Mia Lövheim

Nordic societies have during the latest decades experienced rapid transformations with regard to social and cultural diversity. Formerly largely homogeneous national identities are challenged by globalization and migration. A new political landscape is emerging characterized by a cleavage between Alternative-Liberal and Traditional-Authoritarian-Nationalist values. Religion has, in this process, become a matter of intensified public concern. The media – conventional news media as well as social media – play a key role in this process. Previous research shows a dominant negative portrayal of religion, in particular Islam, in the Nordic countries. The aim of Lövheim’s research project is to explore whether and how an enhanced focus on religion in highly secularized societies can also enhance more constructively oriented depictions of religion, besides critical reporting. The project will analyze media material from and interviews with Nordic journalists, focusing on the characteristics of more constructive depictions of religion in media, as well as how journalists reason in terms of values and principles for reporting. The results are analyzed by a combination of mediatization of religion theory and Jürgen Habermas’ concept of “complementary learning processes”, which envisions mutual acts of self-reflection between religious and secular citizens as a key for developing post-secular democratic societies.