The purpose of this thesis is to examine how ethnic minorities in Denmark are perceived and presented in the media. Yahya Hassan, a young poet with a different ethnic background than Danish, presents a new agenda for the existing debate. He discusses already existing issues regarding ethnic minorities living in high-risk neighbourhoods. Hassan’s rhetoric and the way in which he constructs the image of ethnic groups in the Danish society have also affected the divided opinions on how ethnic minorities are perceived.

The collection of Hassan’s poems, which addresses many social problems, is based on Hassan’s experience and observations. Through his poems Hassan shares his childhood, which he relates to current social issues. The thesis has three inquiries, there another makes use of three research question to research the subject at hand: Examine how Yahya Hassan presents himself as someone who seems to have broken the `cycle´, how the media contributes to construct Hassan’s image and finally, how Yahya Hassan influences the debate regarding his image of a pattern breaker and the principles regarding freedom of speech.

The theoretical framework, which I will employ to answer the research include question, includes the theories nexus analysis and the theory of media perception language, channel and environment. The theories will be suitable for conducting an in-depth analysis of the collected data and provide a better understanding of the area of research. The research will be conducted from a social constructivist stance in which the underlining meanings of the phenomena being researched.