, and services as well as directly interact with their audience and receive engagement on their posts in forms of likes, comments, and shares (Ruiz, Blas & Marti-Parreno, 2014). These pages also provide organizations and businesses with the opportunity to build relationships with their audience for a minimal cost.

1.2 Purpose The purpose of this essay is to investigate the confrontation of the Facebook group that was developed in response to the interview with Malou Efter Tio. The focus is to analyze how

Facebook presents alternative viewpoints that challenge the mainstream media. As we investigate the discourse on a social media platform, part of the objective is to recognize the effect that Facebook has had on the media ecology. The key interest lies in this moment of conflict between a section of the public and a mainstream media organization.

1.3 Research questions To achieve the purpose of this study we will conduct the following research questions (RQ):

● RQ1: How is the discursive practice of the Facebook platform utilized to challenge a mainstream television production?

● RQ2: How are the stereotypes of contemporary marginalized rap artists reproduced in the Swedish news media?

The research questions will rely on two additional working questions (WQ):

● WQ1: How do resistance and group formations develop in terms of dynamics within the Facebook comment section of Malou Efter Tio?

● WQ2: Why are the stereotypes of contemporary marginalized rap artists reproduced this way in the Swedish news media?

1.4 Definitions The following section provides clarification and definition of key terms and concepts used throughout this paper.

1.4.1 Text The term text is referred to as a semiotic construct, which, within the linguistic tradition means that images, writings, speeches, and films can all be interpreted and depicted as texts (Fairclough, 1993). The premise is that all different forms of expression can be read. In the context of this

essay, the term text will, therefore, be referring to videos, images, conversations, interview transcripts as well as written speech and writings.

1.4.2 Media Ecology The concept of Media Ecology has several definitions. For this study, the term is used as a reference to the connected media landscape whereas texts are seen as patterns rather than independent objects. We will refer to the concept of media ecology as a kind of "media environment" where individual parts are connected to other media (Fuller, 2005). The concept of Media Ecology was introduced by McLuhan in the 1960s but has since then been widely explored by media scholars, and therefore, now has several definitions (Gamaleri, 2019; Strate, 2014). The expression "the medium is the message" (McLuhan, 1964 p.7) is perhaps the most popularized approach towards the concept, which refers to the idea that communication is influenced and impacted by the form of the medium itself (Strate, 2014). Neil Postman developed McLuhan's ideas further during the 1970s. He came to refer to the concept as a type of media environment in which modes of information act in the mutual interaction between human beings and the media (as referenced in Fuller, 2005). A more recent approach to the idea was developed by Matthew Fuller (2005), who deploys the term "media ecology" in a modern media landscape as an allotment on informational roles within organizations as well as the collaborative computer systems within, primarily explaining the flow of information amongst these roles. Fuller argues that media ideology is a concept that refers to media being interconnected by "knowledge and time management processes, intellectual property regimes, database, and software design, content control, access structuring..." (Fuller, 2005, p.3). Put differently, the concept is complex and is somewhat open for interpretation. However, what scholars on media ecology have in common, is the view on the media environment as a connected and much global environment, of which the focus lies on the interplay between technology, information, and human beings (Gamaleri, 2019; Strate, 2014; Fuller, 2005).

1.4.3 Swedish marginalized rap Swedish marginalized rap refers to a particular style within the Hip-Hop music genre that is often produced in smaller marginalized communities in suburban areas in Sweden. The word “marginalized” is perhaps a bit contradictory as the music is often played on mainstream radio.

Nevertheless, the definition in this paper refers explicitly to the production aspect, in which the music is often geographically associated with marginalized and suburban areas in Sweden. Although Hip Hop and Rap are commonly used synonymously by the general public, there are distinct differences. Keyes (2004) states that “Rap is something one does or performs, whereas Hip Hop is something one lives or experiences.” (p.6). Much of the heated controversy about the rap genre relates to the crude language that is expressed through the lyrics. Rose (1994) suggests that male rap artists formulate sexist narratives about women primarily due to a lack of self-worth, economic, or social status. In an article by McLeod (1999), it was suggested that showing off feminine qualities in Hip Hop is within the culture considered “going soft” and reduces the artist´s quality of authenticity and “realness”. In many cases, it is therefore presumed that in order to be successful as an artist, the language is expected to follow certain criteria, often characterized by crude language, including drugs, violence, and sexism. These expressions have been established as stereotypical within the genre and are often reflected in the genre as “performative acts”, in which artists reproduce the same stereotypical attributes because it is expected within the culture. Contemporary rap makes an excellent illustration as the genre often concerns a deviant group of people that are not following the classic traditions and values presented by the mainstream media. The apparent digression from the “status quo,” illustrates the epitome of the media representation narrative.

1.4.4 Ideology The modern concept of ideology relates to the Marxist definition, which suggests that it is a system of ideas and ideals that relates to political and economic theory (Larrain, 1991). Economic determinism permeates the beliefs of Marxist scholars on ideology as they believe that economic forces define, shape, and determine all cultural, social, political, and intellectual aspects of a civilization. Ideology is a collection of ideas that together constitutes a belief or a conviction about something (Berglez, 2009). This belief is produced and reproduced in the relationships among people, through rituals and social practices by spreading influence. This idea relates to the notion of power as the objective is to reach and influence as many people as possible, and to get them to practice a specific ideology so that it becomes the dominant one, i.e., hegemonic in society. Althusser's work (1970) reintroduced the Marxist idea of the State apparatuses, which is the belief that the "state is a machine of repression, which enables the ruling classes" (p. 9).

Althusser used the term to refer to how western values were reproduced through ideology in favor of capitalism. Althusser presented two ideas on apparatuses; the repressive state apparatus (RSA), which referred to authorities such as the army, the police, and other military organizations in which he explained how they favored the state by maintaining capitalistic class structures by force. The ideological state apparatuses (ISA), however, emphasized the power of the mass media, religious institutions, educational institutions as well as the family sector, in which, Althusser explained how these groups exercised power through the notion of ideology. In contrast to RSA, these sectors did not use force to accentuate influence; instead, they articulated power through ideology where they encouraged citizens to find their place in relation to the societies they lived in.

1.4.5 Discourse According to Nationalencyklopedin (n.d), discourse refers to speech, conversations, or discussions. In philosophical contexts, the word denotes coherent expressions, statements, and concepts. For this paper, we will mainly embark on the definition standard within the Foucaultarian tradition, which views discourse as a way to structure knowledge and power within different fields (as referenced in Fairclough, 1993). The use of language is, in this sense mirroring the social values, norms, and behavior of dominating discourses. For example, within the newspaper discourse, the writing is typically formal and informative; this is because the language is presumed to follow certain norms. In the same sense, the expression within medical discourse is restricted to its norms and values, etcetera (Fairclough, 1993). Discourse relates strongly to the notion of power, of which Foucault's central claim is that power is expressed in the use of language, which in turn is constituted within the discourse itself. Foucault disputes that power is something that people come across continually without much thought, simply because it is expected within the discourse. This builds a notion of normalized power, which becomes problematic as it generates norms and social values that are bound to higher-level organizational structures (Foucalt, 1975). Within the discourse perspective, the social aspects are permeated by notions of conflict and power, and the struggle therebetween is thus an essential emphasis. As Fairclough writes, "discourse is a difficult concept, largely because there are so many conflicting and overlapping definitions formulated from various theoretical and disciplinary standpoints" (1993, p. 3). While

this is true, discourse as a concept becomes particularly useful in text analysis as it accommodates the interpretation process of the extended relationship between reader and writer.

1.5 Limitations The paper will examine the relationship between the Facebook discourse and the morning talk show Malou Eter Tio. To conclude about the Facebook discourse we will analyze two connecting areas, first, the Facebook post by TV4 which includes written language and imagery, second, we will conduct a CDA on the comment section relating to the same post. The empirical material has been collected from a time-perspective of which we have collected 19 comments that were written on the same day as the post by Malou Efter Tio (December 6th, 2019). These 19 comments were selected for analysis with the motivation that we assumed that the reflections in these comments were mostly individual opinions and not reflections influenced by the media ecology since the event had not been discussed in the media thus far. In the days that followed the interview, several media influencers and news providers began discussing the story on various platforms, which then directed attention to the original Facebook post. For this reason, we decided only to investigate the comments added on the 6th of December as these comments were more inclined not to be biassed or influenced by the media ecology. We believe that this is a large enough sample to do an analysis but it's not too big to become unmanageable. In the analysis of the Facebook comments, the focus has, therefore, been exclusively on the comments relating to this post. Other social media posts, comments, and news articles concerning the discussion have for this reason been excluded.

1.6 Outline The first chapter begins with the introduction, describing the problem area as well as presenting the background of the recent media discussion. This is followed by the purpose, research questions, definitions, and limitations of the study. Chapter two will introduce the theoretical framework and previous research that is used in the thesis. In chapter three we present the method of the study, the selection of material, and the qualitative methodological approach that is used to analyze the empirical content. This chapter also discusses the aspects of validity and reliability as well as addressing ethical considerations. The analysis is presented in chapter four which is divided into three parts, the first part focuses on the text dimension in which the TV4

production of the Facebook post will be analyzed, the second part will analyze the text dimension of the Facebook comments relating to the post, and third, we will analyze the discursive practice by establishing the Facebook discussion as a discursive formation. The results from the text analysis and of the discourse analysis will be presented subsequent to the analysis in a separate section. Chapter five presents the discussion and conclusion of the study, this chapter will summarize and discuss different parts of the analysis that we found particularly prominent in regards to the purpose of the study. Chapter six will provide a discussion on future research in which we will recommend how the research area could be expanded. The value of the paper and its relation with society will be presented in chapter seven in which we will also conclude the sociocultural significance of the case.

2. Theory and previous research

This chapter will describe, in three parts, the theoretical framework, as well as exploring previous research that relates to the purpose of the study. The first part presents the theory of discourse whose intent is to study the power relationships in social and linguistic norms in media texts. Next, a presentation will be given on the notion of culture, emphasizing theoretical definitions; this is then followed by a presentation on the theory of cultural hegemony, which examines the relationship between authoritarian control and minority groups. The third part of the theoretical framework describes the media processes of the Agenda Setting theory and the Framing Theory in which the idea of moral panic will be emphasized. In the section on previous research, four recent studies will be presented that relates to the purpose of this research. The first study reviews the relevance of the Agenda Setting Theory in a modern and competitive media landscape (Djerf-Pierre and Shehata, 2017). The second study explores the influence of Swedish television in the 2000s (Nilsson, 2009). The third study presents ideas on the media representation and the self-representation of suburban rap music in Sweden (Lindholm, 2014). The last study exemplifies the phenomenon of an “online firestorm” by adapting the concept of moral panic (Johnen, Jungblut and Ziegele, 2018).

2.1 Discourse Theory Fairclough (1993) takes an interdisciplinary approach to the study of discourse, which regards language as a form of social practice. Interpreting language as a social practice implies that there is a dialectical connection between social structure and discourse. The discourse in this sense is part of a system where the discourse is continually being reproduced and constituted through social interaction. For example, a journalist is maintaining the media discourse by producing content that correlates to the expectations of a news journalist, and like so, the discourse is reproduced. Discourse is considered an essential concept of social practice which constitutes both the social world but is also constituted by other social practices. As a social practice, discourse is therefore viewed in direct relation to other social dimensions as it both shapes and mirrors them. To explain how social dimensions impact social practice, Fairclough mentions the family relationship between a parent and a child. He explains that the relationship is partly discursively constituted but also part of an institution with practices related to already existing relations and identities.

In discourse theory, discursive practices are seen as essential notions, as they contribute to establishing and reproducing new and already existing power relationships between social groups, for example, among social classes, age groups, gender groups, or between ethnic minorities and the majority. These discursive effects are within discourse theory, referred to as ideological effects (Winther Jørgensen & Phillips, 2000). It is important to note that no discourse is entirely autonomous; discourses are continuously in conflict with each other. For example, the University discourse is characterized by discourses related to the identities of the members within the discourse. In the book Media Discourse (1995), Fairclough investigates the power of mass media and the role it has of influencing cultural values, knowledge, beliefs, social relations and identities. The book has three main objectives. The first is to give readers a theoretical framework of linguistic analysis to which they can analyze mass media language. The second objective is to convince readers that mass media discourse should be understood as a dominant element in research regarding sociocultural change. The third objective revolves around contextualizing media discourse with examples from ‘public affairs media’ such as news shows, social science, and television host shows. These ideas will be asserted in a similar way to form the theoretical framework of this paper. While there are different approaches to discourse theory, the analysis of this paper will elaborate on the critical discourse theory developed by Fairclough in which we will use his three-dimensional model (1993) to analyze the text dimension, the discursive practice, and the sociocultural effects. This method of analysis will be explained more thoroughly in chapter 3.

2.2 Culture

2.2.1 Culture as a concept In Culture, Media, Language (1980), Hall discusses Althusser´s widely influential essay "Ideological state apparatuses", accentuating how this essay had impacted definitions on culture much due to its exploration of ideology. The essay emphasized that culture was more than mere ideas and that the social practices that take place are equally as important when defining culture. The paper had a significant impact on culture from a Marxist perspective, which, according to Hall, was important, as it created new conversations of the relationship between class structured social formations and ideologies. Althusser (1970) claimed that "dominant ideologies" were produced

from within existing doctrines such as in the state, churches, trade union, or family, which consequently meant that they each contributed to the ideological structures of society. Although praising Althusser for this perspective on ideology and culture, Hall and the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS) simultaneously criticized Althusser for emphasizing too much focus on "dominant ideologies". The claim was that culture could be produced and exist outside these dominant ideological structures, subsequently arguing that culture bears different meanings within different ideologies (Hall, 1980). By focusing too much on this perspective, Hall and the CCCS argued that Althusser "consistently down-played the notion of cultural contradiction and struggle," (Hall, 1980, p.22), which was seen problematic when approaching a representation of a culture that would accommodate different ideologies. Following Raymond Williams's statement "culture as a whole way of life" (Williams, 1958/1960), Hall (1980) similarly asserts that culture cannot be defined nor be explained in one way. Culture, as a concept, has numerous definitions and understandings within different theoretical frameworks. Hall et al. claim that understanding this notion is a vital prerequisite for studying culture (Hall, 1980; Wrigley, 2011).

2.2.2 Cultural Hegemony According to Hall (1980), an essential view on culture refers to the theory of Cultural Hegemony, developed by the leftwing Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsci. With the notion of Hegemony and the "Marxist structuralism," Gramsci contributed not only with new perspectives on culture but also directly influenced societal power structures and politics with his ideas about class strata. Gramsci's notion of Hegemony played an immense role within the CCCS as it initiated discussions on the correlations of the ruling class, media, and ideology with the emergence of subcultures. Gramsci believed that in societies with diverse cultures, dominant groups such as authorities, media, politicians or influential social classes, all share the common goal of seeking to manipulate and unify the masses into thinking like them (Fairclough, 1993; Hall, 1980; Hebdige, 1979; Jackson Lears, 1985). In theory, this happened either by direct force or through what Gramsci believed was more common, by mutual consent. Gramsci held the idea that by accepting the views of the ruling class, the "masses" would let themselves be manipulated without recognizing it. Although these ideas are coming from a Marxist perspective, they are nonetheless crucial as they contribute to the discussion of subcultures and media discourse, and

particularly they emphasize issues regarding control and intellectual leadership. Additionally, they help understand why subcultures mobilize in society as well as explaining the relationship they have with the ruling classes, including the media. One of the CCCS´s key defining moments of their discussions on subcultures was that they found sights of resistance among “normal people”. Ordinary people that were living life on an everyday basis but yet not acting upon the “ordinary rules” of what was expected from them. The notion of resistance is important because it distinguishes a subculture from the dominant and hegemonic culture. It is arguably a complex social phenomenon because it can be expressed in many ways. The Birmingham School as well as other media scholars have conceptualized resistance throughout various examples in history. During the 1970s the punk movement expressed semiotic resistance through subcultural style by using ordinary and everyday objects as a form of expression, e.g. the use of pins (Hebdige, 1979). In the 1980s and 1990s, the rave subculture expressed resistance by acting against the status quo in terms of social behaviour where participants would often use illegal drugs while attending “all night dance parties” (Adlaf & Smart, 1997).

2.3 The media

2.3.1 Media representation Visual representation (Hall, 1997) is incorporated as an important notion within media studies. Besides seeing language as a social practice for representation, Hall mentions the role of images in media, whereof a big focus revolves around the notion of stereotyping. The idea is that by representing specific images, the media is continuously stereotyping characteristics among people, genders, social classes, racial and ethnic backgrounds — subsequently providing the assumption that by representing images over and over, meaning is eventually made. This is one of Hall's most central claims, that meaning is created within discourses. Certainly, things can exist outside discourses, but to give meaning to something, you need discourse. Hall exemplifies this notion through the object of a "ball". Without the discourse, a ball is simply a round object filled with air, perhaps with specific colors and patterns, but with no particular purpose. Within the discourse however, the ball relates to the game of soccer, a game that has rules, therefore representing something which in turn gives it meaning. In the same way a ball represents the game of soccer, an image of, e.g., an African American person wearing baggy clothes might

produce various meanings to different people; perhaps it represents poverty, violence, or a particular subculture. Naturally, this way of looking at representation becomes a predicament as it indicates the vast power that the media have of representing ideas, values, or beliefs to the viewers with the use of stereotyping. Although meaning is always contextual and can never have a fixed and absolute meaning, Hall (1997) claims that the media purposely tries to neutralize the many different perceptions that can be made so that the viewer only finds one meaning. The question of power is, of course, very central here; if meaning is generated through discourse and media symbolizes the discourse, then consequently, it means that the media generate meaning through representation. As Hall argues: "we are talking about the fact that it has no fixed meaning, no real meaning in the obvious sense until it has been represented". (Hall, 1997, p.7). From this perspective, the apparent concern revolves around the notion of creating fixed meanings as it indicates the media discretion of representing media texts as fixed meanings. Another form of representation, which is equally as important, has to do with the exclusion of media representation. For example, by not including certain news segments on television, or by not playing particular music genres on the radio, a selection of representation occurs. This returns to the idea of power as it exposes a symbolic power operating by the notion of exclusion.

2.3.2 Agenda-setting theory McCombs and Shaw (1972) argued that the mass media plays a significant role in influencing what issues the public considers the most important in society. The notion of mass media’s agenda-setting was initially developed by Walter Lippmann in the book Public Opinion (1946), where he disputed that the mass media is the primary link between the world's current events and how people perceive these events. The hypothesis of agenda-setting was tested in conjunction with the presidential election in 1968 when McCombs and Shaw investigated people's perceptions on current issues that they considered to be important. They analyzed the topics that were drawn from the interviews and compared them to the issues published and aired in mass media. The study confirmed that people's most perceived social issues matched the topics that were illuminated by mass media. In fact, they were close to identical with the exposure in the media at the time (McCombs, 2006). The theory investigates the indirect effects of mass media. The process of setting an agenda is a competitive race among issue proponents to capture the attention of the public, media leaders,

and policy stakeholders (Dearing & Rogers, 1996). It is a process that revolves on the public's perception of what happens in society by promoting specific and dominant political and social issues in front of others. It should be noted, however, that several media scholars allege that The Agenda-setting theory needs to be updated as the power relations within the media have changed (Nabi & Oliver, 2009). With the evolution of Web 2.0, digital platforms, and social media, the conditions of traditional mass media and its previous functions have changed. Contemporary technology allows people to access news, information, and other content from multiple media sources based on their preferences and interests. The argument is that mass media no longer have the same power to control the public agenda as before, mainly due to the altered consumption of media and the audience fragmentation (Yuan, 2011). However, Takeshita (2005) argues that despite the high access of news that is available online, there is not much evidence that claims that people retrieve news from an excessive amount of sources, but instead typically turn to their online version of traditional news providers. Moreover, an interesting assumption on the theory is that web 2.0 seems to have "reversed" the theory and that the audience on social media now conversely has the possibility of setting the agenda for the mainstream media (Nabi & Oliver, 2009).

2.3.3 Framing theory In media science, framing refers to the process of which media construct news, events, or other productions that reflect an image of reality (Strömbäck, 2000). Similar to the Agenda-setting theory, Framing theory also focuses on how the public perceives representations of reality, but with a particular emphasis on how media conveys selling points to its audience. Mass media companies are all competing for the public's attention, and therefore it is a necessity for the media to restrict their content and choose what agenda they want to push and how they want to frame it for the best engagement possible. According to Strömbäck, while identifying the framing of a particular event or phenomenon, one should analyze these four attributes of representation:

1) How does the source define a problem? 2) What is the presented cause of the problem? 3) Which moral aspects are expressed?

4) Is there a solution to the problem?

Strömbäck mentions that the attributes above do not need to be evident in any sense. They are, most of the time, subtle for the ordinary reader. Iyengar (1991), one of the original scholars who applied the theory of framing in media research wrote that: "the concept of framing refers to subtle alterations in the statement or presentation of judgment and choice problems" (1991, p.11). The result of the framing is additionally dependent on the consumer's cognitive resonance, which makes the person behave and think a certain way.

2.4 The online audience

2.4.1 The process of group formation As part of the purpose with this paper is to investigate how Facebook users build support and how they collectively sympathize with Greekazo, some knowledge is therefore required on the notion of group formation. We have used Winther Jørgensen and Philip´s (2000) description of how individuals establish group formations throughout the notion of identity which in turn acts within the discursive practice. They describe identity as a continuous identification with a subject position in a discursive structure, meaning that identity occurs by identifying with something or someone. The identity is, in this sense, shattered and formed through the discourse, and therefore is constantly changing. Understanding the premise that individuals have several ongoing identities is important when understanding how group formations occur, individuals are constantly given opportunities to identify with something or someone in different social situations. While it is hard to say that the Facebook users identify with Greekazo on a personal level it is, however, assumed that the users identify with particular Facebook comments by sharing the same values.

2.4.2 Moral panic Cohen introduced moral panic as a social phenomenon in his book Folk Devils and Moral Panic in 1972. He described the term as a socially recurrent but temporary phenomenon which occurs in conjunction with events, people, conditions or groups that are considered to constitute a threat towards current moral values or interests of the society. Cohen argued that the mass

media, often societal elites, presents certain events in a stereotypical as well as exaggerated and deviant matter, mainly due to their level of newsworthiness (Cohen, 2002). Since the 1980’s, rap music has been observed in the media as a threat to the social order in society, mainly due to the harsh language in the lyrics which includes sexual and violent content (Deflem, 2019). The way in which the media scatter reports and “demonize” the rap culture can be related to the idea of moral panic where the media tries to make the public associate the music with criminality (Kubrin & Nielson, 2014; Schneider, 2011). Cohen’s view on moral panic was later developed and exemplified by Goode and Ben-Yehuda in which they refer to the concept as a way to describe the attitudes of the mainstream media and the reactions of society to disturbances which often relates to “youthful disturbance”. They write that:

”At times, then, societies are gripped by moral panics. During the moral panic, the behavior of some of the members of a society is thought to be so problematic to others, the evil they do, or are thought to do, is felt to be so wounding to the substance and fabric of the body social, that serious steps must be taken to control the behavior, punish the perpetrators, and repair the damage” (Goode & Ben-Yehuda 2009, p.35).

Although still relevant, these definitions are moderately outdated, modern theorists of moral panic argue that the term has to be updated due to contemporary technological affordances. Social media has allowed for a greater connectedness in political solidarity and for people who share similar ideologies (Sutherland, 2016) Additionally, social media and the convergent media landscape have challenged mass media’s previous authority of moral panic narratives, mainly because of the ability for individuals to contest, transform and reproduce moral panics. Although moral panics still originate from mass media, the power of the distribution and circulation process have been decentralized as individuals today possess levels of agency.

2.4.3 Online firestorm as a moral panic An online firestorm can be described as a “collaborative brand attack” (Rauschnabel, P.A. & Kammerlander, N., & Ivens, B.S, 2016) or a “Social media backlash” (BBC, 2015). In today’s media ecology this may occur in instances when companies, organizations, or celebrities publish content online that does not match the expectations of the public, which consequently, leads to

confrontation. Often this public response transpires into a negative “word-of-mouth” among users which then leads to an “online firestorm” (Einwiller S, Viererbl, B. & Himmelreich, S, 2016). In this study, we refer to the concept of moral panic while discussing the way in which Von Sivers addressed the social issues in Sweden by emphasizing the harsh lyrics of Greekazo as problematic. The social media backlash that transpired in response to this makes several aspects of the concept applicable, including the five characteristics presented by Goode and Ben-Yehuda (2009):

● Concern: A significant level of concern has to emerge from the behavior of a person or a group which in turn may cause consequences in society. ● Hostility: An increased grade of hostility towards a subject that is causing the condition ● Consensus: There should be an agreement among a larger group of people. ● Disproportion: The concern of the problem exceed the issue itself ● Volatility: Moral panics tend to arise fairly rapidly, and later subside as suddenly.

2.5 Previous research Previous research includes Djerf-Pierre and Shehata (2017) in which they applied the Agenda Setting theory in a Swedish news media environment, Nilsson (2009) who investigated the media representation in Swedish television, Lindholm (2014) who researched the notion of self-presentation in Swedish rap music, and Johnen et al, (2018) who investigated what incites participation behavior in online discussions. However, research regarding the media representation of contemporary youth subcultures in Sweden and public resistance on social media appears to be missing.

2.5.1 Agenda setting and public perception With the substantial increase in news outlets in today's media environment, several researchers have begun to dispute the validity of traditional media effect theories, such as the Agenda-setting theory (Takeshita, 2005; McCombs, 2006). In the Swedish study on news media perception (Djerf-Pierre & Shehata, 2017) the objective was to address this discussion. As Djerf-Pierre and

Shehata write, "The key argument here is that the gradual transformation from a low-choice to a high-choice media environment has left traditional news media as less powerful agenda-setters in relation to the public". (2017, p.737). Djerf-Pierre and Shehata approached this by testing the hypothesis; have the relationship between the public and the news media changed from 1992 to 2014, and has it been weakened due to the increase of media sources, including Social Media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter? The study solicited these questions by evaluating and comparing the perception amongst public opinion on specific news topics, such as crime, politics, environmental issues, etc., for 23 years. To conclude which topics had the most potent effects on the public, Djerf-Pierre and Shehata conceptualized the sentiment that news topics had various "issue signals", explicitly referring to the level of visibility of an issue within the context of a more comprehensive media environment. The study concluded that despite the abundant access to news from numerous media sources, the influence of the agenda-setting effect remains high in 2014. This contradicts the many suspicions that public opinion today would be less responsive to prominent news media compared to earlier years. A necessary disclosure on the study, however, is that the focus remained on traditional news magazines. While this is a useful emphasis, the role of television within this context should perhaps also be elaborated on as it is a much important news source amongst the public in Sweden (TU, 2017).

2.5.2 News television and its influence In her doctoral thesis, Nilsson (2009) seeks to establish a more profound understanding of the distinctive meanings of television as a mediator of representation for scientific knowledge. The thesis focused on the two Swedish public service channels (SVT and SV2), of which 25 popular science programs (between 2002-2005) were analyzed through Norman Fairclough's CDA model. The thesis asked questions such as "how is the program format used to depict certain issues that relate to human nature and behavior, and what representations are the audience offered to relate to? The author relied on the theoretical basis that television as a medium position acts as a sound and influential channel for spreading information amongst people and because of this, it subsequently constitutes an area for debate and opinion formation in the public sphere (Nilsson, 2009). This notion of medial influence in television has been widely explored in media research;

for example, Corner (as referenced in Nilsson, 2009) mentions how news television continuously constitutes media narratives, which he claims is often oversimplified just so it will match the audience's perceived capability of decoding information. In line with this conjecture, the results of Nilsson's research show that the majority of the information in the Swedish social science programs is "fairly simple" and "unproblematic" and that it lacks well-founded and legitimate scientific support. Nilsson (2009) presumes that this is because the TV-editors create content which is thought to match the knowledge level of the Swedish audience. The belief is, thus, that by airing shows that are "too scientific", the TV-producers risk deterring the audience's attention, which in a media climate characterized by competition, is assumed to be devastating.

2.5.3 Self-presentation and marginalized rap subculture In the research article "representing the marginalized Other", Lindholm (2014) seeks to investigate the self-representation of the Swedish marginalized rap group, Advance Patrol. The background of the study refers to the riots that appeared in Husby, Sweden, in the spring of 2013. Pointing to media headlines, the author claims that these riots occurred as a response to racism, inequality, and discrimination, which subsequently, she argues, are often prominent themes in marginalized rap music. Thus, the correlation is here made between the media representation of marginalized subcultures and the music genre of marginalized rap. The author further argues that in the context of marginalized rap, lyrics are often characterized by violence and crime, and thus, she notes that it becomes interesting to investigate how the group members view themselves in relation to this. The author approaches this by examining:

1) How the group "stages" and identifies themselves as a marginalized subculture in Sweden. 2) How the group purposely distances themselves from the same kind of representation by establishing an "externalized other" through their lyrics.

The hip hop culture is often portrayed as a unified and homogenous front, of which artists are often perceived to "stand together" in societies where the power structures undermine them. The key thing to take from study, however, is that the group Advance Patrol seemed to disrupt this notion of a unified "us", and instead, the study showed that although the group identifies as a marginalized rap subculture in Sweden, the group seemed to distance themselves from similar

genres. According to Lindholm, this provides the idea that rap subcultures in Sweden are not entirely analogous, and therefore, cannot be held accountable for the glorification of crime and violence that the media often relate them to.

2.5.4 Participation in an ‘online firestorm’ In the article “What incites participation behavior in an online firestorm?”, Johnen et al., (2018) investigated the reasons why people join and contribute to social media discussions. They use the term “online firestorm” to refer to sudden outbursts or negative responses towards brands or people from groups on social media platforms. The article refers to the campaign #Upforanything which was released by Bud Light in 2015. In the campaign, the company had printed the text “the perfect beer for removing ‘no’ from your vocabulary” on their cans. Subsequent to the release, people online quickly expressed their discontent in terms of claiming that the campaign was distasteful as it was perceived to promote rape. People on other social media platforms then joined in on the outburst and began verbally attacking the brand with complaints and indignant statements. Johnen et al. (2018) used the concept of moral panic as a starting point for investigating the response of the campaign and they found two key motivations for why people joined the social media debate. Firstly, participation behavior is propelled by a moral compass. Here, Johnen et al. refer to the definition by Eisenberg and Lindenmeier et al. whereas moral compass is the individual’s own opinion about the scenario itself as well as the impression of other opinions expressed within the context. Secondly, Johnen et al. suggest that what drives participation is a desire for social recognition. This addresses the individual’s desire for social recognition where the goal is to gain positive and social recognition by others. In the context of an online environment, this is seen in likes, replies, retweets, positive reactions, etc. The findings of the study suggested that the moral compass was mainly influenced by the perceived appropriateness of criticizing the brand, meaning that people would rather criticize the brand due to the “bandwagon effect” rather than their individual intrinsic values. Moreover, the results suggested that high engagement in the post increased people’s level of compliance with the prevalent attitudes towards the brand.

3. Method

This chapter will introduce the selection process for the empirical material, it will also explain the quantitative research method (CDA) which has been used to analyze the material, and lastly it will provide an assessment of the overall research approach.

The paper uses a qualitative content analysis method. This method appeared to be the most appropriate as the main purpose of the study is not to generalize the findings but to analyze particular texts. The analysis is based on Fairclough's three-dimensional model, which consists of the text level, the discursive practice, and the sociocultural practice. Given, however, that the analysis focuses mostly on the Facebook post and the comment section we have mainly focused the critical discourse analysis (CDA) on the first and second dimensions of the model. Fairclough´s model will be given a more profound explanation in chapter 3.4.

3.1 Selection process and data limitation The link to the interview with Greekazo was published on Malou Efter Tio's Facebook page on the 6th of December, 2019, the same day as the program aired. Shortly after the Facebook publication, several Facebook users left comments on the post. During the time this writing, the total share of comments is 415, and out of this number, 19 were published on the same day as the Facebook post. These 19 comments were selected for analysis with the motivation that we assumed that the reflections in these comments were mostly individual opinions and not reflections influenced by the media ecology since the event had not been discussed in the media thus far. In the days that followed the interview, several media influencers began discussing the story, consequently creating several social media discussions on various platforms, which then directed attention to the original Facebook post. In the news media, we noted that within three days of the initial Facebook publication by Malou Efter Tio, there had been five news articles from five different news magazines reporting about the interview, some of which referred directly to the Facebook post. For this reason, we decided only to investigate the comments added on the 6th of December as these comments were more inclined not to be biassed or influenced by the media ecology.

3.1.1 Search query To find the Facebook post we used the search term “Malou AND Greekazo AND Facebook” in https://www.google.se. The link was then displayed as “Malou efter tio - “Jag kan ju inte släppa musik som…- Facebook”, the link can also be found here: link

3.1.2 First selection The material of the analysis consists of 19 Facebook comments relating to the post published by Malou Efter Tio on the 6th of December. These comments were determined in the first selection of which they were sorted from the total amount of 415 comments. The selected comments were “original comments”, meaning that they were written in direct response to the Facebook post and not “a comment on a comment”.

3.1.3 Second selection The second selection of the empirical material was structured in user engagement level. This refers to the engagement among Facebook users in terms of interactions (likes and emojis). The comments were based on popularity where the comments with the highest engagement were presented at the top.

3.2 Research approach As this study is rooted in Fairclough´s social theory of discourse the approach of this study is largely deductive. Concerning the thematization of the material however, we assumed an inductive strategy, meaning, the empiricism has controlled our categorization process (Ekström & Johansson, 2019). According to Fairclough (1993), as long as the structure is relevant for the research area, there are no set guidelines for how the material should be thematized and structured before the analysis. There is an assumption within CDA that texts are conveying messages driven by ideological factors (Fairclough, 1993; Ekström & Johansson, 2019). This simultaneously suggests that the categorization process would benefit from selecting texts that are in some way “arguing for their cause” as it then makes it more relevant to depict the ideological meaning behind it. On this premise, we constructed a model that relates to the notion of ideology in which we embark on themes that are ideological and convincing. In addition, the

model also provides an overview of themes concerning the notions of identity and group formations, which are also important concerns for the purpose of this study.

3.3 Thematic model The thematic model (Table 1) of the analysis is organized based on frequently used words expressed in the Facebook comment section, this provides the analysis with an overview of critical themes. The most important themes that we found were social injustice, responsibility, and solidarity. Keywords used within these themes were nedlåtande (condescending), ansvar (responsibility), kriminalitet (criminality), narkotika (narcotics), verklighet (reality), förändring (change). The words alone do not provide enough meaning and, it is therefore, important to put them into a discursive context as well as emphasize the relation they have with the involved participants (Bergström & Boréus, 2012).

Themes: Keywords:

Social injustice Nedlåtande, ansvar, problem, kriminalitet, politiker, ung pojke

Responsibility Försköning, motverka, narkotika-spridning, ansvar, verklighet, gör skillnad

Solidarity Helt rätt, tyckte synd, han driver, skötte detta proffsigt, heja, förändring, Lena Endre

Table 1. Thematic model with keywords.

3.4 Critical discourse analysis (CDA) Critical discourse analysis should be distinguished as a separate approach to discourse analysis. It is critical in the sense that it emphasizes the role of the discursive practice in the upholding of the social world, including the social relations that involve unequal power relations. The purpose

of CDA revolves around the contribution to social change by advocating equal power relationships in society. This implies that CDA is an approach whose main objective is to map out indifferences and subsequently address the issues in order to support the struggle of social change. CDA focuses on the extended relation that the texts are connected with, for example, with organizational, political, or social relations. From this perspective, the discourse should be regarded as a sample taken from a broader context as it represents a larger whole connected to other social structures (Winther Jørgensen & Phillips, 2000). Discourse is particularly beneficial while analyzing the use of language within social contexts as it concentrates on the structures of these particular discourses, primarily in terms of understanding how they are constituted and how they have evolved (Winther Jørgensen & Phillips, 2000). According to Fairclough (1993), to understand the discourse of a text, it is not sufficient to perform only a text analysis. While this type of analysis might reveal linguistic structures of the text, it fails to mention the connection that the text has with sociocultural processes. For this reason, Fairclough developed a three-dimensional framework (Figure 1) for analyzing discourse, where the objective is to combine three separate forms of analysis. This includes analysis of written or spoken texts, analysis of discursive practice, which emphasizes the processes of text production, distribution, and consumption, and lastly, a review of social events that emphasize socio-cultural practices in society (Fairclough, 1993).

Critical discourse analysis uses theories and methods to theoretically problematize and to empirically investigate the relationship between the text, discursive practice, and sociocultural development in social contexts (Fairclough, 1993; Winther Jørgensen & Phillips, 2000). This study will analyze the empirical material from the two first dimensions, particularly emphasizing the text level. The results from the text analysis will then be discussed within the frames of the discursive practice where it will be studied in order to look at the constitution of group formations. Lastly, based on the empirical results, a reflection on the sociocultural dimension will be carried out, this will particularly be emphasized in the section on societal implications in chapter 7. On the text level of the analysis, we will examine the language and the sentence structure of the 19 Facebook comments. This type of linguistic analysis can be performed using a variety of linguistic analysis tools. For this study, this includes Transitivity and Modality (Fairclough, 1993). These terms will be explained in chapter 3.6. In addition to analyzing the response of the Facebook comments, we will also conduct a critical text analysis on the post published by Malou Efter Tio. This section will analyze the written language as well as the

multimodal graphics including the imagery that was published in conjunction with the Facebook post.

3.5 Critical discourse analysis in social media It is important to emphasize that CDA as a method was developed during a time when the media ecology was vastly different. Although the exploration of hegemonic structures and the focus on ideology remains the same today, there are, nevertheless, challenges with adopting CDA in a media ecology which today is characterized by social media and user participation. In the article “Critical discourse analysis and the challenge of social media”, Bouvier and Machin (2018) discuss how CDA should best be viewed and applied in today´s media environment. Historically, they explain how the focus of CDA has been to pick apart institutional texts such as political speeches, advertising texts or news articles to unveil the top-down discourses of power. The assumption was that the author of the text wielded large power in terms of influencing the discourse, and communication was often perceived as knowledge rather than information. Today, however, in a media ecology where the public is able to directly criticize, and discuss opinions openly online, the role of the authorship has consequently changed. It now redirects the focus to the audience. As Bouvier and Machin write,“If we want to understand and challenge dominant ideologies and the social relations that they produce, we must investigate the ways in which different people in society relate to these” (2018, p.13). The proliferation of social media has undoubtedly established new ways of communicating, and not only amongst the public. Government institutions, news organizations, and other companies all communicate via platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. For this reason, Bouvier and Machin (2018) claim that in order to critically analyze the discourses of these institutions, we have to include the context of social media as the public communication largely occurs here. Furthermore, they explain that within this context, the user participation is a vital part of the analysis as it depicts the public debate, which they claim, is now reshaped due to social media. Although the focus still remains on the top-down hegemonic structures, the media ecology of which the text is interconnected with plays an integral part of CDA. By directing the focus to interconnected media, we can better comprehend how audiences respond to media texts and how the texts themselves are constituted. The media environment today is largely characterized by highly multimodal graphics such as bullets, videos and imagery and this has to

be reviewed in addition to analyzing the text language itself, “discourse will be increasingly multimodal as communication becomes more aestheticized, but sites of the dissemination of discourse can no longer best be accounted for by analysis of language alone” (Bouvier & Machin, 2018, p.18).

3.6 Analysis of the text level In analyzing the linguistic characteristics of the Facebook comments on the text level, we can map out certain qualities and thereby interpret their contribution to the discourse (Winther Jørgensen & Phillips, 2000). This is done by contextualizing the words in the discourse so that we can then interpret the words with analytical tools. This interpretation process begins with an analysis of the tool “grammar” which examines how clauses, sentences, and words are constituted and how they work in conjunction. While examining the grammar of the text level we will primarily be focusing on the elements of Transitivity and Modality.

Transitivity Fairclough (1993) refers to transitivity being “the ideational dimension of the grammar” (1993, p.178) which deals with encoded processes as well as the participants within the clauses. These processes are useful as they can help to map out cultural, political, and ideological factors in the discourse. The different processes are “action”, “event”, “relational” and “mental” processes. This study will mainly focus on the relational and action process. The relation process will help identify the relationship between articulated verbs and the participants, e.g, “who is doing what and to whom”, while the action process is identifying the non-directed and directed actions of how subjects are acting upon a goal. These two processes identify attitudes among Facebook users, namely addressing whom the users believe are responsible for what and why.

Modality Modality refers to the degree of consent expressed by an author of a text (Winther Jørgensen & Phillips, 2000). Authors can either formulate sentences objectively or subjectively and this is particularly seen when personal opinions are expressed as facts. For example: “This is wrong” opposed to “I think this is wrong”. The first example describes something perceived as an objective truth where the author fully agrees with the proposition. The second example,

however, is a way to distance the argument and leave it open for discussion. The modality in the Facebook comments is important to examine as it indicates how users present their arguments.

3.7 Validity, Reliability and Generalizability

3.7.1 Qualitative validity The validity in a qualitative project refers mainly to the level of accuracy in the research results but also in the transparency of the results (Creswell & Creswell, 2018 ). To obtain a high level of validity in this paper, several procedures will be relied on throughout the research process. In particular, we will establish the validity by the following procedures:

● Coherence: We will strive to be coherent with the research results and the research process. ● Transparency: Potential biases will be defined ● Confirmation: The essay will be peer-reviewed before publication.

3.7.2 Qualitative reliability Although the empirical data in this study is aimed to be viewed and processed objectively, it should still be disclosed that the analysis and the results are based on our perceptions as Swedish media students. This type of interpretation in qualitative studies is inevitable but should, nonetheless, be mentioned as it might indicate a westernized view on the interpretations of the empirical results. An important note on this revolves around the translation of the material. Much of the empirical material in this study has been translated from Swedish to English. As media scholars we are aware that any type of translation includes subjective interpretations, however, it is nevertheless necessary as the material in this study has to be readable in both Swedish and English. All material will be translated to the best of our ability and based on dictionaries, it will then be reviewed and confirmed by bilingual media scholars. To sustain research that is reliable in terms of accurate results, we will also:

● Continually confirm the accuracy of the text analysis to avoid apparent mistakes. ● Compare the results with similar studies.

● Use relevant sources to support arguments.

3.7.3 Generalization in qualitative studies Generalization intends to generalize the results based on places, individuals, or sites. In qualitative studies, however, the term generalization is much more restricted compared to quantitative studies as these categories cannot be measured the same way (Ekström & Larsson, 2010). Instead, generalization in qualitative studies emphasizes classifications or themes in the text with other contexts. We will, therefore, look for similar findings in other studies and compare the apparent themes to the ones of this study.

3.8 Ethical considerations To comply with good research ethics we have assured that the research process and the results have been presented in a transparent and systematic manner. We have assured that the sources in this essay have been relevant to the purpose of this paper. Throughout the research process, we have also prioritized that the sources have been peer-reviewed and that they are originals. The empirical material has been collected with great accuracy and thoughtful consideration in which we have made sure that individuals on Facebook maintain their anonymity. While we have been independent throughout the process, we have also been open to criticism and feedback from our supervisor which has allowed the process to be more accurate (Vetenskapsrådet, 2017).

4. Results and analysis

In this chapter, the analysis of the empirical results is presented. The analysis is divided into three parts; the first part includes a text analysis on the Facebook post published by TV4. This section will focus on the hegemonic and ideological aspects of the text by investigating the text language as well as the multimodal level of the text, including imagery, bullet points, and other multimodal elements (Bouvier and Machin, 2018). The second part is approached through the thematization in which we begin by introducing the actors of the themes “Social injustice”, “Responsibility” and “Solidarity”. This part will then examine the notion of grammar by implementing the linguistic grammar tools transitivity and modality on each theme in which we will depict and interpret actors, word choices, metaphors, and politeness levels in each of the themes. The results from the text analysis of the production and thememaztion will be presented in a separate section. The sequence of presenting the results subsequent to the analysis is suggested by Bergström, G. & Boréus (2012) which is motivated as the study is conducting a CDA within the qualitative research tradition. The third part of the analysis will analyze the discursive formation of the Facebook context. This section will be particularly useful in investigating how group formations are constituted in the context of social media but also in understanding the audience´s collective attitudes towards Malou Efter Tio.

4.1 Text analysis of the production While analyzing the text level of the Facebook post (Figure 2), there are several aspects of the post that should be included. To best approach this from a CDA perspective with a focus on ideology and power, the post will be divided into three sections and analyzed separately by examining connectives, argumentation, wording and expression. The three segments of the post include: a) The title of the web link. b) The text language of the Facebook post. c) The multimodal level of the post.

Figure 2. Screenshot of the Facebook post by Malou Efter Tio. Retrieved 2020-05-19, from: Facebook.com

4.1.1 The title of the weblink “Greekazo on his crude lyrics: It’s what people wanna hear” (see original comment in figure 2). In the title, we depict the word “grova” (crude) as particularly important as it indicates a level of subjectivity from the writer. Our interpretation of this suggests that Greekazo produce lyrics that are entirely constituted by “crude language”. Instead of writing “Greekazo on his lyrics” the writer emphasizes that the lyrics are “crude” which dramatizes the text. Thereby, by connecting the word “crude” (grova) with “lyrics’’ (låttexter), the meaning of the clause is intensified, which subsequently (in our interpretation) depicts Greekazo to the reader in a rather negative way. In addition, the writer includes a citation from Greekazo, “It’s what people wanna hear”, which in the context, further implies that Greekazo is supporting the writer`s subjective statement that the lyrics are “crude”.

4.1.2 The Facebook post In conjunction with the link, TV4 added a text in the post which reads:

“I can’t release music that no one likes”  The young rapper Greekazo has had a rocket career  TV host Anders Öfvergård joins to give his view on narcotics in music - after his latest show “Anders and drugs”. (see original comment in Figure 2)

Similar to the citation in the title of the link (“it's what people wanna hear”), the text in the post includes a citation from Greekazo in which he is seen advocating for his music by being defensive (“I can’t release music that no one likes”). By deliberately selecting citations out of a context, the writer draws attention from the audience which subsequently frames the artist a particular way (Gibson, Hester & Stewart, 2001). Moreover, the writer is using the word “young” to emphasize the age of Greekazo. We found this interesting because the word “young” was a recurrent word throughout the comment section as it was used in the confrontation against TV4. In addition, the writer included the metaphor “Kometkarriär” (rocket career), which in the context implies that Greekazo made a career out of producing music that relates to drugs and criminality. This is done very subtly as the writer does not use the words “drugs” or “criminality” in that particular sentence, however, in relation to the third sentence, the meaning from this clause is established. By relying on the agenda-setting theory, our interpretation of the last sentence is that TV4´s objective with this selection was partly to emphasize the theme of drugs and criminality in the interview, but secondly, and perhaps more importantly, to promote Öfvergård new show “Anders and drugs” which aires on the same channel (TV4). With the assumption that the media purposely tries to set the agenda of what the public should “be concerned about”. Our interpretation of this indicates that TV4 is conveying ideological values that relate to social issues including drugs and crime, and by doing this, they are conversely setting the agenda of what society should be concerned about. Although there is no adjective in the text indicating values or opinions on the subject of drugs, for example, “Öfvergård joins to give his negative view on narcotics“. The meaning is still established as the visual representation of Greekazo is providing meaning to the text, which suggests a rather negative image of Greekazo. This supports the idea of a moral panic as Malou Efter Tio is perceived to be advocating that the rap culture is dangerous to the Swedish society.

4.1.3 Multimodality The effect of combining the text in the Facebook post with the images in the link augments and strengthens the notion that meaning is created within the discourse. Here we see Hall´s (1997) ideas on visual representation becoming particularly useful. The image is presented and given meaning by the way it is framed by the producers. While the images are presenting Greekazo and Öfvergård quite literally, it is, more importantly, representing the ideological values of which Malou Efter Tio stands for. For example, by analyzing the body language of Greekazo and Öfvergård in the image we can depict certain emotions. Based on this knowledge we can then ask why the producer selected these particular images to frame the Facebook post. With this in mind, we see that the main image consists of Greekazo and Öfvergård sitting on a couch. They are both slightly turned to each other and keeping eye contact, Greekazo is showing the palms of his hands while Öfvergård is keeping a closed body language. According to body language specialist Joe Navarro (2018), the hand gestures of Greekazo is indicating a defensive position, whereof, it almost seems as if he is proving his innocence to Öfvergård. In contrast, Öfvergård´s serious facial expression together with his closed body language indicates a position of which he is listening but yet not convinced. While understanding the notion that media often uses visual representation to subtly convey ideological meanings, it becomes interesting to question why this particular image was chosen. Our interpretation of this image suggests that the producer is portraying Greekazo as an individual who needs to “prove people right”. This assumption is subsequently reinforced with the citation that was included in the text language earlier, “I can’t release music that no one likes”. Furthermore, the producer included a second image where Greekazo is seen wearing a mask and a hoodie which, according to our interpretation, depicts the artist as a “criminal” or someone dangerous to society. This exemplifies Hall´s theory on representation (1997), as it shows how the media is conveying meaning by stereotyping certain characteristics and it also indicates that TV4 made the selection to purposely frame the artist to influence the perceptions of the public.

4.2 Text analysis of the thematization

4.2.1 Presentation of subjects Within the themes, we distinguished 16 subjects. These include; American rappers, Ander Öfvergård, Crime writers, Einar, Elvis Presley, Eminem, Greekazo, Individual Facebook user, Lena Endre, Malou Von Sivers, Swedish politicians, The Beatles, The public in Sweden, TV4, Adolescents in Sweden, and Adults in Sweden.

The most apparent subject was Greekazo who was addressed either directly or indirectly by word choices such as “Greekazo”, “honom” (him), “ung människa” (young human being), “grabben” (slang for boy), “killen” (slang for boy), “pojke” (boy), “barn” (child), “gäst” (guest), “person” (person), “rapparen” (rapper), “rebell” (rebel). The second most addressed subject was “the public in Sweden” (we make the assumption that this is a referral to the public as no noun was given in terms of names). This subject group was indirectly referred to by words such as “vi” (we), “oss” (us), “folk” (people), “tittare” (viewers), “följare” (followers), “vuxna” (adults), “gruppen” (the group), “många” (many). The third most addressed subject was Malou Von Sivers who was referred to by name and by words such as “du” (you), “era” (pronoun for yours), “vuxna” (adults), “mediaproffs” (media professionals) and “ni” (you). Next was Anders Öfvergård who was also addressed by name and by the words, “era” (pronoun for yours), “vuxna” (adults), “mediaproffs” (media professionals) and “ni” (you). The words “era” (you) and “ni” (you) could, however, also be referring to TV4 specifically as it is not clear to whom the writer is referring to, nevertheless, we make the assumption that the writer is referring to Malou Von Sivers, Anders Öfvergård and the institution of TV4 as they are all part of the same TV organization. Many writers of the comments were directly or indirectly referring to themselves by using words such as “jag” (I), “fick ont” (it gave me pain) or “det gjorde ont” (it hurt), which therefore represents the subject “Individual Facebook users”. Moreover, several comments were referring directly or indirectly to “Swedish adolescents”, this was seen in words such as “ungdomar” (adolescents), “dom” (them), “era” (yours), “barn” (children), “unga” (young), in these instances we make the assumption that the writers are referring to Swedish adolescents considering the context. Lena Endre (Swedish

actress) was addressed either by her full name or by her first name in several comments. The subject “ Swedish politicians” was also mentioned in several different comments (again, we make the assumption that this is referring to Swedish politicians). The subjects “crime writers” and “American rappers” were mentioned one time respectively. Lastly, several musical artists were mentioned directly by their full name or by their stage name, including Nils Kurt Erik Einar Grönberg (known as Einar), Marshall Bruce Mathers III (known as Eminem), The Beatles, and Elvis Aaron Presley (known as Elvis).

4.2.2 Theme 1: Social injustice Some key words in this theme includes “nedlåtande” (condescending), “ansvar” (responsibility), “problem i Sverige” (problems in Sweden), “kriminalitet” (crime), “politiker” (politicians), “ung pojke” (young boy) etc. In total we found six comments that fit the theme of social injustice, three of which have been selected and analyzed through the text analysis. All six original comments are attached in the appendix. The subjects in this theme include Greekazo, TV4, Lena Endre, politicians, The public in Sweden, Eminem, Einar and Individual Facebook users.

Table of empirical material

Table 2. Summary of the empirical material in the theme of Social injustice. Each comment can be located in the appendix by the source number.

Transitivity The relation process is identifying the relation between articulated verbs and the participant(s). For example in the sentence, “Ta in en yngre grabb… och attackera honom om och om igen är absolut inte ok” (1), the writer is accusing TV4 and/or Malou Von Sivers for the action of “ta in en yngre grabb” (bringing in a younger man) for the interview. The attitude of the writer is seen partly in the written metaphor of “attackera honom” (attacking him), but also in the word choice of “absolut inte ok” (absolutely not ok). The relationship between the verbs “bringing” and “attacking” is, therefore, established in direct relation with the participants TV4, Malou Von Sivers and Greekazo. In this instance the writer is perceived as supporting Greekazo by advocating that social injustice is taking place. Another example is seen in the metaphor, “lägga ansvaret för problemen i samhället på hans axlar…” (1) (“to lay the responsibility on his shoulders”). The verb “lay” is used in relation with TV4 and/or Malou Von Sivers and Greekazo of which our interpretation is that TV4 is holding Greekazo accountable for the social issues in Sweden. Again, this is indicating a discontent from the writer in terms of suggesting that one individual is responsible for all the societal problems, which consequently, supports the theme of social injustice. Another metaphor that exemplifies this relation process is seen in “Lena Endre satte ner foten” (2)(Lena Endre put down her foot). Given the context, the interpretation of this metaphor is that Lena Endre contested Malou Von Sivers by “putting down her foot” as she did not agree with Von Sivers. From the perspective of the relation process, the verb “put” is used in direct relation with the subject of Lena Endre, which further indicates that the writer is indirectly supporting Greekazo by agreeing with the perceived action taken by Lena Endre. The sentence “en riktig uppvisning i härskartekniker av två vuxna” (2) (a true display of ruling techniques by two adults) is another sample which suggests that the action of “displaying ruling techniques” (the verb) is connected with the two adults Von Sivers and Öfvergård. This further reinforces the theme of social injustice as the writer is suggesting that the interview was unbalanced in terms of power. The action process is identifying the non-directed and directed actions of how subjects are acting upon a goal. This is relevant to review as it gives indications of the writer's attitude in terms of interpreting the cultural, ideological and political values. For example in the comment “ska ni attackera honom som om det var hans fel att droger, kriminalitet existerar” (5) (are you going to attack him as it was his fault that drugs, crime exist) we see a directed action as the writer is

explaining how the subject “you” (Von Sivers) is acting upon the goal of “attacking Greekazo”. Understanding this process helps signify the type of discourse that is linguistically expressed in the text, in this sentence, it appears that the writer is “victimizing” Greekazo by conveying certain ideological values bound to the theme of social injustice. Another example is seen in the clause “Hade ni växt upp i samma kvarter.... hade ni förmodligen varit några av dem som lyssnat på och gillat hans musik” (1) (if you grew up in the same neighborhood… you would´ likely listen and like his music). Again, the agent in this clause is the word “you” and the goal is “Greekazo´s neighborhood” whereof the writer is making political claims by suggesting that the area you live in strongly influences your consumption of culture. The clause “grabben är värd en offentlig ursäkt” (2) (the kid deserves an official apology) is an example of a non-directed action, as there is an agent (the kid) and an action (apology) but no particular goal. In this instance, the writer is presenting an ethical statement by proposing what action should be taken to justify what the writer believes was wrong.

Modality Modality refers to the degree of consent expressed by the author and in this theme, we see several examples of which the authors present their "factual arguments” as objective truths (Winther Jørgensen & Phillips, 2000). In the following instance, the author is conveying ethical considerations of what the author assumes is objectively true, “attackera honom om och om igen är absolut inte ok” (1) (to attack him over and over is absolutely not ok). In this example, the writer is using the verb “attack” which is perceived as a negatively charged word. Another example of objective consent is seen in “grabben är värd en offentlig ursäkt” (2) (the kid deserves an apology) where the author is making a statement on what he or she believes is the rightful action to justify the interview. Instead of emphasizing that, “I believe that he deserves an apology”, the author presents the argument as a universal truth. Similar to the above statements, these next two examples indicate the same objective truth, “detta var respektlöst” (5) (this was disrespectful) and “ett nedvärderande sätt att bemöta en ung kille” (5) (a condescending way of addressing a young man), of which the author is again making ethical claims of what is considered right and wrong.

4.2.3 Theme 2: Responsibility Keywords in this theme are "Försköning" (glamorization), "motverka" (counteract) "narkotika-spridning" (the spread of narcotics), "ansvar" (responsibility), "verklighet" (reality), "gör skillnad" (difference making). The subjects in this theme include "adults", "adolescents", "the public in Sweden", and "Greekazo". In total, we found four comments that fit the theme of social injustice, three of which have been selected and analyzed through the text analysis as seen in Table 3.

Table 3. Summary of the empirical material in the theme Responsibility. Each comment can be located in the appendix by the source number.

Transitivity The comments express different arguments where events are connected with the subjects. One author writes "Vi vuxna o inte minst media är väl dom I första hand som ska föregå med gott exempel". (16) (we, the adults, as well as the media, have to be role models and show a good example). This emphasizes the responsibility of setting a good example for the younger generation. The writer articulates this issue by writing "Vi vuxna" (Us, the adults) and "våra unga" (our adolescents), which suggests that the writer takes personal responsibility by including himself in the subject groups of adults. The writer continues using two metaphors, "Släpp selfiepinnen" (16) (drop the selfie stick) and "delta I barn/ungas verklighet" (16) (participate in children/adolescents' reality".

This shows a directed action as the writer is referring to adults and encouraging them to make a difference by taking on personal responsibility. In this comment, the writer recognizes the responsible agents of the problem (adults) by using the verb "set" in conjunction with the phrase "a good example", the writer is also asserting to whom the problem is addressed (adolescents). Another writer uses comparisons as a way to present arguments, "ska vi börja diskutera deckarförfattare?" (15) (shall we discuss authors of true crime books?) Again, we distinguish the word "vi" (we), which in this instance, is used as a pronoun to refer to the Swedish society. This analogy of comparing Greekazo's lyrics with true crime stories indicates that the writer is questioning the media regarding their responsibility. To reinforce this assumption we also see the writer using metaphors, "vad sprider de för bild'' (15) (what image do they project), "är den ljus och glad, eller triggar den och förskönar kriminalitet?" (15) (is it bright and joyful, or does it trigger and glamorize criminality?). Our interpretation of this is that Grekazo should not be held accountable for societal issues, but rather that the media should take responsibility. This is depicted as it seems that the writer is suggesting that true crime stories are the equivalence to rap lyrics, which consequently implies that suburban rap is not harmful. On the contrary, the third comment suggests that Greekazo should, in fact, be held responsible, "det är inget annat än ren försköning av narkotika och det är helt fel" (18) (it is nothing but a glamorization of narcotics, and it is entirely wrong). The author continues saying that "han förstår ju inte ens att det kan vara helt galet att förmedla det han gör" (he does not understand that it is crazy to mediate these things). The relationship between the verbs and the participants makes it seem apparent that the writer agrees with the assumption that rap music is harmful, and thus, Greekazo should be questioned accordingly. The writer also included a metaphor suggesting that “alla” (everyone) has to take responsibility, "alla måste dra sitt strå till stacken för att motverka narkotika-spridningen" (18) (Everyone has to pull their own weight to fight the spread of narcotics) which makes a rather strong and collective statement.

Modality In examining the level of modality (affinity), we see how writers are consciously or subconsciously presenting ideas and values in their arguments to match or confront the theme of responsibility. The first two comments (15,16) display solidarity with Greekazo while the third comment (18) is instead confronting Greekazo.

In the first comment, the word "väl" (colloquial for "it is") is used, "vi vuxna och inte minst media är väl dom i första hand som ska föregå med gott exempel" (15). By incorporating this word, the writer's argument is consequently not being presented as objectively true as the writer is seen hesitant to the argument, which indicates that the level of modality is rather low. The second comment (16) uses metaphors to make statements, which in turn constructs implicit meaning. Our interpretation of this suggests that the writer is supporting Greekazo by implying that the media should be held responsible rather than the artist. The third writer (18) presents claims with a high level of modality, of which the arguments are presented as entirely true. Formulations such as "det är inget annat än ren försköning av narkotika"(18) (it is nothing else but glamorization of narcotics), displays the subjective statement as universally true. Similar indications are seen in "det är helt fel" (18) (it is completely wrong), "han förstår inte..." (he does not understand...", "everybody must" etcetera. These formulations are presented so that the viewer perceives the writer as confident.

4.2.4 Theme 3: Solidarity Some notable key words in this theme were, "Killen klarade situationen bra" (the guy handled the situation well), "förändring" (difference), "nedlåtande intervju" (condescending interview), and "det kan inte han ställas till svar för" (he cannot be held accountable). The subjects in the theme were Greekazo, Lena Endre, Malou Von Sivers, and Anders Öfvergård.

Table 4. Summary of the empirical material in the theme Solidarity. Each comment can be located in the appendix by the source number.

Transitivity In the first comment (6), the writer is connecting the adjective "rutinerade" (experienced) with "medieproffs" (media professionals) with suggests that the writer perceives von Sivers and Öfvergård as the dominant figures. The writer then uses the pronoun "killen" (the kid) in describing that Greekazo was "färsk i media" (inexperienced in media situations), which implies two things, Greekazo is young and, therefore, he is the underdog. Secondly, he was "färsk" (Swedish slang for inexperienced), which suggests that the writer viewed him as inferior in the interview. In this example, the relational process includes Von Sivers and Öfvergård (subjects) of which they are seen confronting (event) Greekazo (object), which puts the two experienced media professionals in the position of agency, meaning that they are described being responsible for the event. Later in the comment, the writer also included Lena Endre by using a metaphor, "Lena läxar upp dem med all rätt"(6) (Lena is teaching them a lesson), which further shows the writer supporting Greekazo by taking a stance with Endre. Similar to that comment, number 11 also displayed solidarity by validating Endre, "helt rätt Lena Endre!" (completely accurate Lena Endre!). This writer continues citing Endre, saying, "he raps about his everyday life" which further suggests that the writer is agreeing with Endre and thus also expressing solidarity with Greekazo. In the second clause of this comment, the action process is exemplified, "he makes fun of drugs and criminality..." The pronoun "he" (Greekazo) represents the agent of which he is acting upon a goal, "makes fun" (event) with the goal of "drugs and criminality". The action process designates the attitude of the writer, which suggests that the lyrics of Greekazo are not harmful. The third comment demonstrates solidarity with Greekazo by stating, "cred till Greekazo som skötte detta proffsigt, trots bristande och nedlåtande intervju" (cred to Greekazo who dealt with this professionally despite a condescending interview). The relation process here describes Greekazo (subject) who "dealt with'' (event) the "condescending interview" (object). The attitude of the writer is distinguished in the adjective "condescending".

Modality The first writer of the theme (6), accumulates arguments that have different degrees of affinity. While parts of this comment have a rather neutral degree of affinity, presenting arguments as personal opinions, e.g., "Jag tyckte synd" (I felt bad) and "sedan tycker jag att..." (I think that...), the latter part is instead presenting statements perceived as objectively real. For example, "det var inte

snällt" (it was not nice), "Lena läxar upp dem" (Lena teaches them a lesson), "killen klarade situationen bra" (the kid handled the situation well). The second writer (11) conveys meaning with a high level of affinity, stating that "he makes fun of drugs and criminality, youths that listen to him laugh and see that he is joking..." In this instance, the writer presents the argument as if he/she knows how adolescents in Sweden perceive Greekazo. The third comment (3) is also presented with a high degree of affinity, e.g., "Cred till Greekazo som skötte detta proffsigt" (kudos to Greekazo who handled the situation well), which implies that the writer deems the response of Greekazo as accurate but without stating it as a personal opinion. This is also noticed in, "nedlåtande intervju som egentligen gick ut på att läxa upp" (3) (a condescending interview, which took place to teach a lesson...), which suggests that the writer knows the reason for why the interview took place.

4.3 Analysis of the discursive practice This part of the analysis will investigate the discursive practice within the Facebook comment section. The objective is to outline the production, distribution, and consumption of the texts so that we can evaluate how the discursive formation is shaping the discussion. As the production of the texts has already been discussed in the previous chapter, this part will mainly emphasize the distribution and, particularly, the consumption of the texts within the discursive formation. A discursive formation is in CDA understood as a space or framework of rules which decides on what can and should be said in a given context (Fairclough, 1993). Foregrounded in this notion, we will look upon the Facebook post as a discursive formation constituted as a result of the discursive event (the interview in Malou Efter Tio) whereof the comments in the post are viewed as independent objects within the discourse. According to Fairclough (1993), the constitution of objects in the discourse is bound to the rules within the discursive formation. In the context of social media, however, it seems as these “rules” are not as established as they appear to be in other discursive practices such as e.g. a journalistic discourse. The discursive framework of a journalist's opinion column is that it has its own rules, regulations, expectations, processes, and formats. There is an editor, a publisher, and other authorities that the writer is always bound to answer. Within the discursive formation of a Facebook section, however, these processes are much different as there are no set guidelines for

how the discursive practice “should be acted”. Nonetheless, we see how the context of social media portrays language and how it is produced, distributed, and consumed amongst users in a closed context. We begin the analysis by establishing the affordances that constitute the discursive framework of Facebook.

4.3.1 The discursive formation of Facebook Bouvier and Machin (2018) explain how users today often perceive social media comments as opinions rather than information. With this perspective, the discursive formation of a Facebook comment section correspondingly then acts more as a “ball plank” rather than a forum for actual debate. The affordances of Facebook allows users to bounce ideas, opinions, and values with a simple mouse click. In return, other users may respond with a comment or an “emoji response” to agree or disagree. This is what constitutes the technical framework of the discursive formation. The affordances outline the technical aspects of the discursive formation as it explains how users can produce, distribute, and consume texts within the discourse. It establishes what is linguistically possible but it also explains the expectations that users may have while acting within the discourse. The technical framework of the discourse is, therefore, important to note as it corresponds to user behaviors within the discursive framework. For example, the affordances of Facebook allows users to enter, leave, and re-enter the comment section whenever they feel like it. This user engagement naturally impacts the discursive formation as it displays a discursive behavior of which users are able to “leave a comment”, wait for a response and then re-enter the discussion, perhaps days later. This consequently decentralizes the idea that the Facebook forum is a space for “active debating” as users are able to leave and re-enter the discussion whenever it seems fit. Although the affordances present users with a manual of what is possible within the discourse it should not be viewed as an established rulebook for how the discursive practice should be acted. As seen in the text analysis, the language between users differs quite drastically which points to this sentiment. Of course, the different cultural backgrounds, lifestyles, and identities of the users naturally impact the way social relations and language are constituted and expressed within the discourse. Nonetheless, these text objects are still viewed as performative acts within the discursive formation which makes it interesting to discuss. It might not be bound to the same kind of conventional rules and expectations that e.g. journalists have to comply with, but it still portrays a discursive formation in which meaning is produced, shared, and consumed.

With this reflection in mind, we see tendencies in the Facebook discourse of how the affordances are influencing the discursive practice. For example in the image below we see how the affordances of heart emojis are encouraging users to display solidarity and support with the producer. This then portrays a discursive behavior that corresponds to the discursive framework.

Figure 3. Screenshot of Facebook comments in the post by Malou Efter Tio. Retrieved 2020-05-19, from facebook.com.

With the assumption that Facebook acts more as a “ball plank” for stating opinions rather than a platform for exchanging information, the key question revolves around how receptive users are to the values and ideas that are shared. In this next section, we will explore examples of how the language is shaped within the discursive formation. In particular, we will investigate how attitudes and values are distributed and consumed in the context. This will help understand how the discursive framework is influencing the discourse and how group formation occurs as a result. Foucault understands the analysis of the discursive practice as a method for analyzing statements that emphasize assertions, questions and orders (as referenced in Fairclough, 1993). Statements are seen as verbal performances of which the analyst investigates how the meaning is constituted and consumed within the discursive formation. In order to depict the values of the subjects we, therefore, have to review the statements in relation to the discursive formation. An example is seen in Figure 4 in which the statement reads: “You are not interested in his answer, you just want your own opinions validated…” The discursive formation is here distinguishing the values of the author as the meaning of “you” can only be understood within the discourse. It

also portrays how the meaning is shared and consumed amongst the audience as the “emojis” and “likes” explain how users respond.

Figure 4. Screenshot of Facebook comments in the post by Malou Efter Tio. Retrieved 2020-05-19, from facebook.com.

While analyzing the discursive practice it becomes particularly interesting to investigate why some text objects are given more room in the discussion. Essentially, why do some comments receive more interaction than others? There is of course not a single answer to this, one could argue that comments receive random attention, or that algorithms decide the ranking order. Regardless of the reason, there is a hierarchy of which some comments are clearly more influential than others. From a perspective of power, this of course, becomes relevant. According to Foucalt (1977), an expression of knowledge is connected to power. There are those who have the authority to speak and there are those who don´t. With this assumption in mind, we have organized all 19 comments in ranking order of which the top comments have the most interactions (see Table 5). The idea is to be able to indicate which discourse is the most dominant within the discursive framework.

Ranking order of themes based on interactions

Table 5. Table over number of interactions on the different comments, sorted in themes. Each bar represents an individual comment with related number (x).

This provides an overview of the most critical themes in the discussion, displaying a hierarchy of power of which the top themes are presumed to have more authority as they are given more room in the discussion. The comment with the most interactions had 276 interactions (social injustice) whilst the comment with the least interactions only had 1 interaction (solidarity). This order of discourse gives an indication to which values are perceived as more important, and therefore, also more dominant within the discursive formation. Moreover, this tells us that the most dominant text object in the discourse presents values relating to the theme of social injustice, e.g. “...bring in a young man without any media experience who has actually done something creative and taken a step forward in life and then you attack him over and over…” and “to put the responsibility on his shoulders is insane”. The assent from other users also indicates that these values are shared among many which consequently makes it more dominant.

Figure 5. Screenshot of Facebook comment in the post by Malou Efter Tio. Retrieved 2020-05-19, from facebook.com.

4.3.2 Challenging the discourse Fairclough (1993) explains that in cases when subjects challenge the discursive formation a process of “counter-identification” occurs. This process can be seen throughout the discursive practice of which the subjects in the Facebook discussion are seen challenging the discursive formation of the Facebook post. The comment seen in Figure 5 exemplifies this process as it portrays how the subject is conveying values that contradict the ideology of the media. The concept of hegemony is the process of power being enacted through normal day to day situations where “the system” tries to find a way of appropriating things that might challenge it (Hall, 1980). The discursive practice of the Facebook post displays this process quite accurately as TV4 is seen enacting their influence by conveying ideas and values as fixed meanings. This is then confronted by the audience who challenges the “the system”. However, as seen in Figure 6 below, TV4 seems to appropriate this challenge by merely thanking the public for speaking up:

“Hello guys. I see that there are many comments about today's interview with Greekazo. Just wanna thank you all for your feedback and say that I forwarded your comments to the editorial office. Have a nice weekend”. (figure 6)

This portrays the hegemonic process of which the media enacts their power by appropriating to the response of the public as something positive.

Figure 6. Screenshot of Facebook comments in the post by Malou Efter Tio. Retrieved 2020-05-19, from facebook.com.

4.4. Results

4.4.1 Production The main take from the Facebook post (see Figure 2) was that the production team seemed to portray Greekazo in a rather negative way, this was seen in the imagery where TV4 appeared to be stereotyping features related to crime. In particular, we noted this is the visual representation but also in the selection of citations as well as in the word choices that were found in the text. For example, the writer implemented a citation by Greekazo (“I can't release music that no one likes”) in the first sentence which portrayed Greekazo as an advocate for music that glamorizes crime. This interpretation was reinforced with the multimodality level of the post, of which the second image (small image in the center) depicted Greekazo as a “dangerous figure”. The effect of selecting this image in conjunction with the citation and the main image suggested several meanings. The main account was that Greekazo was portrayed as if he was defending criminal groups in Sweden with his music. This meaning was detected by viewing the two images as one complete text instead of looking at them separately. In addition, the selection of citations in the context reinforced this assumption. As already noted, this was seen in the first sentence of the

text, but also in the title of the link (“it's trendy right now”), which, given the previous assumptions, implied that Greekazo was, in fact, referring to “crime” as something being trendy. These images are, therefore, adding and augmenting meaning to the citations, which simultaneously suggests that the citations alone would not provide the same meaning. According to Hall´s (1997) ideas on visual representation, the media purposely tries to limit the frames of interpretation so that the viewers perceive the meaning of the text as intended by the media. If applying this theory to the Facebook post we detect how the citations are limiting the interpretation of the images but also vice versa, the meaning from the citations is framing the understanding of the images, which in turn creates a “fixed meaning”. The notion of power, and particularly, the thoughts on Hegemony is interesting to discuss in this instance as the post indicates ways in which TV4 was conveying political and ideological values by “framing” Greekazo in a certain way. The perspective on power becomes apparent when mentioning Malou Efter Tio reach on social media of which the show has almost 60,000 followers (not including the television audience), thus, the possibility to influence thousands of people puts Malou Efter Tio in a position of power. Viewing this from a larger perspective we can discuss ideological and hegemonic structures as TV4 is a national Television network reaching more than five million viewers on a weekly basis in 2020 (TV4, 2020).

4.4.2 Thematization Several comments in the theme of social injustice described the interview as condescending and discriminating towards Greekazo, particularly accusing TV4 and Malou of the representation of social injustice. A key remark in this theme was that Greekazo was perceived by the Facebook users as being held “accountable” for the social issues in Sweden, which was perceived as unfair largely due to his young age. Moreover, we found that authors were heavily relying on metaphors to express their feelings towards the interview. These metaphors were particularly used against Von Sivers, Öfversgård, and TV4 to dramatize the situation. In the section on modality we also noted that authors were conveying attitudes as objectively true which in turn, gave indications of the author’s ideological stance because if arguments are presented as universally true, the assumption is correspondingly that other people agree with the statements. We also found similarities in the comments of which authors were presenting comparable arguments, for example, the young age of Greekazo was particularly noted as a concern in all three comments. Other words such as “obehaglig”, (unpleasant) “konstigt” (weird)

and “nedlåtande” (condescending) were also recurring throughout all three comments. The most apparent take from the theme was the claim on universal truth, of which, authors presented arguments as objectively true without distinguishing their personal opinions. On the theme of responsibility, we recognized that several comments presented political arguments by emphasizing the notion of responsibility in the discussion on drugs and criminality. While some were stating that the music industry has to stop glamorizing the criminal lifestyle, others were pointing towards the responsibility of the media. These comments, therefore, detailed the theme of responsibility in different ways. It was perhaps the most fragmented theme, as the authors presented arguments that seemed to contradict each other´s statements. However, all comments touched on the theme of responsibility, but with different ideological approaches. Most notably, we remarked the values and beliefs of the writers in the section on transitivity. Here we ascertained which of the subjects were perceived to be responsible for what and why between the writers. The most important take from this was the use of the pronoun "we" which was used among all writers. This indicated that writers were presenting their arguments as "collective claims", where "we" was used to illustrate their thoughts on collective efforts in the process of taking responsibility. Worth noting was also the fact that neither Von Sivers nor Anders Öfvergård was mentioned in any of the three comments. This suggests to us that the writers were focusing on the “larger picture” by implying that society has to take responsibility rather than focusing on a couple of individuals. The main take from the theme solidarity was that the users seemed united. Each comment manifested some level of support to Greekazo; some focused on the media environment, expressing how Greekazo "handled the situation well" despite the austere media environment. Others were showing support by accentuating the value of the democratic space by saying that Greekazo deserves to be heard and that he is "making a difference". Several writers also expressed their support and solidarity by validating the Swedish actress Lena Endre in the comments. Endre was mentioned in the comments as a kind of advocate for solidarity in which she was praised for her comments on supporting Greekazo.

5. Discussion and conclusion

This chapter will summarize different parts of the analysis that we found particularly prominent in regards to the purpose of the study. The chapter will also answer the research questions.

5.1 Discussion The notion of moral panic has been particularly interesting in the essay. Von Sivers staged in the program an articulation of which she was speaking about moral panic fears concerning rap music in Sweden. This relates to Althusser's (1970) ideas on ideology, in which he asserts with Marx's notion that "ideology is the imaginary resolution of real conflicts". Von Sivers brings up issues concerning drugs and violence because she genuinely believes that these are real concerns in Swedish society, and while there are undoubtedly social issues and conflicts in Sweden. One can not accuse one person nor a music genre for these issues; it is a matter of politics on a much larger scale. Nonetheless, this displays the imaginary resolution in which Von Sivers appears to be recognizing Greekazo as the cause behind the issue. This exposes an ideological motivation in which Von Sivers addresses the conflict between criminal groups and law-abiding citizens in Sweden by presenting the resolution that "rap artists have to stop glamorizing the criminal life" in order to solve the conflict. In turn, this filters down into a mixture of things, but arguably the most apparent outcome is how ideology is translated into the everyday media as Von Sivers seems to cater to her audience by suggesting that they should worry about these issues. The analysis of the Facebook discourse has displayed a sample of a media disturbance. While it is a more trivial example, it is nevertheless meaningful, as it addresses the process of cultural hegemony. The concept of cultural hegemony is that power is enacted by the ruling class to influence values and ideas in a culturally diverse society. This case study has addressed this process by exposing the media's exercise of power over its audience. While the case provides an example of how the link between mainstream media and the audience has changed due to the new media ecology, it also suggests that social media has fundamentally altered the dynamic of the relationship between the audience and musician. Before social media, the music industry had total authority over the musician, as they controlled the distribution. While the record labels still possess influence today, this case has shown how the dynamics have changed due to how much more engaged the audience is today. As shown in the analysis, individuals are today prepared to

engage in arguments with media organizations, which proves that social media has changed this dynamic.

5.2 Conclusion

RQ1: How is the discursive practice of the Facebook platform utilized to challenge a mainstream television production?

WQ1: How do resistance and group formations develop in terms of dynamics within the Facebook comment section of Malou Efter Tio?

The study provides an example of how ordinary people confronted the mainstream media by utilizing the Facebook discourse as a space for resistance. The study also portrayed how group formations were established as a response to cultural hegemony. Most notably, we distinguished that because of the ability to use “likes” and emojis within the discourse, it empowered other users. In turn, this generated influence to a limited number of users, which simultaneously suggested that the discursive formation allowed some users to have the authority to speak while others did not. Likewise, the discursive practice also gave clear indications that some themes in the discussion were considered more important than others. The theme of social injustice was discussed most. Specifically, users were emphasizing the power relations in the media by accentuating how it was unfair of the media to portray Greekazo as a scapegoat for the social issues in Sweden. This correlates to the notion of resistance, as it indicates how users were advocating for their cause by establishing groups within the discursive formation and subsequently using this combined influence to confront the media. The case reveals that the relations of power in the media has shifted due to the proliferation of social media. It portrays an example of how the Facebook discourse was utilized to challenge the mainstream media by building authority within-group formations. It is, of course, difficult to prove that the confrontation resulted in a socio-cultural change, however, what can be presumed from the study is that the confrontation revealed an ideological framework of which the dispute betokened an abruption in ideology. This can, in turn, be generalizable as it displays how the media is connected with its audience and that the social media discourse allows the audience to confront ideological meanings at any time. This suggests

that the audience has influence over the media. Of course, the media will remain influential, but what the study has shown is that these previous media power relations have shifted in response to a new media ecology. Hollander and Einwohner (2004) evaluated hundreds of articles that discussed cultural resistance in one way or another, they found two key components that can be used to define and conceptualize the notion of resistance: opposition and action. Opposition means that resistance is an attitude against something or someone because “something” is perceived as unfair. It is therefore viewed as an ideological confrontation towards the dominant culture. Action, however, is the thought that resistance is not only a mindset of ideology but rather a behavior that is acted towards the dominant culture. Although our study has focused on the response on social media and not on the values and behaviors of the subcultural participant, we still see these two notions of resistance within the public response on social media. A large part of the respondents expressed support and solidarity with Greekazo, this was expressly observed in the group formations of which users heightened selective texts by the affordances of likes and emojis. This can be viewed as a way to unite and give voice to the subculture by confronting the mainstream media as a united front. It displayed the social phenomenon where a minority of people resisted against the dominant and hegemonic ideology, which in this study, quite clearly was represented by the media. The study points to the moment of disruption, where the status quo presented by the media was disrupted by ordinary people through public confrontation in an online context. The discursive formation of Facebook is, therefore, established in this study as a space for resistance, where individuals have shown action and opposition towards the hegemonic structures of the media. The opposition can be viewed throughout the themes of social injustice, responsibility, and solidarity where each theme manifested some level of ideological opposition towards the media. The action process was viewed in the discursive practices of which people utilized the affordances of Facebook to confront the television show Malou Efter Tio.

RQ2: How are the stereotypes of contemporary marginalized rap artists reproduced in the Swedish news media?

WQ2: Why are the stereotypes of contemporary marginalized rap artists reproduced this way in the Swedish news media?

Most of the focus in the analysis has been on the response of the audience which emphasized the notion of conflict between the public and the mainstream media. This ambivalence between the media and the minority group of Facebook users has been pivotal in the Facebook discourse. Admittedly, however, some users did, in fact, support Von Siver´s representation of marginalized rap in which they claimed that the stereotypes described by Von Sivers accurately portrayed the image that contemporary rap artists themselves enact in their music. This opens up a critical discussion on the well-established matter concerning the definition of "art". What some people claim to be art, others may view as obnoxious or even offensive. The music genre of rap music is rooted in suburban African-American neighborhoods in the US (Keyes, 2004). In the late 1980s, the genre grew tremendously and gained recognition through television commercials, recordings, concert sales, etcetera. While many people appreciated the genre in popular culture and saw the value as art. It "became the site of heated controversy" (Keyes, 2004, p.2), and there was criticism about how the genre glamorized the criminal lifestyle through aggressive language. Much of the discussion also concerned the notion of race, as many people made assumptions that the supporters of this lifestyle were solely African-American. Of course, not everyone agreed with these beliefs, and some critics confronted these conjectures. For example, music critic Nelson George (1986) stated that the issue does not revolve around race. The issue is instead that people make prejudiced assumptions about the genre solely because the majority of the cultural participants are black. George addressed this issue by saying that, these are men who:

"Speak in a very aggressive style. They stand aggressively; they dress in an assertive manner, in a way that is not seemingly acceptable to whites in the mainstream. This turns off a lot of middle-class black folks as well. It's not racial; it's more of a class thing" (George, 1986 as cited in Keyes, 2004, p.2).

The assumption that rap music was "dangerous to society" was a fundamental belief during the 1980s, and arguably still is today (as the media discussion has shown). A critical reflection on this discussion is that rap music in Sweden does, in many ways, reflect the American rap culture, which suggests that Greekazo and other Swedish rap artists are merely "performing" this idea of a marginalized identity in addition to being truly marginalized. This idea is somewhat problematic, as it assumes that rap artists have to perform a role that presents them as the

"marginalized other". Consequently, this implies that the stereotypes of masculinity, criminality, and drug use continue circulating in the media because they are “required” by the artists in order to be successful. This raises many potential issues for investigation, but within the scope of this paper, we limit ourselves to the question of public confrontation in an online space where the focus of resistance is the main emphasis.

6. Future research

This paper studies the conception that social media provides a space for resistance where ordinary people can engage and challenge the cultural hegemony. The results of the study have shown that the discursive formation of Facebook allows people to grow authority in numbers which in turn can be practiced against the media. It has likewise presented indications of how the media sets narratives through the notion of representation, in which they frame selective events that match their ideological preferences. The study has focused almost exclusively on the respondents within the discursive formation of Facebook, in which, we have investigated their corresponding values and ideas. This has been valuable as it has told us which objects within the discursive formation have been the most dominant. It has depicted explicit meanings from the Facebook discourse, and while this has been useful, we believe that a future study would benefit from expanding the research area. In particular, it would be interesting to study the effects of the media ecology on the Facebook discourse more profoundly. A suggestion would be to explore the news media landscape prior to the discursive event to discern which topics were the most dominant in the media during the time. This could be useful as it might reveal the relationship between the media landscape and the media agenda of e.g. Malou Efter 10. A possible research question could then be, what does the media ecology recount about the agenda-setting of Malou Efter Tio? Moreover, it would also be interesting to analyze the transcript of the interview by conducting a critical discourse analysis. This would add depth to the analysis as it might expose commonalities between the interview language and the themes found amongst the respondents on Facebook. This would significantly expand the analysis but it would also be both resource intensive and time-consuming. We believe that the research would also benefit from conducting a comparative study in which previous interviews of Malou Efter Tio are investigated, preferably interviews with similar subcultural participants. This could be beneficial as it might reveal commonalities in how other marginalized rap groups have been represented on the show, which could then tell us more about how the media views the marginalized rap culture in Sweden.

7. Implications for society

This study may contribute to a more deep-rooted understanding of how contemporary social media platforms such as Facebook may contest and challenge the media agendas of television. It has suggested that public opinion is greatly valuable today and also powerful as it can disrupt orders of discourse. The influence of public opinion is particularly strengthened in the space of social media, where the affordances such as "likes" empower individual users with greater control over the discourse. A common predicament within media studies is that the media possess great power as they can influence the opinions and values of their audience. Although the study has shown that the balance of power has shifted and given the public more jurisdiction due to the proliferation of social media. It has also suggested that the power of television talk shows is still resolute, perhaps not as assertive as before social media, but nonetheless (as the scope of the public debate has shown), it is still compelling. The study exemplifies the idea that the media sets the agenda of what the public talks about. It has displayed an attempt of which the media has sought to reproduce or reconstruct the perception of the public by framing selective events and subjects in a particular way. The exposure of this process consequently has implied that the media´s news reporting and their representations could have widespread societal outcomes, as they clearly possess the power to build opinions. However, as this study has shown, the Facebook discourse denotes a space for resistance where the public can now mount their opinions against the media, making the media's position more vulnerable. Whenever disagreements occur, the public now has the ability to disrupt ideological frameworks. In many ways, this should be looked upon as something positive for society, as it implies that the democratic space is more abundant and free today. As Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, said, "Just as TV became the primary medium for civic communication in the 1960s, social media is becoming this in the 21st century." (as cited in Vaidhyanathan, 2018 p 11). While this is true in many ways, the situation with Facebook is paradoxical. The democratic space on the Facebook platform encourages different forms of free speech, and while this is encouraged by many as a motivation for democratic and civic communication. The vital question revolves around how to preserve these ethical and moral aspects that enable the platform to benefit society from a democratic point of view (Vaidhyanathan, 2018). While free expression on Facebook sounds great in theory, it is also problematic, as the open Facebook discourse simultaneously provides a space for hate crimes,

discrimination, and other types of "trolling behaviors" that are harmful to society. While the results from the 19 comments did not include examples of hate crimes or “trolling behaviors” specifically, these expressions are certainly still probable in the discursive formation of the Malou Efter Tio post. This assumption designates the significance of Facebook discourse in a broader context of society as it suggests that any citizen can utilize free speech on the platform to convey different ideological ideas and values. Within the political spectrum of sociological and ideological conceptions, this places Facebook discourse in the center as it suggests that anyone can enact their influence openly on the platform. Individuals, media companies, and political organizations can utilize the notion of free speech to gain recognition and influence over online audiences. While the size of this case study is relatively small, it does reflect upon these ideas in many ways. It addresses the process of how the news media can utilize the Facebook discourse to enact ideological and hegemonic influence over the audience, but it also portrays how the online audience can dispute these conceptions in the same domain amongst themselves and against the media. In this sense, Facebook discourse serves to both connect and divide people. In evaluating the sociocultural effects of the discursive event we notice that the discussion is now widespread on a national level in Sweden. Several prominent news providers have reported about the interview and the Facebook discussion has also emerged into other social media platforms such as Instagram and Twitter (Mohammadi, 2019; Clason, 2019; Elmervik, 2019). Additionally, the discursive event has also led to a documentary of which the event, with Greekazo and Malou Von Sivers, is depicted (Dplay, 2020). Although we cannot conclude tangible social effects, we do believe that the extensive media coverage and the social media discussions indicate some level of socio-cultural effects.

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Appendix

Thematization of Facebook comments including interactions:

Facebook comments with number:

Contributions by the authors

Axel Bjerkland

Introduction 1.1 Background 1.3 Research questions 1.4.1 Text 1.4.2 Media Ecology 1.4.3 Swedish marginalized rap 1.6 Disposition

Theory and previous research 2.3.2 Agenda-setting theory 2.3.3 Framing theory 2.4.2 Moral panic 2.4.3 Online firestorm as a moral panic 2.5.1 Agenda setting and public perception 2.5.4 Participation in an ‘online firestorm’

Method 3.1.1 Search query 3.3 Thematic model

Analysis 4.2.3 Theme 2: Responsibility 4.2.4 Theme 3: Solidarity

Additional contributions The collection and organizing of the empirical material in Excel Table of content Tables and images Bibliography Formatting of APA

Title

Thomas Forssell

Introduction 1. Introduction 1.1 Background 1.2 Purpose 1.3 Research questions and working questions 1.4.2 Media Ecology 1.4.4 Ideology 1.4.5 Discourse 1.5 Limitations

Theory and previous research 2.1.1 Discourse theory 2.2.1 Culture as a concept 2.2.2 Cultural Hegemony 2.4.1 The process of group formation 2.3.1 Media representation 2.5.2 News television and its influence 2.5.3 Self-presentation and marginalized rap subculture

3. Method 3.1 Selection process and data limitation 3.1.2 First selection 3.1.3 Second selection 3.2 Research approach 3.4 Critical discourse analysis (CDA) 3.5 Critical discourse analysis in social media 3.7 Validity, Reliability and Generalizability 3.8 Ethical considerations

Analysis 4.1 Text analysis of the production

4.1.1 The title of the web link

4.1.2 The Facebook post 4.2.1 Presentation of subjects 4.2.2 Theme 1: Social injustice 5. Results of the text analysis 4.3 Analysis of the discursive practice

6. Discussion and conclusion 7. Implications for society 8. Future research

Additional contributions Abstract Sammanfattning