När främlingsfientlighet blev fredagsmys : En argumentationsanalys av åsiktstexter rörande Jimmie Åkessons framträdande i Skavlan

After a longer period of abscense due to sickness, the leader of the Swedish Democrats (SD) announced his return to his political mission in a the popular talkshow “Skavlan” which airs in the Swedish public television. The news leaked out before the show was aired and caused a mayor debate among journalists in massmedia and among the public about the legitimacy of the interview. After the transmission the debate continued and was fueled by the fact that a massive amount of complaints were made to the review board by citizens claiming that the interview was bias and not objective enough. This study analyses a number of columns written by journalists that reason about the event. Our aim was to get a better understanding of how they view themselves in relation to their audience, this by using argument analysis. We found that they dipslay signs of the “third person effect” which means they view “the others” (the viewers) as more impressionable to masscommunications with messages they perceive as harmfull. Our conclusion is that the columns can be seen as a result of this, an attempt to warn the public about a harmfull message. Connecting this to the agenda setting theory this paradoxically leads to more attention and publicity for a politician whos opinions they try to counteract