Socialtjänsten som både offer och förövare i massmediatexter

This study aims at investigating the thematic patterns in media presentations of Swedish communal social services and the social service workers: how is the media discussion created and established? Which areas are paid the main attention? How is the field being portrayed in media? The study is based on a material found in Swedish newspapers published under a three-month period in the end of 2014. In addition to the newspaper articles a radio program that was broadcast under the same period of time is included in the material. The method used for analysing the material is qualitative thematic analysis and the theoretical framework for the analysis was based on two different levels: on the understanding of mass medias ways of building a case, and on the way the mass media affects the public opinion. The theory of agenda setting within mass media was used to analyse medias influence on the public opinion. Thematic analysis of the material showed that the media attention was primarily focused on the social work related to children, other areas of the communal social work were mostly ignored. Victimology and the theoretical concept of “the ideal victim” provided the means to understand why that might be. In the media children were portrayed as the victims of society’s failure in protecting them, which is considered as one of the central tasks of the social services. Pointing out the social services as the obvious “perpetrators” takes the focus off from the parental failure behind mistreatment of children. At the same time the social workers themselves were portrayed as victims of the system that has failed them and made it difficult for them to do the work assigned to them properly