The role of the media

Chapter 6 covers the role of the media in a democracy. It spans pages 20–21 and connects closely to Chapter 5, since two of the fundamental laws are precisely freedom-of-expression laws.

Media here refers to everything from newspapers, film, radio, and TV to the internet and social media.

Free media

In a democracy like Sweden, the media are free. The Freedom of the Press Act and the Fundamental Law on Freedom of Expression protect the right to freely say what you think and spread opinions, and the state cannot decide or influence what is said in the media.

The material describes several functions of the media: they inform about news, they are a place where people can freely discuss society, and they provide entertainment. But the function singled out in particular is scrutiny — journalists should be able to scrutinize politicians and others who hold power.

The principle of public access (Offentlighetsprincipen)

Scrutiny is made easier by the principle of public access, which means that public documents from authorities are open and that anyone has the right to view them. Journalists can, for example, request emails and other documents from authorities to examine how decisions were made.

The exception is documents that are secret, that is, covered by confidentiality.

This is one of the most distinctive features of the Swedish system, and worth knowing: the right applies to everyone, not just journalists.

Source protection and the responsible publisher

Two rules that go together:

• A person has the right to give information to newspapers, radio, and TV without being punished for it, and has the right to be anonymous.
• Newspapers, radio, and TV have a responsible publisher (ansvarig utgivare) who is legally responsible for what is published. The publisher must follow laws that protect against defamation and violations.

Journalists must also check information against several independent sources and verify that the sources are reliable.

The state also provides financial support to news media and daily newspapers, since it is considered important that many different media outlets provide news.

Advertising-funded media

Commercial radio and TV channels get their income by selling advertising space, or by people paying to watch a particular channel. Advertising-funded media are often run by private companies.

The same applies to morning and evening newspapers, which are distributed locally or nationwide. Some can be subscribed to, others are sold as single copies. Newspapers also earn income by selling ad space, and most today also exist online with news updated several times a day.

Public service

Three media companies have a special mandate and are called public service:

• Sveriges Radio (SR)
• Sveriges Television (SVT)
• Utbildningsradion (UR)

The mandate means they should:

• offer many different types of programming — news, sports, entertainment, and culture
• be independent of political and other interests
• report on society and let different opinions be heard without taking sides

They are not allowed to earn money from advertising. Instead, they are funded through a fee collected via taxes.

The purpose, as the material puts it: everyone in the country should have access to factual information, regardless of where they live or how much money they have.

The web and social media

An important dividing line exists here. Anyone can create content on the web and on social media, and that content is not controlled in the same way as content in other media. There is, in other words, no responsible publisher and no editorial review behind a post in a feed.

Source criticism

Information can come from many places — newspapers, books, websites, social media, TV, and radio — and not everything published is correct. False information can spread quickly and influence people’s opinions.

Checking and examining information is called being source-critical: questioning and verifying whether what you read, see, or hear is actually true.

This is a principle worth applying to material about the test as well. Made-up practice questions and made-up pass thresholds circulate, and the same questions apply there as for any other source: who wrote this, can it be verified, and against what?