The study focuses on visual verification routines and the visual coverage of the war in Ukraine following the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022, empirically focusing on news outlets in Sweden and Norway. At a juncture of rising concerns over AI, public distrust and propaganda, the study aims to contribute to these debates and identify challenges as well as emerging strategies in the unfolding news coverage. The comparative Scandinavian context serves to highlight points of tension between the global and the local; between those newsrooms relying on global image brokers and those conducting their own in-house reporting.
The project, a collaboration between Maria Nilsson at Stockholm University and Anne Hege Simonsen at Oslo Metropolitan University, is the subject of a forthcoming Routledge monograph.
Maria Nilsson is associate professor of journalism in the Department of Media Studies, Stockholm University. Her research interests include visual journalism, witnessing—including citizen witnessing—crisis coverage, editorial processes and the professional role of journalists.
