“Framställs helt onyanserat som ett monster” : Hur kända svenska män som anklagats för sexualbrott porträtteras i media

Sammanfattning: This study analyzed newspaper articles written about five famous Swedish men who in recent years have been accused of different types of sexual crimes. These men were Paolo Roberto, Martin Timell, Göran Lambertz, Jean-Claude Arnault and Soran Ismail. The study’s purpose was to investigate how these famous Swedish men who have been accused of sexual crimes are portrayed in the media, and how this portrayal is related to the media's representation of the victims. The theories used to investigate these questions were Nils Christie's theory of Ideal Victims (1986), Yvonne Jewkes theory about Media and crime (2015), and David Gresham Matza's theory of Neutralization techniques (1957). By using a qualitative content analysis, the selection of material from four newspaper editors could be analyzed and coded, which resulted in a number of themes that contribute to the portrayal. The themes that could be identified were: the high status profile, denial of responsibility or victim, the sex offender, and the man as a victim. The analysis of these themes in relation to the theories and previous research shows that the media often emphasize the high status of these men, and the fact that they tend to reject responsibility by denying the existence of both causing harm and the existence of a victim. Furthermore, the men are also portrayed as sex offenders by giving the victims space to tell their story. Finally, the men themselves can be seen as victims mainly due to the media attention directed at them.