Milk: From a healthy drink to aclimate threat and back again. The media story : A text analysis of how Swedish newspapers have framed aspects of milk between 2012 and 2017

Abstract: Media is a powerful agent within society, that works as a gatekeeper for the media arena and therefore decides what topics are discussed and which are not (Pinto et al., 2016; Anderson, 2009) By setting the agenda and by framing messages, media can influence the public perception and therefor also the culture within society. However, it is said that media will reflect the most dominant culture within society, it is therefore of interest to see how the Swedish media portray and frame Swedish milk and the milk industry, that on hand is argued to be a threat towards the climate but on the other hand has a long history of being connected to the Swedish culture. When studying the four most read newspapers in Sweden published between 2012 and 2017 we found that even if the Swedish milk and the milk industry was questioned for being unhealthy or argued for being an environmental threat, the positive framing of milk was always more visible. Environmental impacts of milk and the milk industry was repeatedly downsized and even spoken for in opposite direction, that the Swedish milk and the Swedish milk industry is good for the environment. This would suggest that the strong position of milk within the Swedish society have the ability to undermine any threat, it is therefor of interest to further study the culture aspects of media framing not at least connected to products that is in many studies argued for being an environmental threat. Due to impact media may have on the society, how media frame and portray sustainability and sustainable products is of high interest for further research. More research is also needed to understand who gets to use the media arena to convey their messages, not at least within the topic of sustainability.