Äldre brottsoffer : Hur de framställs i svensk press

Sammanfattning: The aim of this study was to investigate how older people are described as victims in the morning and evening press in Sweden. The aim was further to make a brief comparison of how it looked at 25-year intervals during the periods 1991-1992 and 2016-2017 to see if and how the victim discourse has changed. The three issues I assumed were: how older people exposed to crime are presented in Swedish press, what types of crimes older people are exposed to and if the discourse regarding older victims changed during the period 1991-1992 compared to 2016-2017, and if so, in what way. I have used both a qualitative and quantitative content analysis. The empirical material includes searches in the Nordic news archive during the period 1 January 1991 through 31 May 1992 and the corresponding period in 2016-2017. The results showed that older crime victims were a forgotten and homogeneous but also vulnerable group, suggesting a complexity of the definition and the victimization. Discourse about older victims has grown in the social context, and older victims have thus become a category. The result showed that age is of great importance to how older people are produced in Swedish media. Older people were affected by certain crimes while some types of crimes were missing completely in the material. Older victims were considered the ideal victim. Ageism was also noted in the material where the media play a major and important role in consolidating and reproducing negative beliefs and stereotypes about older and older victims. The results have been analyzed using Christie's theory of the ideal victim and the phenomenon of ageism.