Knutbyfallets mediekaraktärer - konstruktionen av förövare och offer i Aftonbladet och Dagens Nyheter

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this study is to understand how we talk and write about and our understanding of crimes, the perpetrator and victims. By using a gender discourse analysis of the media reporting of a specific crime committed in Sweden, “Knutbydramat” with two perpetrators of different sexes, we aim to see how the media represent and therefore consolidate the social norms in a society. The discourse illuminates a strong connection with the hierarchy of gender and gender at large. We argue that an intersectional perspective on the understanding of violence enables the overall understanding of what kind of behaviour that is accepted by social norms and what norms either widen our expectations or decrease our acceptance of gender related violence. This “Knutbydrama” offered a case with very different outcome for the two perpetrators which we used as an opportunity to analyse the media reporting to see if and how the media narratives changed depending on which was the object of attention.