The Swedish media landscape

The written press In Sweden, the newspaper market has for a very long time been very strong. Every day, approximately 80 per cent of the adult population read a newspaper. And an important aspect is that almost all social groups read newspapers. In Sweden there are approximately 160 papers on the market. With a circulation of about 4.2 million copies, Sweden is close to the top of newspaper consumption nations. The newspaper market is in Sweden often split into four segments: The metropolitan morning papers, witch represents about 25 per cent of the total circulation. The biggest being Dagens Nyheter (361 000 copies). The metropolitan single copy sale papers, witch represents about 20 per cent of the total circulation. The biggest being; Aftonbladen (412 000 copies) and Ekspressen (327 000 copies). The regional and local papers, witch represents about 45 per cent of the total circulation. Newspapers published once or twice a week, both local papers in the metropolitan areas and small regional papers; witch represents less than 10 per cent of the total circulation. Since the mid-1980s there has been a small decline in the circulation in the Swedish newspaper market, mainly within the single copy newspapers. But in total the market has been fairly stable the last 30 years. We see the same pattern in the general Swedish magazine press who has experienced a long-term decline in circulation. But on the other hand, specialized magazines about food, sport, science etc. have increased. As in Norway, there exist a system of direct government subsidies to economically weak newspapers, introduced in the early 1970s. Another important aspect of the Swedish press is that it was traditionally closely connected to the political parties. But this is not the situation anymore. The dominant actors in the newspaper market in Sweden are the Bonnier Group, with a quarter of the total newspaper circulation, and the Norwegian company Schibsted. The audiovisual media

In Sweden, as in many other European countries television was introduced as public service media. And for a long time the Swedish public service media has been one organization, until 1992 where radio and television became two separate companies. Sveriges Television, SVT, is the public service company and traditionally the main actor in the television area. SVT is not state owned, but owned by a foundation funded by government money. SVT is representing channels like SVT1, SVT2 and SVT24. It also produces a channel for Swedes abroad and a channel for the Swedish speaking areas of Finland. In the second half of the 1980s, the channels owned privately, financed by advertising were introduced, and the television monopoly was broken. TV3 started, followed by the Nordic Channel, Channel 5, Z-TV, TV6 and TV8. Today, the main commercial broadcaster is the terrestrial channel TV4. Three great owners of the satellite channels are The Kinnevik Group, The Bonnier Group and Alma Media witch also have interests in other media areas. National media policies The goal in the television field has been to open the market, but to restrict advertising. In the newspaper market the goal has been to maintain pluralism and to support weak newspapers on the local market. Main recent media developments Some recent trends in the media field: Newspaper; a slight decline in circulation. Television; digitalization is on the agenda. Swedish newspapers, like both television and radio, have been very active in using the internet for publication, even though only a few are to said to be profitable so far.

The media landscape in Sweden

In 1776 Sweden became one of the first countries to legally establish the freedom of the press. A key element in the right to the freedom of opinion, press freedom enjoys a strong status in the country.

Stadthaus, Stockholm Foto: ooznu, Lizenz: Creative Commons by-sa/2.0 Characteristic for the Swedish media landscape is the relatively strong role still played by public television. Sveriges Television and Sveriges Radio are financed by fees and show no advertising, while control structures are geared to keeping political influence as low as possible. The rise of private television and radio stations - primarily TV3, TV4 and Canal+ - since the start of the 1990s has also strongly influenced programming at the public stations. The daily press also plays a very strong role despite the growing influence of the Internet. In the country of nine million inhabitants just under four million newspapers were printed every day in 2008. 83 percent of the population read at least one of the 165 daily newspapers. In recent decades the newspaper market has gone through a process of concentration. The large dailies include Dagens Nyheter, Svenska Dagbladet, Sydsvenska Dagbladet and Gteborgs-Posten, as well as the tabloids Aftonbladet and Expressen. The state ensures the diversity of the press by supporting it with subsidies and a reduced sales tax. Sweden became a trendsetter in 1995 with the introduction of the free newspaper Metro. By its own account the paper has the most readers in the country. The fastest development in Sweden is taking place on the Internet, which is used by well over 80 percent of the population. Blogs are highly popular: estimates put the number of Swedish blogs at over 350,000. Most dailies and radio stations have their own blogs, which exist alongside blog portals like Newsmill. The most popular blog is written by Blondinbella on her shopping and partying experiences.