Debattens dynamik : Hur budskap och betydelser förvandlas i mediedebatter

Sammanfattning: This study is focused upon how intense media discussions develop over time as different actors become involved and express themselves in different genres and in different media.The data is divided into four case studies consisting of a total of 579 text items from Swedish newspapers, radio and television.The analyses demonstrate that some recurrent communicativemovements (dynamics) occur in the media discussions. These are divided into three subgroups: (1) changes of perspective and topic relocations, (2) expansion of meanings and messages, and (3) progressive intensifications.The dynamic movements are seen as consequences of different routinized ways of solving various communicative problems in the media. These routinized ways can be wtderstood as building on discursive devices that are brought into action by the participants who operate within the journalistic practice. This study identifies three subgroups of devices: (1) progressive narrowing, (2) selective compilation, and (3) reconstruction of arguments.It is also argued that an intense discussion around a certain topic in the media gives rise to certain recurrent meta-discourses. Three metadiscursive themes appear to be shared between the analyzed debates: (1) the mismanagement and abuse of politics, (2) the objectivity and impeccability of journalists, and (3) the loss of the alleged Swedish "Paradise".