"This may be the price of being the moral guardians in all contexts" : A qualitative study about the reporting of Therese Johaug's doping case in Swedish and Norwegian media

The aim of this study is to examine in which way nationalistic influences plays a prominent part in the news coverage of larger media houses. This by studying how two newspapers, Swedish Aftonbladet and Norwegian Verdens Gang, portrays and reports about Therese Johaug after she was tested positive for doping. We performed a critical discourse analysis of a total of 20 web-based news articles. These articles were chosen from the date the news appeared and one week forward. This in order to see if the the two newspapers were characterized with nationalistic tendencies as well as comparing them to see what the differences and similarities might be. By using theories such as national identitets, nationalism, ”us and them” and imagined communities we came to the conclusion that a nationalistic discourse is very much present. The subjects in the articles often become representatives of either Norway or Sweden - depending on the nationality. Johaug is mostly characterized as a national hero and sympathies are often shown from the norwegian news-articles. The opposite meaning were shown in the swedish news-articles. Described as an antagonist and a cheat - the complete opposite of a national hero. Imagined communities are also present as a nationalistic discourse. The people of Norway and Sweden are often involved - in order to justify this imagined community which occurs within the nation's borders. The similarities and differences between the two newspapers are quite subtle - but present nonetheless. This with a nationalistic discourse which confirms both previous research and our theoretical framework.