Journalistiska yrkesideal på frontlinjen : En kvalitativ studie om idealens föränderlighet under ett pågående krig

Sammanfattning: Based on qualitative, semi-structured interviews with six journalists from five different editorial offices in Sweden, this study explores the journalists’ role perceptions and professional ideals in relation to their reporting of the war in Ukraine and its refugees. Three research questions were formulated to find out which ideals the journalists subscribe to (on a general level), whether they are perceived differently in relation to war reporting than other genres and, lastly, which ideals the journalists found to be the most important when reporting about the Ukrainian refugees and the war. The theoretical framework, consisting of sociological perspectives and Hanitzsch and Vos (2017) process model of journalistic roles, was applied in the analysis. This study shows that the professional ideals that have been identified and established by previous research, such as informing the public and reporting objectively, remain important also during a war situation. What might change, is the extent to which the ideals are followed. Reporting the truth was more emphasized in the context of a war, while presenting different opinions and sides was considered less important. The ideal of supporting democracy was found to be given precedence over objectivity in the case of the war in Ukraine. Arousing compassion for the Ukrainians and raising the underrepresented was also deemed meaningful. This study highlights the situational aspect of journalistic roles and ideals, suggesting that they are not quite as stable and homogenous as they have been made out to be, which can be further examined in other contexts.