Swedish picture of Russia : Analysis of media coverage of Putin, Russia and Russians in Swedish media

The study examines how print media in Sweden portray Putin, Russia and Russians and what makes an impact on Swedish journalists when they write on that subject. The first part presents a content analysis of articles published in the two main Swedish newspapers Dagens Nyheter and Svenska Dagbladet (DN and SvD). The two most significant years of coverage of Russia in Sweden (2014-2015) were chosen as a time frame for the analysis. It examines the predominant tones that were used in the articles towards three keywords “Putin”, “Russia” and “Russians”, as well as the sources that were chosen by the journalists. In line with previous researchers, the author of this study observed a certain tendency shared in two Swedish printed media to report negatively about the Russian president. At the same time tones towards the country in general and its citizens were more neutral than negative. The second part of the research focuses on qualitative interviews with journalists representing different media in Sweden (radio, TV channels and newspapers). During the interviews, journalists were invited to reflect how they see Russian society, what connection they have with Russian culture and what impacts their choice of topics. According to the findings, a journalist’s work is affected by their individual background, economical situation in media organisations and expectations from the audience