Threatful men and mentally unstable women in the investigative journalism : A qualitative study about Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter’s construction of men and women who commit murder against their children

The aim of this study was to examine how news reporting about crime is affected by gender discourses. We also examined differences and similarities between the tabloids and the morning newspapers. We did this by observing how the perpetrator's gender affects how both Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter constructs participants in crimes where parents commit murder against their children. In regards to participants, we mean the perpetrator, the victim and the relationship between the parents and the children. The study answered the following questions: How do gender discourses affect news reporting about violent crimes? How are participants portrayed in crimes where parents commit murder against children in Swedish investigative journalism? How is the relationship between the children and the parents portrayed? What are the differences and similarities between the news reporting in Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter? For this study, we used a critical discourse analysis as a method of examination and nine articles from Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter were examined. The result shows that male perpetrators were portrayed as aggressive and threatful, especially in Aftonbladet. Female perpetrators were blamed more often for the crime when they broke the norms of what is generally considered as typical female roles and qualities before they commited the crime. The relationship between the victim and the perpetrator was discussed more in the articles in regards to the female compared to the male. However, the qualities of the victims were more described in the articles about the male perpetrators. That can be explained by the crimes which were commited by a female who broke the norms. Therefore, there was a need to explain her actions.