Sweden's feminist foreign policy in national newspapers in EU member states (2014–2020): Media logic or political logic?

Abstract

As the first country in the world, Sweden introduced its Feminist Foreign Policy (FFP) in 2014. The article investigates how Sweden's FFP is communicated in quality newspapers in 11 EU Member States (2014–2020). It focuses on whether the coverage of FFP signals the adoption of media logic or political logic, and whether the newspapers’ images of FFP serve to strengthen or counteract the existing tendencies on gender equality in the different Member States. The findings demonstrate that reports on FFP are heavily influenced by media logic. They give priority to political conflicts and focus on short-term events and persons rather than long-term consequences and content of the policy. FFP is least reported and explained in Member States with lower levels of gender equality, which can serve to strengthen existing views. In more gender-equal Member States, the reports on FFP are more frequent and elaborate, especially in the left-leaning newspapers.