The Right to Asylum - What’s the Problem? : An Analysis of How the Right to Asylum is Represented in Swedish Media

Abstract: This study investigates the state of the public debate in Swedish mainstream media on the right to asylum. The study combines Bacchi's WPR(What’s the problem represented to be)-analysis with Hallin’s sphere theory to compare the discourse on the right to asylum in editorials in three Swedish newspapers, with different political profiles, in the five months leading up to the elections in 2018 and 2022, respectively. The results of the study show no clear difference between the two years, but, in both years, a clear difference between the conservative moderate newspaper SvD and the liberal newspaper DN, where indications show the right to asylum in Hallin’s sphere of consensus in DN and in Hallin’s sphere of legitimate controversy in SvD. Also in Aftonbladet are indications of the right to asylum being in Hallin's sphere of consensus, though conclusions are harder to draw, due to the scarcity of the material.