Hur skildras FN:s insatser under två folkmord på två olika kontinenter? : En komparativ studie av svenska mediers rapportering om folkmordet i Rwanda och folkmordet i Srebrenica

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this essay is to investigate how the Swedish newspapers Aftonbladet and Svenska Dagbladet have reported on the genocide in Rwanda which is a country in Africa and the genocide in Srebrenica, which is a city located in Europe. In both cases, there are elements that affect how much and in what way newspapers chose to report on what was happening. This essay is about two similar events, which took place in two different geographical locations. One of the genocides took place in Europe and the other in Africa. The purpose is to investigate how the differences between the two cases appear in the newspapers. The United Nations (UN) was involved and has been criticized in both events, which makes it an actor that is frequently mentioned on the two newspapers’ editorial pages. The aim of this essay has been on examining how the newspapers have reported the same or different on how the UN was acting in the two genocides. The material that forms the basis for the research is newspaper articles on the two newspapers’ editorial pages, that were published during the current events. The articles have been analysed with the help of a theory on how the image of Africa tends to be portrayed in comparison to the rest of the world in our society. The result of the study shows a difference in the two newspapers' reporting of the genocide in Rwanda and the genocide in Srebrenica. The genocide in Rwanda is not written about to the same extent as the genocide in Srebrenica and The UN's involvement in Rwanda is not as criticized as its involvement in Srebrenica. While the articles about Srebrenica describe how it is the UN's biggest setback, the articles about Rwanda criticize and justify the UNs' actions at the same time. According to the results of the study, there is a clear difference in how the newspapers in question describe the events that took place on two different continents.