Constructive Journalism in Ekot’s Reporting During the COP30 meeting : A Qualitative Narrative Anlysis Over How Constructive Journalism Was Used in Sveriges Radio Ekot To Present The COP30 Climate Meeting

Constructive journalism is a journalistic movement or “ideology” that criticises the negativity and conflict present in traditional journalism. According to constructive journalism, negativity and conflict must be complemented by, but not substituted by, potentials (things that are already good or solutions to things that could be better). This thesis explores how the Swedish public service radio’s program “Ekot” is uses constructive journalism in their coverage of the climate meeting COP30. Using a qualitative narrative analysis 60 news broadcasts from the Swedish public service radio, spread across 15 days during the COP30 meeting, gets analysed. Constructive journalism was identified by looking for which problems, potentials, and PERMA elements (positive emotions, engagement, good relationships, meaning, achievement) that are present. The thesis only studies the Swedish public service radio, and only the topic “the climate meeting COP30”. Therefore the thesis can’t say a lot about neither climate reporting or the Swedish public service radio in general. The thesis doesn’t explore, and therefore can’t say anything about, the intentions behind the coverage, only the actual coverage that was broadcasted in the end. The thesis therefore paints a picture of how the Swedish public service radio’s coverage of COP30 looked through the perspective of constructive journalism. However, the method is general enough to be used for any medium or topic. Both the Swedish public service mission and the Swedish public service radio’s own goals goes hand in hand with what constructive journalism says it can provide. Since climate change is often seen as an important question for society, it is relevant to explore how such a question is covered – and if the Swedish public service radio achieves its mission and goals. In this thesis constructive journalism is both used as a recommendation for how news organisations can create nuanced and accurate coverage, but also as a tool for analysis. This thesis uses the definitions of constructive journalism as provided by Bro (2023) and is expended upon by using perspectives of positive psychology provided by McIntyre and Gyldensted (2017). This thesis shows that there are distinct signs of constructive journalism in the reporting of Ekot’s coverage of the climate meeting COP30. There are both problems and potentials, as well as PERMA elements, present in the coverage. The problems, potentials, and PERMA elements are presented in multiple different ways: by a reporter or news anchor, by a reporter referencing a source (“shows a report from …” or “according to …”), or by a source (interviewee). This shows that the Swedish public service radio acts well according to constructive journalism – and therefore their own mission and goals – when it comes to their coverage of the climate meeting COP30.