Den mediala framställningen av Theodor Engström,Almedalsmördaren : En kritisk diskursanalys om hur Theodor Engström framställts i Aftonbladet, Expressen och Svenska Dagbladet

Sammanfattning: The threat of lone offenders is a growing problem in Sweden and the world. In this study, three major Swedish newspapers have been selected and analyzed based on their portrayal of a lone wolf perpetrator: Theodor Engström, the man behind the knife murder of the psychiatry coordinator Ing-Marie Wieselgren during the political week in Almedalen, 2022. Using critical discourse analysis, we found a discursive construction of Engström as an extremist, terror suspect and mentally ill. We also found that these constructions emerged at different times during the course of the reporting from the first day of the attack until the end of the trials. This contributed to a complex and diverse representation of Engström and an indication of a creative discursive practice in the media news discourse. The analysis also revealed the distribution of discourses in terms of who was allowed to speak and from which perspectives Engström is presented. The results showed that the majority of all statements and claims were made by authoritarian voices in society or presented as objective truths. Thus, we also found an assumption that unjust power structures and dominance relations are reproduced in the media news discourse. The analysis also showed that the articles predominantly focused on the specific event and the individual Engström and made little reference to other individuals, events or situations. This can be interpreted to mean that the media news discourse is dominated by one perspective and that societal problems are individualized rather than placed in a broader social context. In the analysis of the social practice, the relationship between the discursive practice and theories of stigma was examined. The results showed that the representations of Engström as responsible for the act can lead to stigmatization and that this in turn can also contribute to an individualization of social problems. The result also showed that the relationship between the text, the discursive practice and the social practice both shapes and is shaped by stigma and that this can have consequences in the form of perpetuating and reproducing stereotypical ideas about different individuals and groups.