“De tror att jag hänger med kriminella, att jag är farlig, fast egentligen är det tvärtom ”. En kvalitativ studie om hur mediebevakningen på Göteborgs förorter påverkar identitetsskapandet hos ungdomar boende i områdena

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this study is to examine how youth residing in the suburbs of Gothenburg perceive the media portrayal of their residential areas and how this representation influences their self-image and identity. To address the study's objectives, three research questions have been formulated to gain a deeper understanding of the subject: 1. What do the youth perceive as the media's portrayal of their residential areas, and from which news sources does this portrayal originate? 2. To what extent do the youth's own perceptions of the suburb they reside in align with the media's communication? How do they interpret and relate to this portrayal? 3. How does the depicted media image of the suburb af ect the recipient's self-perception and identity? The study employed a qualitative research method, relying on 11 interviews with youth aged 18-29 residing in some of Gothenburg's disadvantaged areas. This method was chosen to provoke in-depth responses regarding personal experiences and emotions from youth growing up in our contemporary media landscape with unrestricted access to information and news. The study's result revealed that the youth were relatively unaware of the sources of their actual news. However, the results showed the significant rise of social media and the shift from traditional news media to digital platforms. The youth shared a common perception of the media's consistently negative reporting, where crime, poverty, and social issues were recurring themes. They experienced the tendency for positive events to be ignored for economic gain, and that someone needed to be portrayed as a scapegoat. Notably, two youth aligned with the media's portrayal of the suburb, while the rest had entirely different associations, viewing their areas as encompassing love, security, and community. The study underscored the media's substantial impact on both society and the individual residing in the suburb, contributing to the reinforcement of an "us" and "them" mentality in society. Many youth felt a constant need to counteract existing prejudices based on their residential area and ethnicity. This manifested in a sense of having to lie about their origins or residence, altering their speech, behavior, and appearance, and facing different prerequisites for work and social inclusion. Several youth shared stories of people in their surroundings who, unable to refute media and societal prejudices, chose to accept the prevailing image, confirming the portrayal of themself as dangerous and criminal. The results of this study provide a perspective rarely illuminated, a perspective from those considered the problem but seldom heard. It contributes valuable research to an extremely relevant and crucial subject concerning societal issues such as segregation. The study highlights the need for more current research conducted in today's digitized media landscape. Future research could replicate this study with a different age group to determine if age is a contributing factor to the extent to which one is influenced by the media's portrayal of suburbs. It would also be interesting to hear the perspectives of youth from the city center regarding their associations and prejudices related to suburbs.