A newspaper campaign tells

Abstract

Around the time of 1998 a number of articles about the situation of the educational system appeared in the daily Swedish press. A large proportion of the articles (concerned with science journalism as well as general debate and narratives) centered on children with the neuro-psychiatric diagnoses DAMP, AHDH, Tourettes or Aspergers Syndrome. The occurrence could be described as a launch or a campaign in favour of a medical perspective on children's problems. This article is attempting to give some explanations to the large amount of attention given to these diagnoses. The rhetorical forms used to convince readers of the accuracy and humanity of diagnosing children are also analysed. Special emphasis is placed on the commercial terms that journalism operates under, and on its tradition as an educator. We can see, on the whole, that medicine, journalism and parents’ testimonies tell the same story. The material represents a wide consensus relating to the question of how diagnostics and the importance of placing these children into special areas are viewed. The study has been carried out within the framework of a social-constructivist perspective.