Kalifat - Vår virkelighet eller en demonisering av muslimer? : En kvalitativ argumentasjonsanalyse av debatten i kjølvannet av SVT-serien “Kalifat”

Sammanfattning: The Swedish television series “Kalifat” premiered on January 12th, 2020 and quickly became heavily debated in the Swedish media for its portrayal of Islam and Muslim people. The aim of this research is to study the arguments and attitudes found in this debate and relate them to the theoretical framework of media dissemination and mediatization. The theoretical perspectives creating the foundation for this study is the formative, reflexive and representative media dissemination as presented by Hodkinson (2017). The mediatization theory will also be used to situate the debate and the series itself within a broader context. The empirical material used in this study consists of 10 Swedish debate articles published between January 19th and February 18th 2020.  A qualitative argumentation analysis has been used to identify the attitudes and arguments in the debate. In addition, these have been coded, categorized and structured in accordance with a systematic text condensation. The analysis shows that there are both positive and negative attitudes towards the series, with most of the arguments in the debate conveying a negative attitude towards the series and its portrayal of Muslims and Islam. These arguments are mainly related to stereotypification, prejudices and negative representation. Arguments related to a more positive attitude towards “Kalifat” is connected to the journalists view of what the series is trying to impart upon the audience, and its realistic representation of an important topic in society.   In relation to the three concepts of media dissemination the study has concluded that the different arguments relate to the interconnectedness of media and religion. The study shows that most of the arguments put forward can be understood in this context by implementing the understanding of media as conduits, language and environments. The study also concludes that both the debate and the series itself can be interpreted and understood in relation to all these media functions. The results found in the study also correlate with previous research on the subject.