Women are silent and men interrupts : A study of how women and men are heard in SVT:s show Debatt.

In this study we have examined how men and women are heard on Sveriges Televisions program Debatt. Debatt broadcast on Sveriges Televison which is a public service broadcaster. Through the use of a quantitative content analysis and a dialogical approach, we have documented how many men and women who speak, how they speak, how long they have the word and the subjects they will be heard in, in the program Debatt. We have investigated the ten last broadcast programs from the fallseason 2011. Every program is 45 minutes long and contains from two to three discussiontopics each time. By categorizing our survey and enter the result in four different tables, we found that the majority, 63%, of those that are heard are men. One of our main points in the survey is how men and women get to speak. The men often got the word by interrupting while the women waited for a permission, from the TV host, to speak. Our results show that men are given more space than women in the program Debatt, which is a public arena for discussion, and we believe that it can contribute to a problem of democracy.