Ownership of Swedish news media is becoming concentrated in fewer and fewer companies, according to a report from Nordicom at the University of Gothenburg. Today, a large proportion of the country’s daily newspapers belong to a few ownership constellations.
Over the past decade, ownership of Swedish news media has become increasingly concentrated. One example is the deal between Bonnier News Local and NWT Media, which owns Nya Wermlands-Tidningen. In December, a letter of intent was signed on partnership and cross-ownership between the two companies.
The Stampen media group, which owns Göteborgs-Posten, among other things, has also been bought by a consortium that includes the Norwegian media company Polaris. Several other local newspapers have changed owners in recent years.
Few owners
A large proportion of Sweden’s daily newspapers are currently controlled by a small number of ownership groups, which means that fewer and fewer news media are independent.
– Since 1990 alone, the number of owner companies in the Swedish newspaper market has fallen from 130 to fewer than 60 today. Much of this reduction has taken place in the last ten years, says Tobias Lindberg, media researcher at Nordicom, in a press release.
Many of today’s owner companies are part of larger groups such as Bonnier News, and Swedish media are also largely owned by foreign groups, including Schibsted.
– Over the past few years, foreign ownership has also increased, especially with Norway’s three major newspaper groups, Amedia, Polaris and Schibsted, now being owners in the Swedish market, says Lindberg.
Limited news coverage
The report points to several possible reasons for the increased concentration of ownership, with important factors being the digitization of society and changes in the advertising market. In the past, much of the news media’s revenue came from local companies advertising in newspapers, but today advertising money is increasingly going to global players such as Facebook and Google, making it harder for many media to survive.
Lindberg points out that changes in ownership have often been a matter of survival and that these have enabled more daily and local newspapers to continue to exist. At the same time, he warns of the risk that content will become more limited and that news reporting will become increasingly standardized.
– Local newspapers have culture pages, editorials and opinion pages. If there is only one owner in a town, for example, there is a risk that it will be more difficult to express opinions and thoughts, says Lindberg to forskning.se. There is a risk that we will have a more uniform view of what is news.
