Kjersti Thorbjørnsrud

• Enstad, Johannes Due & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2026). Can Moral Framing Reduce Climate Change Polarization? Textual and Experimental Evidence from Norway. Environmental Communication. doi: 10.1080/17524032.2026.2623481. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Is elite climate rhetoric morally framed to resonate mainly with liberal, universalist audiences? And can more inclusive framing, matching the particularist moral orientation of conservatives, reduce polarization? Drawing on moral foundations theory and combining computational text analysis with a survey experiment, we examined these questions using Norwegian data. In Study 1, analyzing 1,039 opinion pieces from major newspapers (2018–2022) using Contextualized Construct Representations (CCR), we found that elite rhetoric emphasized moral universalism (care, equality) over particularism (loyalty, authority, purity), with this gap widening over time. In Study 2, a survey experiment with a nationally representative sample (N = 3,868) tested six morally framed climate appeals. Universalist values predicted agreement with all appeals regardless of framing, while particularist values predicted disagreement with all but one: an appeal emphasizing that national interests and local communities must be respected in climate policy. This appeal resonated with particularists and reduced polarization—yet was underrepresented in elite rhetoric. Frame exposure showed no downstream effects on broader climate attitudes, suggesting entrenched opinion structures. Nevertheless, we argue that the universalist bias in elite rhetoric may contribute to polarization over time.

• Trauner, Florian; Brekke, Jan-Paul; Adam, Ilke; Cham, Omar N. & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2024). ‘It’s not about the information, it’s about the situation’: understanding the misalignment between EU deterrence messaging and migrants’ narratives. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. p. 3379–3395. doi: 10.1080/1369183X.2024.2333865. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This article analyses the narratives of young people in the Gambia and of Afghan migrants in Turkey on the themes of migration and Europe as a place of destination. Based on extensive focus group and interview data, we show that these narratives (1) have a high degree of similarities across different contexts and (2) appear incongruent with, and largely unaffected by, the EU’s messages of deterrence in information campaigns. We explain this misalignment by referring to a classic sociological distinction between impressions ‘given’ and those ‘given off’. When the EU seeks to give an ‘impression’ in third countries (such as to be an unattractive place for irregular migrants), their messages compete with positive images of Europe provided through a myriad of other channels and information sources. To a large extent, perceptions of Europe among migrant communities are defined by positive impressions ‘given off’ through Europe’s history as a destination area and social media accounts of individual ‘success stories’ of diaspora members. The social and material rewards associated with migration further inform migrants’ narratives, as do the circumstances of both groups, which often push them towards leaving regardless of the risks this step involves.

• Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2024). When Information Subsidies Go Live: Conceptualizing the Strategic Role of Personal Storytelling. The International Journal of Press/Politics. doi: 10.1177/19401612241257844. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This conceptual article argues that the strategic use of personal storytelling to attract public attention and gain political impact is insufficiently theorized in political communication, journalism studies, and lobbying research. Claiming the need to study backstage relations among interest groups, professional communication workers, journalists, and decision-makers, it conceptualizes how lay personal stories, with strong moral appeal and claim to authenticity, constitute a powerful form of live information subsidy in both indirect and direct communication strategies to influence decision-makers. Extending the classic theory of information subsidies, the article unpacks the particular value of personal storytelling regarding credibility, legitimacy, and appeal and hypothesizes how and when interest groups select, craft, exchange, and communicate lay personal stories to create public support and influence political decisions. The theorization of strategic personal storytelling is based on the synthesis of distinct research literatures and abductive multi-sited field studies of Norwegian interest groups, government communication, and journalistic source relations, heading the calls for more mixed-method, cross-disciplinary research to advance political communication overall.

• Figenschou, Tine Ustad & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2023). Interpretive communities of resistance: Emerging counterpublics of immigration alarmism on social media. New Media & Society. doi: 10.1177/14614448231198790. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Debates over immigration have become a defining political cleavage closely related to moral values, perceptions of threat, and the rise of online anti-immigration networks and agitation. Based on in-depth interviews with immigration alarmists, this article discusses how the participants’ anti-immigration position is sanctioned in their everyday social networks and how they find alternative networks online for information, community, and support. This online community takes the form of an emerging counterpublic, characterized by active curation and different levels of participation aimed at optimizing the trade-offs between gaining visibility (moderation and mobilization) and creating an alternative moral community (a “safe space” for peers). Combining notions of interpretative communities of resistance with the theory of counterpublics, the study provides insight into the internal life and values of emerging anti-immigration online communities.

• Finseraas, Henning; Midtbøen, Arnfinn Haagensen & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2022). Ideological biases in research evaluations? The case of research on majority–minority relations. Scandinavian Political Studies. 45(3), p. 370–381. doi: 10.1111/1467-9477.12229. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Social science researchers tend to express left-liberal political attitudes. The ideological skew might influence research evaluations, but empirical evidence is limited. We conducted a survey experiment where Norwegian researchers evaluated fictitious research on majority–minority relations. Within this field, social contact and conflict theories emphasize different aspects of majority–minority relations, where the former has a left-liberal leaning in its assumptions and implications. We randomized the conclusion of the research they evaluated so that the research supported one of the two perspectives. Although the research designs are the same, those receiving the social contact conclusion evaluate the quality and relevance of the design more favorably. We do not find similar differences in evaluations of a study on a nonpoliticized topic.

• Moe, Hallvard; Fladmoe, Audun; Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti & Finstad, Ulrik (2022). Tillit til mediene. Falske nyheter og partiske journalister? In Mangset, Marte; Midtbøen, Arnfinn Haagensen & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (Ed.), Ytringsfrihet i en ny offentlighet : Grensene for debatt og rommet for kunnskap. Universitetsforlaget. p. 113–133. doi: 10.18261/9788215051017-2022-06. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Når vi som borgere skal kunne gjøre oss opp en mening og ytre oss om en sak, er det vesentlig hva slags informasjon vi har som grunnlag. Dermed er tilgangen på troverdig informasjon avgjørende for utøvelsen av ytringsfriheten. Men hva skjer når informasjonen vi har tilgang til, oppfattes som skjev og unyansert, hvis et budskaps avsender, intensjon og sannhetsgehalt forblir uklart? Forvitrer tilliten til denne informasjonsinfrastrukturen, så utfordres fundamentet for ytringsfriheten. Derfor må vi spørre hvem som mistror journalister. Og er falske nyheter et problem for ytringsfriheten i Norge? Leseren vil få ny innsikt i hvordan disse utfordringene påvirker vilkårene for ytringsfriheten i Norge i dag.

• Mangset, Marte; Midtbøen, Arnfinn Haagensen; Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti & Wollebæk, Dag (2022). Forskere i offentligheten: Hva motiverer dem, og hva frykter de? In Mangset, Marte; Midtbøen, Arnfinn Haagensen & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (Ed.), Ytringsfrihet i en ny offentlighet : Grensene for debatt og rommet for kunnskap. Universitetsforlaget. p. 134–154. doi: 10.18261/9788215051017-2022-07. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Forskeres deltakelse i offentlig debatt er viktig. Det er en del av forskernes samfunnsoppdrag å formidle faglig innsikt og ny kunnskap som kan bidra til en felles virkelighetsforståelse og gi et utgangspunkt for offentlig meningsutveksling og politiske beslutninger. Samtidig er det en økende uro knyttet til hvordan både insentivstrukturen i akademia og en polarisert debatt kan føre til at forskere trekker seg tilbake, og at viktige temaer og perspektiver dermed ikke finner veien til offentligheten. I dette kapitlet undersøker vi hva som påvirker forskeres offentlige deltakelse, hva som driver de forskerne som formidler aktivt, og hvilke erfaringer forskere som arbeider med innvandrings-, kjønns- og klimaspørsmål, har med deltakelse i det offentlige ordskiftet. Hvorfor begrenser forskerne sin deltakelse, er det interne forhold i akademia eller frykt for negative tilbakemeldinger som stopper dem?

• Mangset, Marte; Midtbøen, Arnfinn Haagensen & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2022). Ytringsfrihet i Norge: debattens grenser og rommet for kunnskap. In Mangset, Marte; Midtbøen, Arnfinn Haagensen & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (Ed.), Ytringsfrihet i en ny offentlighet : Grensene for debatt og rommet for kunnskap. Universitetsforlaget. p. 11–32. doi: 10.18261/9788215051017-2022-01. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Et nytt medielandskap har gitt endrede vilkår for offentlig debatt: for ytringsfrihet, informasjonsfrihet og kunnskapsformidling. Men der noen ser en grenseløs ny offentlighet preget av hets og sjikane, ser andre et knugende meningsklima der det straffer seg å gå mot strømmen. Og der noen hyller de nye mediene for å slippe nye stemmer til, tviler andre på at en meningsfylt samtale er mulig i dagens algoritmestyrte sosiale medier. Hvordan kan virkeligheten oppfattes så forskjellig? I denne boken undersøker forfatterne om disse motpolene har gjenklang i den norske befolkningen, eller om polariseringen er overdrevet. De utforsker hvilke grenser folk trekker for hva man kan hevde og mene offentlig, om disse grensedragningene har endret seg i de senere årene, og hvordan alder, kjønn, utdanning og politisk ståsted henger sammen med ulike oppfatninger og erfaringer. Ikke minst undersøker de kunnskapens vilkår i en ny offentlighet: Hvordan vurderer folk flest den informasjonen de har tilgang til via ulike medier? Og hvilke hindringer møter produsenter av ny kunnskap, det vil si forskere i akademia, når de utforsker og formidler sine funn? Er det rom for et mangfold av perspektiver, eller bidrar konformitetspress, maktkamp og styringssystemer til at noen temaer blir underbelyst? Med utgangspunkt i analyser av unik empiri bidrar boken med innsikt – på tvers av posisjoner og motpoler – i ytringsfrihetens vilkår i en ny norsk offentlighet.

• Wollebæk, Dag; Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti & Steen-Johnsen, Kari (2022). Holdninger til ytringsfrihet i Norge: et nytt kart og kompass. In Mangset, Marte; Midtbøen, Arnfinn Haagensen & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (Ed.), Ytringsfrihet i en ny offentlighet : Grensene for debatt og rommet for kunnskap. Universitetsforlaget. p. 33–56. doi: 10.18261/9788215051017-2022-02. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Er pennen like skadelig som sverdet, eller går det et klart skille mellom ord og handling? Kan man ikke lenger ytre kontroversielle meninger i Norge, eller er problemet snarere at debatten flommer over av hat og hets? Hvordan man svarer på disse spørsmålene, er et uttrykk for hvor man mener at «skoen trykker» når det gjelder ytringsfrihetens kår i Norge i dag. Her undersøker vi slike oppfatninger nærmere. Basert på holdninger til to sentrale konfliktlinjer i synet på ytringsfrihet, ytringers skadepotensial og begrensninger i ytringsrom identifiserer vi fire posisjoner: en restriktiv, en klassisk ytringsliberalistisk, en motkulturell ytringsliberalistisk og en resignert posisjon. Hvilken posisjon man inntar, henger sammen med både demografiske kjennetegn og politiske oppfatninger. Slik utvikler vi et nytt kart og kompass til folks holdninger til ytringsfrihet, som gir nye innsikter i de konfliktlinjene som preger ytringsfrihetsdebatten.

• Enstad, Johannes Due & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2022). Politisk meningsmangfold og ytringsfrihet i akademia. In Mangset, Marte; Midtbøen, Arnfinn Haagensen & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (Ed.), Ytringsfrihet i en ny offentlighet : Grensene for debatt og rommet for kunnskap. Universitetsforlaget. p. 155–179. doi: 10.18261/9788215051017-2022-08. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Forskningen skal være fri, men finnes det visse temaer som er tabu for forskere å snakke om eller forske på? Hvis slike tabuer finnes, i hvilken grad er de knyttet til forskeres politiske og ideologiske orientering? Diskusjonen om «venstrevridde forskere» er ikke ny, men forskning på politisk meningsmangfold i norsk akademia har vært mangelvare. I dette kapitlet undersøker vi problemstillingen nærmere ved å stille følgende spørsmål: Hvor politisk mangfoldig er norsk akademia? Hva mener forskerne selv om meningsmangfold, og hvordan henger spørsmålet sammen med den frie forskningens vilkår? Vi bruker en kvantitativ spørreundersøkelse og dybdeintervjuer for å besvare disse spørsmålene og slik gi ny innsikt og dybde til den pågående debatten om politisering i akademia, med særlig fokus på samfunnsvitenskap og humaniora.

• Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti & Lånkan, Kjersti Blehr (2022). ‘Someone should have looked after us’: the boundary work of mental health disclosure on TV. Media, Culture and Society. 44(5), p. 935–950. doi: 10.1177/01634437211069970. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This article investigates the boundary work of young people who disclose personal experiences of mental health illness and trauma in a reality TV series. The programme in focus features group therapy sessions led by a professional psychologist, supplemented by personal video diaries. Combining disclosure theory with media sociological perspectives, the article analyses how boundaries are drawn, negotiated or trespassed in the production process. Data is based on in-depth interviews with participants, supplemented with background interviews with the production team and therapist. A main finding is that participants’ experiences in retrospect vary greatly: from accounts of meaningful self-disclosure to regret, increased strain and flare up of illness. Participants with negative experiences highlighted a lack of control over their stories, alienating representations of themselves and guilt about revealing information about third parties. The article concludes that interventional ‘do-good TV’, which builds authority and rhetorical ethos by offering professional therapy to participants, calls for careful consideration of the often-opaque relations of power and instrumental interests involved in this production setting.

• Larsen, Anna Grøndahl; Figenschou, Tine Ustad & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2022). Når saken tas i mediene: mediedramaturgi og handlingsrom i lokale helsekonflikter. Norsk medietidsskrift (NMT). 29(1), p. 1–15. doi: 10.18261/nmt.29.1.2. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Nyhetssaker om at mennesker som trenger hjelp, ikke får den omsorgen eller helsetilbudet de har krav på, starter ofte nært dem det gjelder – i lokalmediene eller på sosiale medier. Denne artikkelen belyser ulike kilders handlingsrom og strategier i lokale mediesaker der enkeltpersoners helsebehov står i fokus, sett fra de involverte aktørenes ståsted. Gjennom 20 kvalitative intervjuer analyserer vi møtet mellom medier og to sentrale kildegrupper: pasienter og pårørende og politikere og kommunal forvaltning. Studien viser hvordan en klassisk mediedramaturgi utspiller seg i et samspill mellom sosiale medier og lokaljournalistikken i denne typen saker. Ved å dele tunge personlige erfaringer i mediene mobiliserer pasienter og pårørende en form for støtte og empati som i sakene vi har studert, faktisk endrer utfall og prioriteringer. Analysen viser at tradisjonelle kildehierarkier utfordres når pårørende og pasienter fungerer som pådrivere i mediene, mens lokalmyndigheter og politikere ofte får et ganske begrenset handlingsrom i disse oppslagene. Samtidig er det både emosjonelt kostbart og ressurskrevende å kjempe saken sin i mediene, og denne formen for mediepåvirkning reiser grunnleggende dilemma knyttet til både personvern og fordeling av knappe helseressurser der ikke alle som trenger hjelp, kan eller vil nå gjennom i dagens hybride medielandskap.

• Lånkan, Kjersti & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2022). TV Inside the Psychiatric Hospital: Patient Experiences. International Journal of Communication. 16(16), p. 130–147. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This study investigates patients’ experiences with participating in a television (TV) documentary series filmed within psychiatric hospital wards. The study relies on interviews with patients, health staff, and TV producers, and asks how access is negotiated and how patients experience different phases of the production process. Based on a discussion of health ethics versus journalistic ethics, and the particular relations of power asymmetry and dependence within a health institution, the study concludes that a discourse emphasizing the benefits of openness worked to overshadow the need for extra sensitivity and care for the most vulnerable patients. Most patients appreciated the opportunity to share their experiences of illness and hospital treatment, but the increased strain on patients who were negatively affected by exposure calls for renewed attention to what informed consent and autonomy imply when media professionals enter health institutions.

• Nadim, Marjan & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2022). Kampen i gråsonene av debatten: en studie av deltakere i opphetede og aggressive nettdebatter. In Mangset, Marte; Midtbøen, Arnfinn Haagensen & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (Ed.), Ytringsfrihet i en ny offentlighet : Grensene for debatt og rommet for kunnskap. Universitetsforlaget. p. 95–112. doi: 10.18261/9788215051017-2022-05. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Opphetede og aggressive nettdebatter i kommentarfelt og på sosiale medier er kjennetegnet av personangrep, fiendtlighet og stigmatisering av utsatte grupper i samfunnet – de er altså preget av grenseoverskridende ytringer som utfordrer sosiale og kulturelle normer for hvordan det er akseptabelt å ytre seg. Det er nettopp i disse «gråsonene» noen av kampene om ytringsfrihetens grenser foregår. For å finne ut hvorfor folk deltar i slike debatter, og hvordan de selv begrunner og legitimerer grenseoverskridende debattatferd, har vi snakket med dem det gjelder, direkte. Deres stemmer og perspektiver vil komme til uttrykk her. I kapitlet viser vi at det går et skille mellom grenseoverskridende meningsinnhold, som utfordrer normer for hva det er akseptabelt å ytre, og grenseoverskridende språkbruk, som utfordrer normer for hvordan det er akseptabelt å ordlegge seg.

• Figenschou, Tine Ustad; Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti & Hallin, Daniel C. (2021). Whose stories are told and who is made responsible? Human-interest framing in health journalism in Norway, Spain, the U.K. and the U.S. Journalism - Theory, Practice & Criticism. doi: 10.1177/14648849211041516. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Human-interest narratives are journalistic tools to captivate and engage the audience, influence public opinion and bring revenue to media organizations. This paper analyses how human-interest narratives are used in contemporary health journalism across media systems and health systems. Based on a comparative content analysis of Norwegian, Spanish, U.K. and U.S. newspapers (2016–2017), it studies how human-interest stories are contextualized, health problems explained and responsibility attributed. The article reveals a complex picture of the role of human-interest stories in health coverage. In line with expectations, the study finds that human-interest stories do tend to emphasize individual biomedical treatment of illness and to privilege idealized victims who fit the routines of dominant media dramaturgy. In contrast to theories that consider personalization of news as an individualization of responsibility and dumbing down of public debate, however, the study finds that human-interest narratives are also used to explain health as a structural phenomenon and a collective responsibility, appealing to political intervention and accountability of health authorities. Such claims are more prominent in European human-interest health stories and less frequent in the more strongly commercialized U.S. health and media system.

• Hallin, Daniel C.; Hallin, Daniel C & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2021). Biomedicalization and Media in Comparative Perspective: Audiences, Frames, and Actors in Norwegian, Spanish, U.K. and U.S. Health News. The International Journal of Press/Politics. doi: 10.1177/1940161220960415. Full text in Research Archive
• Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti; Hallin, Daniel C. & Figenschou, Tine Ustad (2021). "Whose stories are told and who is made responsible? Human-interest framing in health journalism in Norway, Spain, the UK and the US." Journalism (2021). Journalism Studies. Full text in Research Archive
• Enjolras, Bernard Louis & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2021). Health on social media: mediatization of subjective experience? Health & New Media Research. 5(2), p. 220–250. Full text in Research Archive
• Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti & Ytreberg, Espen (2020). A Human Interest Economy: The Strategic Value of Turning Ordinary People into Exemplars in the News Media. Journalism Studies. 21(8), p. 1093–1108. doi: 10.1080/1461670X.2020.1720520. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This article explores how personal experience in the form of human interest stories has become a road to visibility, legitimacy, and impact for organizational actors and interest groups. Focusing on news media representations of health, where patients and their experiences with disease play an increasingly central role across media platforms, the article theorizes the hierarchies and dilemmas of a “human interest economy” in which ordinary people become exemplars, based on the authenticity of their experience, and their ability to attract attention and support. Departing from 38 interviews with management and communications professionals in Norwegian health interest groups, the article analyzes how organizations that provide exemplars to the news media adapt to and negotiate generic human interest formats that favor certain diseases, victims, and storylines over others. By discussing how the normative claims of immediate and authentic bottom-up voices in the news media tie in with less visible and more implicit strategic interests, the article adds to the theorizing about the role and power of ordinary people in the news, and how they serve the strategic interests of organizational actors that liaise between journalists and participants.

• Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti & Figenschou, Tine Ustad (2020). The Alarmed Citizen: Fear, Mistrust, and Alternative Media. Journalism Practice. doi: 10.1080/17512786.2020.1825113. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The democratic role and authority of the news media rest on a basic premise of trust delegation, whereby citizens confide in the news media to provide sufficiently relevant and accurate information. In a time of dwindling trust levels, increasing polarization, and an abundance of new media, this article asks what characterizes citizens’ relations with the media when the relation of trust breaks down. To illuminate broader tendencies of mistrust and disengagement, the article analyzes how citizens who see current immigration patterns as a major threat evaluate established and alternative news media, navigate the news landscape, and create personal and selective news repertoires. From an abductive methodological approach, 24 in-depth qualitative interviews were analyzed in continuous dialogue with theories on trust, public connection, and the democratic role of citizens to conceptualize the alarmed citizen, who’s public connection is characterized by alertness, fear, and low institutional trust; the active shifting between alternative media and established news media, and the construction of personal news repertoires and supportive networks.

• Ytreberg, Espen & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2020). Agencies and Experiences of the “Good Participant” : The Long-Term Trajectories of Patients Turned Media Participants. International Journal of Communication. 14, p. 6182–6198. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  As a prominent case of media participants with a high moral status, medical patients have become central across media and platforms, particularly because journalists need them as exemplars. On the basis of in-depth interviews with 18 Norwegian patient-participants, this article investigates the agencies and experiences involved in longer spans of participation across mass and social media. The article shows that although communicating illness enables affirmative and meaningful forms of openness and sharing for patient-participants, over time stresses and conflicts also appear as participants negotiate the terms and limits of their self-disclosure in an effort to exercise agency over their illness stories. In general terms, the article argues for an approach to media participation that takes into account high-status forms of participation, multiple media, and participation trajectories over longer spans of time.

• Karlsen, Rune; Kolltveit, Kristoffer; Schillemans, Thomas & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2020). Media and Bureaucracy: Investigating Media Awareness Amongst Civil Servants. Scandinavian Journal of Public Administration (SPJA). 24(3), p. 53–72. doi: 10.58235/sjpa.v24i3.8602. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Scholars claim that civil servants are increasingly having to engage in media management and be aware of how events are presented in the press, with this media awareness being said to threaten civil servants’ traditional bureaucratic values. In this article, we argue that media awareness is unevenly spread in public bureaucracies, and rather is contingent on individual and organizational characteristics. More specifically, we present the hypotheses that media awareness depends on the amount of media related work, the amount of media attention on the organization in which they work, as well as the civil servants’ fundamental views on the role of the media in society. To test the hypotheses, the article utilizes a large-N survey of civil servants in Norwegian ministries and agencies. The results show that the vast majority of civil servants care about how issues appear in the press. Further on, we find that civil servants’ media awareness coexists with traditional bureaucratic values, offering some relief to scholars who fear the disruptive effects of the media in public administration. As the hypotheses suggest, we find that this media awareness is linked to civil servants’ actual media-related work. However, the analysis shows that civil servants working in organizations with a lot of media attention are, in fact, are less aware of the media.

• Figenschou, Tine Ustad & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2020). “Hey there in the Night”: The Strategies, Dilemmas and Costs of a Personalized Digital Lobbying Campaign. In Hornmoen, Harald; Fonn, Birgitte Kjos; Hyde-Clarke, Nathalie & Hågvar, Yngve Benestad (Ed.), Media Health. The Personal in Public Stories. Universitetsforlaget. p. 165–185. doi: 10.18261/9788215040844-2020-9. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This chapter analyzes the strategies and dilemmas of a digital storytelling campaign evolving around the plights and struggle of families with severely ill children in need of constant care. The campaign, organized by parents fighting to stop government cuts in health and welfare benefits, started on social media. Stories and pictures of the children soon went viral, caught the headlines of the national established news media, and impacted the political agenda. This parent initiative epitomizes newer trends in advocacy and lobbying in which citizens organize in ad-hoc campaigns and networks made possible by social media, and where compelling storytelling can outmanoeuvre established political actors. Social media and autobiographic stories provide effective tools for grass-root movements, but also pose a range of dilemmas and ethical concerns related to individual exposure, vulnerability and privacy rights. The focus here is how non-professional activists balance, negotiate or sacrifice privacy protection and control with their messages in the name of winning a larger battle where high personal stakes are involved.

• Hallin, Daniel C.; Figenschou, Tine Ustad & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2020). Biomedicalization and Media in Comparative Perspective: Audiences, Frames, and Actors in Norwegian, Spanish, U.K. and U.S. Health News. The International Journal of Press/Politics. doi: 10.1177/1940161220960415. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This study examines health news in Norwegian, Spanish, British, and U.S. newspapers. It seeks to fill a gap in journalism studies in the examination of health news as a genre, particularly in a comparative context, and with a focus on broader social and political roles and meanings of health news, rather than effects on individual behavior. It is rooted in literatures that seek to understand health journalism in sociological terms, considering the role of health journalism in relation to institutional relationships between biomedicine, the market, and the state. It departs, in particular, from the theory of biomedicalization, which holds that the field of biomedicine, increasingly transformed into a complex, commercialized “techno-service complex,” has deep cultural impact, including the spreading of a conception of an individualized patient-consumer who will actively seek information to control risk and pursue wellness. In this article, we ask whether research on health news centered around this model, mostly carried out in the United States, is generalizable to European countries where the health system is organized primarily according to a public service model. The study considers three aspects of health news content: the implied audience of news stories, distinguishing in particular between those that address readers as patient-consumers and those that address them as citizens; the distinction among biomedical, lifestyle, and social frames for understanding health issues; and the range of actors reflected in health news as sources and as story originators.

• Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti & Figenschou, Tine Ustad (2020). The alarmed citizen: Fear, mistrust, and alternative media. Journalism Practice. Full text in Research Archive
• Figenschou, Tine Ustad & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2019). Disruptive Media Events: Balancing Editorial Control and Open Dissent in the Aftermath of Terror. Journalism Practice. 13(8), p. 941–945. doi: 10.1080/17512786.2019.1647111. Full text in Research Archive
• Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti & Figenschou, Tine Ustad (2019). Alarmerte borgere: Mistillit, polarisering og alternative medier, Informerte borgere? Offentlig tilknytning, mediebruk og demokrati. Universitetsforlaget. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  En informert borger er ikke nødvendigvis en god borger for demokratiet. Det viktigste er at alle har en «offentlig tilknytning», en orientering mot samfunnet som danner grunnlag for engasjement og handling når det trengs. Denne boka røsker opp i inngrodde forestillinger om hva en god borger er, og presenterer ny innsikt om situasjonen i Norge i dag. I et demokrati må borgerne orientere seg mot og engasjere seg i samfunnet. Dette grunnleggende kravet gjennomsyrer vår samfunnsform, det preger politiske diskusjoner og styrer innretningen av norsk mediepolitikk, og det er sentralt i grunnlovens paragraf om ytringsfrihet. Hva bør en slik samfunnsorientering innebære? Og hvordan arter den seg i forskjellige folks hverdagsliv? Hvor viktig er eksempelvis bruk av nyhetsmedier sammenlignet med andre veier til offentligheten. Forfatterne av denne boka argumenterer for at norske borgeres «offentlige tilknytning» handler om å orientere seg mot helt ulike området og ta i bruk mange ulike veier til offentligheten. De viser hvordan det norske folk på tvers av alder, interesser og sosiokulturell bakgrunn orienterer seg mot samfunnet de er en del av. Slik gir Informerte borgere? Offentlig tilknytning, mediebruk og demokrati et nyansert bilde av hva det vil si å ha en solid forbindelse til offentligheten og oppleve å være en del av samfunnet - og hva det vil si å ikke ha en sterk offentlig tilknytning.

• Figenschou, Tine Ustad & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2018). Mediated Agency, Blame Avoidance and Institutional Responsibility: Government Communication in a Personalised Media Landscape. Scandinavian Political Studies. 41(2), p. 210–232. doi: 10.1111/1467-9477.12117. Full text in Research Archive
• Brekke, Jan-Paul & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2018). Communicating borders - Governments deterring asylum seekers through social media campaigns. Migration Studies. doi: 10.1093/migration/mny027. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This article analyses a novel attempt by the Norwegian Government to use Facebook to influence migrants’ destination choices. With the refugee crisis in the fall of 2015 as a backdrop, the Norwegian case reveals the dilemmas that occur when governments use social media as instruments to control immigration. While social media provide governments with new tools, such as paid targeting and access to new groups of migrants, their use also raises ethical concerns. The distinct qualities of today’s social media, their affordances, do not fully square with established norms for government communication. Based on interviews, this article follows the development of the Norwegian Facebook campaign, labelled ‘Stricter Asylum Regulations in Norway’. Using a case-study methodology, the exploration of the campaign provides a behind-the-scenes analysis of an ongoing attempt at managing migration via social media. Among the dilemmas that are identified, we find the need to communicate effectively on social media platforms—that is, to change the behaviour of target groups—may collide with the ground rules of civil service information to the public. The Norwegian campaign, sharing key features with similar campaigns across Europe, shows both the potential and the challenges involved in communicating with migrants in a potentially vulnerable situation, on social media platforms. While social media have been described as a ‘backstage’ for migrants, this article reveals how governments enter this communicative space, thereby changing its semi-private nature.

• Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti & Figenschou, Tine Ustad (2018). Det er en tid for alt? In Syse, Henrik (Eds.), Norge etter 22. juli: Forhandlinger om verdier, identiteter og et motstandsdyktig samfunn. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. Full text in Research Archive
• Midtbøen, Arnfinn Haagensen; Steen-Johnsen, Kari & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2017). Boundary-making in the public sphere: Contestations of free speech. In Midtbøen, Arnfinn Haagensen; Steen-Johnsen, Kari & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (Ed.), Boundary Struggles : Contestations of Free Speech in the Norwegian Public Sphere. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. p. 13–43. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Freedom of speech is a fundamental human right and considered a core value in liberal democracies. However, it is also one of our time’s most contested issues, constantly claimed either to be too wide-ranging, allowing continuous repression of minority groups, or too limited – restricting dissent and democratic deliberation. In this book we depart from conventional approaches of free speech, which tend to focus on whether specific types of public talk should be considered legally allowed or not. Instead, we study how boundaries of free speech are contested and negotiated through social processes which silence certain groups and opinions while amplifying others. Theoretically, we build on the concepts of boundaries and boundary-work. The study of symbolic and social boundaries has a long tradition in sociological and anthropological research, but is less used in current scholarship on free speech. We believe that this field of research can benefit from employing this perspective because it allows us to study the social processes through which boundaries of free speech are drawn, maintained and changed. How are boundaries of free speech defined – explicitly or implicitly – by institutional elites? And how are these boundaries perceived by the mainstream public and from the margins of the public sphere? These questions direct our attention to fundamental dynamics of the public sphere: Public debates are shaped by social mechanisms which silence certain groups and opinions, while amplifying the voice of others. These mechanisms create boundaries that are not (primarily) defined through judicial paragraphs, but rather barriers made of different types of perceived pressure, self-censorship, exclusion and stigma. Sometimes boundaries of free speech appear bright and clear-cut, based on a strong consensus regarding what opinions and groups are considered legitimate or illegitimate in the public sphere. However, they are more often blurred and ambiguous, leaving room both for explicit conflict over where the boundaries are or should be drawn, and for individual maneuvering in the public sphere based on assumptions about the subtle rules defining ‘the game’ of public participation. In a sociological perspective, we argue, the public sphere can be seen as a locus of ‘boundary struggles’: Constant debates over the boundaries of free speech shape the dynamics of public debates and gradually change what actors and opinions are granted a legitimate space in the public sphere.

• Figenschou, Tine Ustad; Karlsen, Rune; Kolltveit, Kristoffer & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2017). Serving the Media Ministers: A Mixed Methods Study on the Personalization of Ministerial Communication. The International Journal of Press/Politics. 22(4), p. 411–430. doi: 10.1177/1940161217720772. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The personalization of politics has received much attention in both the political science and political communication literature, but the focus has almost entirely been on party leaders and prime ministers. This study investigates the personalization of ministerial communication in Norway, a type of decentralized personalization. It combines a survey of communication workers; in-depth interviews with politicians, communication workers, political reporters, and top-level civil servants; and ethnographic observation inside a ministry. The article goes beyond media-centered perspectives and identifies several potential drivers and barriers to personalization processes. Based on our mixed methods approach, we find that ministerial communication in Norway is strongly centered on the minister in both reactive media management and the proactive promotion of the minister and new policies. This decentralized personalization is driven by both demands from the media and the strategic adaptation by political and administrative actors within ministries. Based on the rich empirically grounded insights, the article discusses how the interplay between the logic of the contemporary commercial news media, political ambitions, internal administrative ambitions, and changes in executive government shapes the personalization of ministerial communication, and illuminates how these multiple drivers of personalization are mutually reinforcing.

• Moe, Hallvard; Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti & Fladmoe, Audun (2017). Perceptions of journalistic bias: Party preferences, media trust and attitudes towards immigration. In Midtbøen, Arnfinn Haagensen; Steen-Johnsen, Kari & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (Ed.), Boundary Struggles : Contestations of Free Speech in the Norwegian Public Sphere. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. p. 109–137. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Freedom of speech is a fundamental human right and a core value in liberal democracies. It is also, however, one of our time’s most contested issues, constantly claimed to be either too wide-ranging, at the peril of vulnerable minority groups, or too limited, restricting dissent and democratic deliberation. Employing a sociological lens on the dynamics of the public sphere, this book investigates how the boundaries of free speech are contested and negotiated through social processes which silence certain groups and opinions while amplifying others. The book focuses on key topics in current free speech debates – immigration, religion and culture. Drawing on population-representative survey data, media analysis and in-depth interviews, the authors paint a broad picture of how boundaries of free speech are defined and maintained, experienced and challenged, in the rapidly changing Norwegian public sphere. The analyses in this book build on four years of work on a large-scale project called The Status of Freedom of Speech in Norway, funded and initiated by the Fritt Ord foundation. The book presents the key findings of the second round of this project.

• Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2017). Immigration critique: Moral boundaries, silence and polarization. In Midtbøen, Arnfinn Haagensen; Steen-Johnsen, Kari & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (Ed.), Boundary Struggles : Contestations of Free Speech in the Norwegian Public Sphere. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Freedom of speech is a fundamental human right and a core value in liberal democracies. It is also, however, one of our time’s most contested issues, constantly claimed to be either too wide-ranging, at the peril of vulnerable minority groups, or too limited, restricting dissent and democratic deliberation. Employing a sociological lens on the dynamics of the public sphere, this book investigates how the boundaries of free speech are contested and negotiated through social processes which silence certain groups and opinions while amplifying others. The book focuses on key topics in current free speech debates – immigration, religion and culture. Drawing on population-representative survey data, media analysis and in-depth interviews, the authors paint a broad picture of how boundaries of free speech are defined and maintained, experienced and challenged, in the rapidly changing Norwegian public sphere. The analyses in this book build on four years of work on a large-scale project called The Status of Freedom of Speech in Norway, funded and initiated by the Fritt Ord foundation. The book presents the key findings of the second round of this project.

• Figenschou, Tine Ustad & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2016). Disruptive Media Events : Managing mediated dissent in the aftermath of terror. Journalism Practice. 11(8), p. 942–959. doi: 10.1080/17512786.2016.1220258. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Terror attacks force democratic societies to mobilize, reinforce and rethink core values, including media freedom and freedom of speech. The present article analyzes how one traumatic event— the 2011 Oslo terror—challenged editorial practices related to editorial control and open debate in major Norwegian media organizations. Meeting the call for more research on disruptive media events in a hybrid media landscape, it illuminates how professional media balance critical debate with strategies for societal recovery in contemporary post-crisis contexts. Based on in- depth interviews with debate editors, the article documents how terror profoundly challenges edi- torial practices, routines and norms in media organizations with debates in multiple formats and platforms. In their online comment sections, the media organizations all moved towards a more interventionist policy introducing multiple new control measures. In the traditional op-ed formats, however, they selectively expanded the range of voices and included actors deemed too extreme prior to the attacks. Theoretically the article contributes to the literature on disruptive (key) events, editorial strategies during crisis, editorial control in contemporary media systems and editorial approaches to mediated deviance.

• Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti & Figenschou, Tine Ustad (2016). Consensus and dissent after terror: Editorial policies in times of crisis. Journalism - Theory, Practice & Criticism. 19(3), p. 333–348. doi: 10.1177/1464884916657519. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This article analyses the role of central editors in constructing a national debate in the Norwegian media after the 2011 Oslo terror attacks. A broad literature has documented that after crisis, mainstream media move away from their everyday critical function to a ritual type of journalism that fosters adherence to shared values and support for national authorities. Based on in-depth interviews with debate editors, this article analyses how this type of national crisis discourse is substantiated and guarded through editorial decisions and policies. Second, it gives insights into how changes in the perceived climate of opinion and increasingly vocal critical voices gradually affect editorial practices and challenge consensus. Theoretically, the article combines perspectives from a critical approach (the media as channels for political authorities during crisis) and a cultural approach (the media as constitutive for resilience and recovery) to contribute to the understanding of crisis journalism in a multi-platform, multi-directional media landscape.

• Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti & Figenschou, Tine Ustad (2016). Do marginalized sources matter?: A comparative analysis of irregular migrant voice in Western media. Journalism Studies. 17(3), p. 337–355. doi: 10.1080/1461670X.2014.987549. Full text in Research Archive
• Figenschou, Tine Ustad & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2015). Faces of an Invisible Population: Human Interest Framing of Irregular Immigration News in the United States, France, and Norway. American Behavioral Scientist. 59(7), p. 783–801. doi: 10.1177/0002764215573256. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Based on a quantitative, comparative analysis of U.S., French, and Norwegian news media, this article examines the use of human interest stories in the coverage of irregular immigration. In an innovative design, it systematically analyzes how human interest framing is related to the frequency and complexity of dominant arguments and perspectives (issue-specific frames). In contrast to the extant literature, arguing that news on immigration reduces immigrants to dangerous and anonymous threats, the article finds that about half the news stories studied have a human face or example. Moreover, these human interest articles tend to frame the issue from the immigrants’ perspective, describing their personal stories and struggle. This result nuances the commonly held assumption that human interest frames signal declining news quality, as the number and range of arguments presented are not significantly reduced when human narratives are employed. The prevalence of human interest frames is highest in Norway, where we also identify a reduction in frame complexity in human interest stories, indicating the need to rethink the democratic corporatist model in media system theory.

• Figenschou, Tine Ustad & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2015). Myndighetspropaganda eller demokratisk arena: Irregulær migrasjon i norske nyhetsmedier, Eksepsjonell velferd? Irregulære migranter i det norske velferdssamfunnet. Gyldendal Juridisk. p. 110–127. Full text in Research Archive
• Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2015). Mediatization of public bureaucracies: Administrative versus political loyalty. Scandinavian Political Studies. 38(2), p. 179–197. doi: 10.1111/1467-9477.12041. Full text in Research Archive
• Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2015). Byråkrati, medier og kommunikasjon. In Ihlen, Øyvind; Skogerbø, Eli & Allern, Sigurd (Ed.), Makt, medier og politikk: Norsk politisk kommunikasjon. Universitetsforlaget. p. 147–158. Full text in Research Archive

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• Mangset, Marte; Midtbøen, Arnfinn Haagensen & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2022). Ytringsfrihet i en ny offentlighet : Grensene for debatt og rommet for kunnskap. Universitetsforlaget. 238 p. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Et nytt medielandskap har gitt endrede vilkår for offentlig debatt: for ytringsfrihet, informasjonsfrihet og kunnskapsformidling. Men der noen ser en grenseløs ny offentlighet preget av hets og sjikane, ser andre et knugende meningsklima der det straffer seg å gå mot strømmen. Og der noen hyller de nye mediene for å slippe nye stemmer til, tviler andre på at en meningsfylt samtale er mulig i dagens algoritmestyrte sosiale medier. Hvordan kan virkeligheten oppfattes så forskjellig? I denne boken undersøker forfatterne om disse motpolene har gjenklang i den norske befolkningen, eller om polariseringen er overdrevet. De utforsker hvilke grenser folk trekker for hva man kan hevde og mene offentlig, om disse grensedragningene har endret seg i de senere årene, og hvordan alder, kjønn, utdanning og politisk ståsted henger sammen med ulike oppfatninger og erfaringer. Ikke minst undersøker de kunnskapens vilkår i en ny offentlighet: Hvordan vurderer folk flest den informasjonen de har tilgang til via ulike medier? Og hvilke hindringer møter produsenter av ny kunnskap, det vil si forskere i akademia, når de utforsker og formidler sine funn? Er det rom for et mangfold av perspektiver, eller bidrar konformitetspress, maktkamp og styringssystemer til at noen temaer blir underbelyst? Med utgangspunkt i analyser av unik empiri bidrar boken med innsikt – på tvers av posisjoner og motpoler – i ytringsfrihetens vilkår i en ny norsk offentlighet.

• Moe, Hallvard; Hovden, Jan Fredrik; Ytre-Arne, Brita; Figenschou, Tine Ustad; Nærland, Torgeir Uberg & Sakariassen, Hilde [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2019). Informerte borgere? Offentlig tilknytning, mediebruk og demokrati. Universitetsforlaget. 236 p. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  En informert borger er ikke nødvendigvis en god borger for demokratiet. Det viktigste er at alle har en «offentlig tilknytning», en orientering mot samfunnet som danner grunnlag for engasjement og handling når det trengs. Denne boka røsker opp i inngrodde forestillinger om hva en god borger er, og presenterer ny innsikt om situasjonen i Norge i dag. I et demokrati må borgerne orientere seg mot og engasjere seg i samfunnet. Dette grunnleggende kravet gjennomsyrer vår samfunnsform, det preger politiske diskusjoner og styrer innretningen av norsk mediepolitikk, og det er sentralt i grunnlovens paragraf om ytringsfrihet. Hva bør en slik samfunnsorientering innebære? Og hvordan arter den seg i forskjellige folks hverdagsliv? Hvor viktig er eksempelvis bruk av nyhetsmedier sammenlignet med andre veier til offentligheten. Forfatterne av denne boka argumenterer for at norske borgeres «offentlige tilknytning» handler om å orientere seg mot helt ulike området og ta i bruk mange ulike veier til offentligheten. De viser hvordan det norske folk på tvers av alder, interesser og sosiokulturell bakgrunn orienterer seg mot samfunnet de er en del av. Slik gir Informerte borgere? Offentlig tilknytning, mediebruk og demokrati et nyansert bilde av hva det vil si å ha en solid forbindelse til offentligheten og oppleve å være en del av samfunnet - og hva det vil si å ikke ha en sterk offentlig tilknytning.

• Midtbøen, Arnfinn Haagensen; Steen-Johnsen, Kari & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2017). Boundary Struggles : Contestations of Free Speech in the Norwegian Public Sphere. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. 323 p. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Freedom of speech is a fundamental human right and a core value in liberal democracies. It is also, however, one of our time’s most contested issues, constantly claimed to be either too wide-ranging, at the peril of vulnerable minority groups, or too limited, restricting dissent and democratic deliberation. Employing a sociological lens on the dynamics of the public sphere, this book investigates how the boundaries of free speech are contested and negotiated through social processes which silence certain groups and opinions while amplifying others. The book focuses on key topics in current free speech debates – immigration, religion and culture. Drawing on population-representative survey data, media analysis and in-depth interviews, the authors paint a broad picture of how boundaries of free speech are defined and maintained, experienced and challenged, in the rapidly changing Norwegian public sphere. The analyses in this book build on four years of work on a large-scale project called The Status of Freedom of Speech in Norway, funded and initiated by the Fritt Ord foundation. The book presents the key findings of the second round of this project.

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• Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti & Figenschou, Tine Ustad (2021). Helse, medier og makt: Kommunikasjonsregimer i mediene. Institutt for samfunnsforskning. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Helse og sykdom angår oss alle og omtales i alle slags formater i nyhetsmedier og i sosiale medier. I de siste tiårene har den personlige erfaringen med sykdom vokst fram i helsejournalistikken. Legene, forskerne, helsemyndigheter og politikere er stadig nøkkelaktører – men de erstattes, flankeres eller utfordres kontinuerlig av stemmene som tilbyr følelse, dybde og innlevelse i hva sykdom handler om i praksis. I forskningsprosjektet Helse, medier og makt har vi studert hvilke budskap som dominerer, og hvilke aktører og stemmer som når gjennom i dette medielandskapet. Vi har satt helsedekningen i Norge inn i en historisk og komparativ kontekst og også belyst spørsmål knyttet til lobbyvirksomhet og politisk innflytelse, makt og avmakt og individ mot system. Ved å gå bak overskriftene i helsenyhetene har vi vist hvilke former for samarbeid, allianser, mediestrategier og lobbyvirksomhet som er skjult for publikum. I tillegg har vi vist hvordan den økende åpenheten om personlige erfaringer med helse og sykdom har bidratt til å bryte ned stigma og skam, samtidig som utviklingen reiser etiske spørsmål om pasientenes selvbestemmelse, samtykkekompetanse og kontroll med egen historie. I denne brosjyren presenterer vi hovedfunnene fra prosjektet.

• Nadim, Marjan; Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti & Fladmoe, Audun (2021). Gråsoner og grenseoverskridelser på nettet: En studie av deltagere i opphetede og aggressive nettdebatter. Institutt for samfunnsforskning. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Formålet med denne rapporten er å få mer kunnskap om deltagere i opphetede og aggressive debatter på nettet, og om hva som bidrar til å skape slike debatter. Den tar for seg åpne debatter i gråsonen, hvor det er et spekter av ytringer, fra ytringer som de fleste vil være enige i at er grenseoverskridende og normbrytende, til ytringer som er mer tvetydige, og som er i grenseland til å være aggressive og fiendtlige i den grad at de er ødeleggende for debatten. Rapporten undersøker blant annet hvem som deltar i slike debatter, hvorfor de deltar, og hvordan de selv forstår og begrunner uttrykksformene sine. Rapporten er basert på en spørreundersøkelse rettet mot befolkningen og på kvalitative intervjuer med deltagere i opphetede debatter.

• Mangset, Marte; Midtbøen, Arnfinn Haagensen; Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti; Wollebæk, Dag & Fladmoe, Audun (2021). Forskerne og offentligheten – om ytringsfrihet i akademia. Fritt ord. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Den akademiske friheten gir vitenskapelig ansatte, formelt og via lov, en omfattende formell ytringsfrihet. Likevel kan det være trekk ved ulike forskningsområder, forskningsinstitusjoner, opinionsklima og informasjonslandsskap som kan begrense forskeres deling av kunnskap og forskningsresultater til en bredere offentlighet via mediene. I denne rapporten ser vi nærmere på hvordan forskere, sammenlignet med befolkningen, vurderer forskeres rett til å ytre seg offentlig: Hvilke tema forskere legitimt skal kunne uttale seg om er stadig gjenstand for debatt, og her undersøker vi om akademia og befolkning setter grensene på samme sted. Videre undersøker vi hvordan forskere oppfatter opinionsklimaet og ytringsrommet generelt, før fokuset rettes mot forskeres konkrete erfaring med offentlig deltagelse og formidling av forskningsresultater i mediene: Hvor ofte formidler de, hvilke erfaringer har de, og hva legger begrensninger på formidlingen? Til slutt undersøkes forskeres erfaring med ubehagelige kommentarer eller trusler i etterkant av mediedeltagelse. I tillegg til å undersøke forskernes erfaringer på tvers av fagområder, setter vi særlig fokus på erfaringer og formidlingslingspraksis blant forskere innen tre felt som ofte er omgitt av offentlig debatt: klimaforskning, kjønns- og likestillingsforskning og forskning knyttet til innvandring og integrering.

• Fladmoe, Audun; Wollebæk, Dag; Steen-Johnsen, Kari & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2021). Hva mener befolkningen om ytringsfrihetens grenser? Fritt ord. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  I denne publikasjonen tar vi for oss noen nøkkelspørsmål knyttet til vilkårene for ytringsfrihet i befolkningen. Vi undersøker hvor ulike grupper trekker grensene for hva slags ytringer som kan aksepteres, hvordan opinionsklimaet oppleves, samt folks erfaringer med ubehagelige kommentarer og trusler. Til sammen kan analysene gi en forståelse av hvilke grenser befolkningen setter for hva som er akseptable ytringer, hvordan de opplever sin egen ytringsfrihet, og hva omfanget av erfart netthets er i ulike grupper. Vi kan også se hvordan disse forholdene har endret seg over tid.

• Figenschou, Tine Ustad; Larsen, Anna M. Grøndahl & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2018). Lokal helse og omsorg i mediene: Mediepåvirkning på nært hold. Institutt for samfunnsforskning. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Denne rapporten belyser hvordan medienes vinklinger og formater påvirker lokal helsedebatt og helsepolitikk. Den diskuterer særlig hvordan ulike kilder og strategiske aktører aktivt søker å prege mediedekningen for å endre beslutninger i enkeltsaker og overordnede prioriteringer i kommunale helse- og omsorgstjenester. Gjennom dybdeanalyser av tre caser som alle omhandler kommunale helse- og omsorgstilbud, viser vi hvordan medieoppslag med lokalt utgangspunkt setter dagsorden for lokale helsemyndigheter, men også løftes opp på den nasjonale politiske dagsorden.

• Beyer, Audun; Brekke, Jan-Paul & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2017). Communicating borders : informing migrants and potential asylum seekers through social media. Institutt for samfunnsforskning. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Informing migrants and potential asylum seekers through social media Summary How do Norwegian immigration authorities use social media in their communication with migrants with Norway as destination? In this study, we analyze the Norwegian Facebook campaign titled “Stricter asylum regulations in Norway.” The campaign was launched by the Ministry of Justice and Public Security in a period when asylum arrivals to Norway peaked in the fall of 2015. In addition to the Norwegian campaign, we examine similar internet based information campaigns in a range of other European countries. The study demonstrates that the social media campaign allowed Norwegian authorities to reach migrants that they would not have reached through conventional means of information. This was accomplished through the use of paid content on Facebook, and the targeting of specific groups who received the information from the Norwegian Government in their personal Facebook feed. The study of similar European and international campaigns confirmed that strategic government communication with migrants through social media is still in an experimental phase. The analysis of the Norwegian campaign demonstrates the need for a set of general guidelines for government communication on social media. The report also notes that we have limited knowledge about the effects of these campaigns. Further research should study how migrants perceive this information and how it influences their decision to migrate. Government communication on social media raises questions related to transparency, communication format and rhetoric, norms of dialogue and target group identification. When communicating with migrants in potentially vulnerable situations, these are questions that clearly needs focus.

• Syse, Henrik; Ezzati, Rojan; Erdal, Marta Bivand; Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti; Figenschou, Tine Ustad & Kaufmann, Mareile [Show all 8 contributors for this article] (2017). Negotiating Values: Norway in the wake of July 22. Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO). Full text in Research Archive

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• Figenschou, Tine Ustad & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2025). Doing-their-own-reserach: Alarmed citizens’ use of alternative media in contentious health debates. doi: https:/nordmedianetwork.org/nordmedia-conference/nordmedia2025/. Full text in Research Archive
• Figenschou, Tine Ustad & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2025). In the COVID-19 Sphere of Deviance: Alarmed Counter-Publics in Pandemic Times. doi: https:/cdn.ymaws.com/www.icahdq.org/resource/resmgr/conference/2025/ICA25_Abstracts_Program.pdf. Full text in Research Archive
• Figenschou, Tine Ustad & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2025). Doing-their-own-reserach: Alarmed citizens’ use of alternative media in contentious health debates. Full text in Research Archive
• Enstad, Johannes Due & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2025). Can moral framing reduce climate change polarization? Textual and experimental evidence from Norway. SocArXiv. doi: 10.31235/osf.io/rx9hk_v1. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  We analyzed the moral valence of elite rhetoric on climate change in Norway (1,039 opinion articles across 5 years) and examined whether morally framing climate mitigation appeals to match people’s own values affected attitudes. Using a novel method for computational text analysis, we found elite rhetoric increasingly emphasized moral universalism (care, equality) over particularism (loyalty, authority, purity). In a survey experiment (N = 3,868), universalist values predicted agreement with all climate mitigation appeals regardless of framing, while particularist values predicted disagreement with all but one appeal. This appeal, focusing on national interests and respect for local communities, resonated strongly with particularists and reduced political polarization in appeal agreement, but was underrepresented in elite rhetoric relative to more divisive framings. However, moral frame exposure showed no downstream effects on broader climate attitudes. Nevertheless, we argue that the universalist bias evident in elite rhetoric may contribute to polarization over time.

• Mangset, Marte; Midtbøen, Arnfinn Haagensen; Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti & Fladmoe, Audun (2022). Forskere som jobber med kontroversielle temaer, er ikke representative. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Professorene Sven G. Holtsmark og Torunn Laugen Haaland ved Forsvarets høgskole retter i en kronikk i Aftenposten 18. april kritikk mot Kierulf-utvalgets utredning om akademisk ytringsfrihet. De kritiserer også grunnlaget for vår rapport «Forskerne og offentligheten – om ytringsfrihet i akademia» som bygger på en spørreundersøkelse blant norske forskere. Rapporten gir ny empirisk kunnskap og har begrensninger det er viktig å få frem. At vi ikke tar høyde for «systematiske skjevheter» stemmer imidlertid ikke.

• Mangset, Marte; Midtbøen, Arnfinn Haagensen & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2022). Hvor fri er kunnskapen? Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Debatter om ytringsfriheten i akademia har preget universitets- og høgskolesektoren de siste årene. Fram til nå har vi imidlertid hatt svært begrenset kunnskap om hvordan norske forskere, og særlig de som forsker på betente politiske temaer, opplever ytringsrommet både i og utenfor akademia. I et nylig avsluttet forskningsprosjekt har vi undersøkt spørsmål om ytringsfrihet, rom for perspektivmangfold og vilje til formidling blant norske forskere. Her er våre hovedkonklusjoner.

• Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2022). Nå møter jeg mine egne forskningsfunn i døra. Full text in Research Archive
• Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2022). Ny studie av jeg mot meg reality dramaturgien ivaretar ikke de mest sårbare. [Journal]. Morgenbladet. Full text in Research Archive
• Fredheim, Nanna Alida Grit; Figenschou, Tine Ustad & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2021). Sterke interesser står ofte bak følelsesladde historier om sykdom. Full text in Research Archive
• Hallin, Daniel C; Figenschou, Tine Ustad & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2021). Consumer, Client or Citizen? Human-Interest Stories in Health Journalism Across Norway, Spain, the U.K. and the U.S. Full text in Research Archive
• Haugsgjerd, Atle & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2021). Innspill til debatten om strukturell rasisme: potensial, utfordringer og kritikk. Tidsskrift for samfunnsforskning (TfS). 62(1), p. 78–79. doi: 10.18261/issn.1504-291X-2021-01-04. Full text in Research Archive
• Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti; Lånkan, Kjersti & Ytreberg, Espen (2021). Åpenhetens pris. Full text in Research Archive
• Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti; Nadim, Marjan & Fladmoe, Audun (2021). Vi har forsket på deltagerne i harde nettdebatter. De har én ting felles. Full text in Research Archive
• Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2021). Hva blir senvirkningene når mediene slår covid-19 alarm? Full text in Research Archive
• Haugsgjerd, Atle; Midtbøen, Arnfinn Haagensen & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2020). Ulikhet og ideologi: Hva kan norsk samfunnsforskning lære av Piketty? Tidsskrift for samfunnsforskning (TfS). 61(4). doi: 10.18261/issn.1504-291X-2020-04-04. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Med utgivelsen av Capital in the Twenty-First Century i 2013, satte Thomas Piketty ulikhet på dagsordenen med en kraft som er få akademiske utgivelser forunt. Forskere, allment samfunnsinteresserte så vel som politikere, lærte om hvordan den økonomiske ulikheten i mange land har skutt i været de siste 30–40 årene til fordel for en svært liten minoritet av superrike. I sin siste bokutgivelse – Capital and Ideology fra 2019 – tar Piketty opp igjen tråden fra 2013-utgivelsen. Denne gangen utvider han perspektivet til de politiske og ideologiske strukturene som skaper og reproduserer ulikhet.Pikettys flerfaglige tilnærming til studiet av ulikhet – i kombinasjon med hans betydning for det akademiske og offentlige ordskiftet – gjør det naturlig for oss i TfS-redaksjonen å invitere til et symposium om hans siste bokutgivelse. I dette nummeret har vi derfor invitert tre nestorer innenfor norsk samfunnsforskning, statsviteren Øyvind Østerud, sosiologen Marianne Norli Hansen og samfunnsøkonomen Kalle Moene, til å reflektere rundt hva deres fag kan lære av Pikettys siste bok.

• Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2020). Den digitale informasjonsflyten er kanskje vårt beste våpen i kampen mot korona. Full text in Research Archive
• Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2020). Når pressen nå reflekterer over egen kildebruk, er den en seier for Sofie. Full text in Research Archive
• Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2020). Nordmenn er verdens mest tillitsfulle. Unntaket er tilliten til pressen. Medierevisjonen. Full text in Research Archive
• Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2020). Er journalister nyttige idioter for særinteresser? Medierevisjonen. Full text in Research Archive
• Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2020). Hva skal vi med Faktisk.no? Medierevisjonen. Full text in Research Archive
• Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2020). Sosiale medier er både selvsensur og hatske yringer. Full text in Research Archive
• Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2020). Alle burde leste Haddy Njies bok. Full text in Research Archive
• Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2020). De unge blir syndebukker under pandemien. Full text in Research Archive
• Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti & Figenschou, Tine Ustad (2019). Alarmed citizens: Immigration, mistrust and alternative media. Full text in Research Archive
• Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2019). Mediatisering og implisitt normativitet i innvandringsforskningen. Tidsskrift for samfunnsforskning (TfS). 60(1), p. 84–87. doi: 10.18261/issn.1504-291X-2019-01-07. Full text in Research Archive
• Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2019). Mediatization and implisit normativity in the study of immigration. Tidsskrift for samfunnsforskning (TfS). 60(1), p. 84–87. doi: 10.18261/issn.1504-291X-2019-01-07. Full text in Research Archive
• Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2019). The Human Interest Economy: Making media cases out of patients. Full text in Research Archive
• Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2019). Sykdom og helse i mediene. Full text in Research Archive
• Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2019). Tilliten til den politiske journalistikken under press. Full text in Research Archive
• Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2019). Informasjonsstrukturen i den norske valgkampen legger ikke til rette for meningsfull formidling. [Journal]. Morgenbladet. Full text in Research Archive
• Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2019). Mediatisering og implisitt normativitet i innvandringsforskningen. Tidsskrift for samfunnsforskning (TfS). doi: 10.1177/1940161220960415. Full text in Research Archive
• Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2019). Når innvandrerkvinnene trer ut av skyggene, brister en demning. Full text in Research Archive
• Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2019). VG-rapporten er mest avslørende når det gjelder hva den ikke tar opp. Full text in Research Archive
• Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2019). Er pressen en brikke eller en aktor i maktkampen i arbeiderpartiet? Full text in Research Archive
• Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2019). Informasjonsstrukturen i den norske valgkampen legger ikke til rette for meningsfull formidling. Full text in Research Archive
• Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2019). De trauste etatenes klikkjegere forleder oss. Full text in Research Archive
• Figenschou, Tine Ustad; Fredheim, Nanna Alida; Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti & Ytreberg, Espen (2018). The use of digital and mainstream media lobbying health interests. Full text in Research Archive
• Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2018). Personlig sykdom er gull verdt for mediene. [Journal]. Morgenbladet. Full text in Research Archive
• Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2018). Da den politiske journalistikken møtte #metoo. Full text in Research Archive
• Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2018). Samfunnsforskere er ikke interessert i den norske minoritetens erfaringer. Full text in Research Archive
• Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2018). Personlig sykdom er gull verdt for mediene. Full text in Research Archive
• Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2018). Er politisk konformitet blant samfunnsforskere et problem? Full text in Research Archive
• Midtbøen, Arnfinn Haagensen; Steen-Johnsen, Kari & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2017). Utstøting og selvsensur truer ytringsfriheten i Norge. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  En fungerende offentlighet er sannhetssøkende, bygger på utveksling av rasjonelle argumenter og er åpen for kritisk meningsbrytning. Men fungerer offentligheten slik i praksis, eller bidrar trusler, stigmatisering og selvsensur til en fattigere felles offentlighet, der bestemte grupper og synspunkter forsvinner? Etter over fire års empirisk arbeid i prosjektet Status for ytringsfriheten i Norge er vår konklusjon at den norske offentligheten ikke lever opp til slike idealer. Utstøting og selvsensur er to sentrale mekanismer som regulerer hvem som deltar og hva som ytres i norsk offentlighet.

• Figenschou, Tine Ustad; Karlsen, Rune; Kolltveit, Kristoffer & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2017). Media influence on bureaucratic decision-making: Evidence from Norway and the Netherlands. Full text in Research Archive
• Figenschou, Tine Ustad & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2017). Social bureucracies? Government communication beyond the news logic. Full text in Research Archive
• Moe, Hallvard & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2017). Høyresiden har størst mistillit til journalistikken. Full text in Research Archive
• Figenschou, Tine Ustad & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2017). Sosialt byråkrati? Full text in Research Archive
• Figenschou, Tine Ustad & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2017). Helsebyråkratiets bevisste bruk av media. Full text in Research Archive
• Figenschou, Tine Ustad & Thorbjørnsrud, Kjersti (2017). Dual Personalization: Government communication in an emotional media landscape. Full text in Research Archive

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