Sensationella nyheter : En kvantitativ innehållsanalys om sensation i huvudnyheterna på svensk dags- och kvällspress förstasidor

Sammanfattning: The aim of this bachelor study is to examine the extent of sensationalism on the front pages of the newspaper and tabloid press in Sweden. The study also examines the variety of news categories and how the news values have evolved over the last ten years. By using a quantitative content analysis one could examine and compare 531 main stories on the front pages of Dagens Nyheter and Aftonbladet – the biggest newspaper and tabloid press in Sweden. The study examines what news topics, main agents and type of sensationalism that was present in the main stories. The results show that a majority of the main stories in both papers included some kind of sensationalism, but that the extent of sensationalism has decreased during the ten year period examined. The main difference between the papers is that main stories from Aftonbladet were more often based on cheap editorial content and contained a higher extent of sensationalism compared to Dagens Nyheter. Politics was the most common news topic in Dagens Nyheter during all three years. Law and crime was the most common news topic in Aftonbladet during 2009 and 2014, while health and lifestyle was the most common news topic during 2019. The differences between Dagens Nyheter and Aftonbladet may have to do with the viral journalism-phenomenon that became huge in 2014. While Aftonbladet started to publish more simple, sensational and cheap editorial main stories, Dagens Nyheter focused on so called long-reads – profound stories on subjects that matters.