The swedish broadcasting system and its content

Résumé du document

Sweden is characterized by a population with a high demand of and access to media. In 2005, Swedes between 9 and 79 years old consumed around six hours of media a day, 97% had access to the Radio, 98% to television, 74% to the Internet and 75% had subscriptions to daily newspapers. Over 80% of the Swedes read a newspaper on weekdays, mostly at least a local morning one. Sweden has a tradition of strong local and party press, but since two decades the press landscape adapted to the new media market and technology, content changed and most newspapers are now present on the Internet and some even have TV channels. The Swedish Television and Radio has a long tradition of public service and the end of its monopoly occurred late. Fundamental changes occurred in the TV landscape, from the first TV channel in 1956 to the introduction of TV4, the first terrestrial commercial channel in 1992. In modern days, television can be received through terrestrial networks (in which the main channels are SVT1, SVT2, TV3, TV4 and Kanal5), cable networks or by satellites. The development of mobile TV is an important issue for its future and some channels already produce special programs for this new technology. The Swedish Radio is composed of the public service radio, the local commercial radio and the non-profit community radio. The Internet is the technology in which the Radio, as TV, invests a lot with some stations only available on it. Licences to broadcast radio and TV programs are granted by the Radio and TV Authority or the Government. Even special licences exist to broadcast radio programs on the Internet.

Extraits

[...] in Nordicom Review. Special Issue on : Reflections on Public Service Broadcasting and The Rise of the Modern Press in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, vol 20, nr 1/1999. Weibull, Lennart and Anna Maria Jönsson (2007), Swedish Media Landscape, pp1-15 In George Terzis (Ed.) European Media Systems. London: Intelect Books. [...]

[...] The swedish broadcasting system and its content Sweden is characterized by a population with a high demand of and access to media. In 2005, Swedes between 9 and 79 years old consumed around six hours of media a day had access to the Radio to the Television to the Internet and 75% had subscriptions to daily newspapers (Bengtsson, 2006). Over 80% of the Swedes read a newspaper in weekdays, mostly at least a local morning one (Weibull and Jönsson, 2007). [...]

[...] The share of advertising decreases for traditional media such as Radio, TV and Press and increases for free dailies or Internet. Same trends are present in the whole Nordic media markets with some media owners, who invest in new media sectors or in other Nordic countries such as Bonnier or Schibsted. Nordic countries are often seen as one Media market with historical and structural similarities called by Hallin and Mancini (2005) “Democratic- Corporatist”. The Scandinavian countries have a high access to the Press, Radio and TV due to their tradition of public service and fundamental idea of diversity. [...]

[...] Three models of media and politics. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. Picard Robert G.(1998), Nordic Media, In: Alan B. Albarran and Sylvia M. Chan-Olmsted, Global Media Economics: Commercialization, Concentration, and Integration of World Media Markets, Iowa State University Press Available from World Wide Web: http://www.tranquileye.com/free/files/Picard_-_Nordic_Media.htm Syvertsen, Trine (1999) The Many Uses of the “Public Service” Concept pp.5- 12 in Nordicom Review. Special Issue on : Reflections on Public Service Broadcasting and The Rise of the Modern Press in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, vol 20, nr 1/1999. [...]

[...] Similarities and differences between the current Swedish Press, Radio and TV are mostly due to the concept of “public service”. The strong and long monopoly of public service broadcasts in Radio and Television shows the importance of this concept in Sweden even until today. In their beginning, Radio as Television had educational goals but this “paternalism” was abolished with the end of public broadcasts monopolies (Sondergaard, 1999). Nowadays, the public service principle is defined according to the objectives of “informing, enlightening and entertaining” with a “critical (Findahl, 1999). [...]