Browsing by Author "Uggla, Alexander"

This master's thesis focuses on direct quoting in the reporting on the Second Lebanon War in the summer of 2006. The quotes are collected from the foreign news pages in Hufvudstadsbladet (n=195) and Helsingin Sanomat (n=434), two Finnish daily newspapers, including both written and oral sources. The purpose of the study is to examine who the quoted sources are, what they say and how they express themselves. I have approached these questions with quantitative content analysis, theme analysis and rhetoric analysis. The observations are based on intertextuality, a theoretical framework describing the interaction between the 'voices' in a news text. The study explores manifest intertextuality, i.e. how directly quoted sources are represented and how they 'converse' within the text. The study highlights similarities and differences in the ways the two newspapers quote various sources. Main focus is on the relation between the elite and non-elite; in other words, quotes by ordinary people ('civilians') in contrast to quotes by politicians, military officers and officials. In Hufvudstadsbladet (Hbl), there are considerably more quotes by elite sources than by non-elite sources (65.2 % vs. 23.6 %). In Helsingin Sanomat (HS), the number of quotes by elite sources is somewhat lower than the number of quotes by non-elite sources (44.5 % vs. 47.5 %). Moreover, the content of quotes by non-elite sources varies over a wider set of themes in HS, in comparison with Hbl. Why do these differences occur? The fact that HS, contrary to Hbl, sent its own reporters to the war zone seems to have had a significant impact on the role of non-elite sources. In HS, their role is more visible and they give more diverse statements. However, the genders are represented in a similar way in both newspapers, with around 70 % of the quotes uttered by men and 20 % by women. According to the study, the strongest intertextual tension evolves between the Israeli elite and the Lebanese non-elite. The Israeli elite sources express themselves in a laconic, menacing and superior manner. The Lebanese non-elite sources express despair and resignation. Thus, the two newspapers polarise the quotes against each other and recreate the war and its antagonism in words. Another conclusion is that quoted Finns express themselves in a neutral and temperate manner while quoted foreigners express themselves dramatically, emotionally and religiously. This emphasises imaginary differences between 'Us' and 'Them'. In summary, the newspapers' use of direct quotes stresses differences and creates polarity between the sources, which can be seen as a common problem in war journalism. The Finnish quotes are translated into Swedish in Appendix D.