The Role of the Media

In a democracy like Sweden, the media are free. The grundlagar tryckfrihetsförordningen and yttrandefrihetsgrundlagen protect the right to freely say what one thinks and spread opinions — the state cannot decide or influence what is said in the media. The media inform about news and serve as a place where people can freely discuss society, while also being important for entertainment and enjoyment.

Journalists must be able to scrutinize politicians and others in power. This is made easier by the principle of public access (offentlighetsprincipen), which means that official documents (allmänna handlingar) from government agencies are, as a general rule, public (unless they are classified, i.e. subject to secrecy) — anyone has the right to access them. This means journalists can request emails and other documents from agencies to examine how decisions were made. A person also has the right to provide information to newspapers, radio, and television without being punished for it, and anyone who provides information to the media also has the right to remain anonymous. Newspapers, radio, and television each have a responsible publisher (ansvarig utgivare) who is legally responsible for what is published and who must follow laws that protect against defamation and violations — journalists are expected to verify information with several independent sources and check that their sources are reliable. The state also provides financial support to news media and newspapers, to ensure there are many different media outlets providing us with news.

Media funded by advertising are often run by private companies — daily and evening newspapers distributed locally and nationwide, some available by subscription and others sold as single copies. There are also three media companies with a special mandate in Sweden: Sveriges Radio (SR), Sveriges Television (SVT), and Utbildningsradion (UR, the Educational Broadcasting Company), together known as public service. The public service companies must be independent of political and other interests, report on society and allow different opinions to be heard without taking sides, and offer a broad range of content including news, sports, entertainment, and culture. They are not allowed to earn money from advertising, and are instead funded through a fee collected via taxes, so that everyone in the country has access to factual information regardless of where they live or how much money they have. On the web and on social media, anyone can create content, which means it is not reviewed in the same way as content in other media.

Information can be obtained from various sources, such as newspapers, books, websites, social media, television, and radio. But not everything published in the media is always correct — false information can spread quickly and influence people's opinions. Checking and examining information is called being critical of sources (källkritik), which means questioning and verifying whether what you read, see, or hear is correct.