Monday, July 14, 2025

Polaris of Enlightenment

New media subsidy policy could lead to death of newspapers

Published 7 December 2023
– By Editorial Staff
Minister for Culture Parisa Liljestrand presents the new media subsidy policy at a press conference.
3 minute read

Just on November 15, the Swedish Parliament passed the new Media Subsidy Act, which means that the current press subsidy system will disappear at the end of the year. The changes are believed to hit smaller newspapers and those critical of the regime particularly hard, and Ulrika Hyllert, president of the Swedish Journalists’ Union, is very critical of the design of the new support.

– This means that the impact of media support on media diversity in Sweden will now depend on the goodwill of the Media Support Board, she says.

The Swedish Journalists’ Union believes that it is unclear how the media support will actually be distributed and is concerned that there is no guarantee that “media that contribute to media diversity will be prioritized” when the money is distributed.

– For us, media diversity is not primarily about the color of the editorial page. For us as a union it is important that there are many different, viable media owners in Sweden. It’s a question of the future and something that politicians should take more seriously, says Ulrika Hyllert, adding that newsrooms will also have to cut their freelance budgets.

Vavra Suk, editor-in-chief and publisher of Nya Tider, is also very critical of the whole process and does not know whether the newspaper will receive the new media subsidy, as there are no detailed regulations yet and decisions will not be made until April 2024 at the earliest.

“Transitional support”, which would help newspapers eligible for press subsidies to better manage the transition to the new system, will also not be paid until April – during these six months they will be completely without state support.

“However, alternative media like Nya Tider will be hit the hardest, and it seems that we are also being targeted. We already work in a hostile environment where, for example, the cartelization of the Swedish printing industry limits our possibilities. We are also unable to generate significant income from advertising, as politically correct newspapers do”, Suk writes.

Left-wing newspapers collapse

The Socialist Justice Party is also very negative about the changes and believes that the bourgeois and SD-backed government is actively trying to strangle left-wing newspapers financially.

“Offensiv and other left-wing newspapers could be completely without state support next year. And if Offensiv continues to receive support, it will be significantly less than before, and within a few years it will be zero crowns. Moreover, if the paper does receive funding in 2024, it will not be paid out until April, forcing the paper to make cuts at the beginning of the year. This is a deliberate attempt to cut off the legs of Offensiv and other newspapers that are not published by profit-making media groups”, the paper writes.

The left-wing newspaper ETC has also warned that it will lose a lot of money with the new policy.

“A new media subsidy will be introduced at the turn of the year, but nobody knows what it means yet. But one thing is clear: there will be less money for Dagens ETC. In 2023, Dagens ETC will have 20 million in press subsidies. In 2024 it could be wiped out”, they warn.

But minister of culture Parisa Liljestrand says that “the basic idea has always been a technology-neutral system that targets the media that really need support”.

– This is to promote a more long-term sustainability, even for small players. From a democratic perspective, it is important to protect local journalism throughout the country, she claims.

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Swedish climate extremists who blocked ambulance acquitted by Supreme Court

The exaggerated climate crisis

Published 11 July 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Police remove the road blockade in August 2022.
2 minute read

A nearly three-year legal process concluded this week when all activists from Restore Wetlands (Återställ Våtmarker) were acquitted for blocking the E4 motorway in August 2022, which in addition to causing long traffic jams also delayed an ambulance on an emergency call.

According to Sweden’s Supreme Court (Högsta domstolen), the road blockade was not comparable to the threats against vital societal interests required by law for a conviction of sabotage, and therefore acquitted all participants in the climate alarmist group’s action. The Supreme Court particularly emphasized the importance of freedom of demonstration and freedom of expression in a ruling that will serve as guidance for how civil disobedience should be punished, which in practice opens the door for more motorway blockades.

The legal situation has been unclear regarding what constitutes a serious disruption or obstruction in these cases. It’s good that we now have clear guidance from the Supreme Court on how prosecutions for sabotage should be assessed in the future, says Chief Prosecutor Katarina Johansson Welin in the Supreme Court’s press release.

The group itself describes its action as an “act of love”.

Victory! Today we celebrate that the sabotage charge has been shot down for the last time. In my heart, I have always known that I acted exactly right. To sit peacefully and openly on a motorway and demand that emissions decrease is among the strongest acts of love for our children and for life that you can do, and we did exactly that, says one of those acquitted in the climate group’s press release.

Green Party economist: Good that fewer children are born in Sweden

The exaggerated climate crisis

Published 11 July 2025
– By Editorial Staff
The Green Party politician Lennart Olsen sees children as an unnecessary burden on the economy and the environment.
2 minute read

That fewer children are born in Sweden is only good for the environment, argues Green Party (Miljöpartiet) politician Lennart Olsen. Children and young people also cost more than older people, who can still work at higher ages if the pension age is raised, he adds.

Olsen writes in a debate article in the Bonnier publication Dagens Nyheter that people should view positively the fact that Swedes are not reproducing themselves.

“What’s needed here is a reversed perspective, where lower birth rates and eventually decreasing population should be welcomed to reduce the exploitation of the earth’s ecosystems“.

The Green Party member believes that the Swedish government’s investigation aimed at proposing measures to raise the very low birth rates in Sweden is “misguided”. He argues that the state can save money from fewer children being born.

“For the state’s and municipal sector’s economy, children and young people are a much greater expense than the elderly. This is because virtually all people between 0 and 20 years old cost a lot of money in the form of preschool, school, higher education, parental insurance, child allowance and more“, Olsen explains his thesis and argues that older people also won’t need as much pension if the retirement age is raised further.

Above all, the Green Party economist sees the possibility that fewer Swedish children will lead to a better climate in the long term.

“The positive effects of such a development can then also take effect and lead to reduced pressure on the earth’s ecosystems“, writes Olsen.

Olsen represents a so-called neo-Malthusian line, an ideological movement that strives for reduced population and strongly influences the climate alarmist movement.

Sweden’s Christian Democrats call for tax relief for families with children

Published 10 July 2025
– By Editorial Staff
1 minute read

Swedish families with children should receive tax relief, according to the same model as Hungary. This is proposed by Christian Democrat leader Ebba Busch.

The catastrophically low birth rate has recently become a topic of discussion even among Swedish politicians. Childbirth in Sweden is at historically low levels. During 2023, an average of 1.43 children were born per woman – the lowest figure ever recorded. The standing solution advocated among Swedish politicians has been to bring foreigners to Sweden to replace the population.

The leader of the Christian Democrats Ebba Busch proposes on this theme to follow the Hungarian model, where families with children receive significant tax relief that increases for each child. The principle is to make it easier for one or later both parents to support themselves through work instead of benefits.

If current birth rate trends continue in Sweden, each new generation will be approximately 30 percent smaller than the previous one, which means major consequences including for the labor market and welfare system when fewer people of working age must support a growing elderly population.

 

Almost total halt for imported berry pickers in Sweden

Published 8 July 2025
– By Editorial Staff
2 minute read

The Swedish Migration Agency has rejected almost all applications for berry pickers for 2025. As recently as 2023, 5,000 permits were granted.

Citing years of indications that employment conditions in the berry industry are not being upheld, the Migration Agency has granted only 89 permits for berry picking this year. A total of 2,397 applications for berry pickers have been received for 2025.

Last year, the Migration Agency rejected all applications for berry pickers, but 1,272 applications were subsequently approved after court review.

The Migration Agency has also this year assessed that workers in the berry industry risk not having their employment conditions met. Therefore, the agency has decided to reject most of the applications for Thai berry pickers, says Hanna Geurtsen, Deputy Project Manager for Work Permits at the Migration Agency, in a press release.

This year, the Migration Agency explains, all employers active in berry picking have chosen to apply for permits via the EU’s Seasonal Workers Directive. The difference when applying for a work permit as a seasonal worker, compared with the national main track for work permits, is among other things that the berry pickers this year are directly employed by a company in Sweden and not via a foreign staffing agency.

It’s partly about having an employment contract signed by both parties and that the employment conditions must be in line with Swedish collective agreements. For the majority of the applications received this year, these requirements have not been met, says Hanna Geurtsen.

The berry companies that have been rejected have the possibility to appeal these decisions in court, the agency adds in its press release.

Number of berry picking permits granted by the Migration Agency in recent years:

2025: 89
2024: 0 (1,272 were approved after court review)
2023: 5,372
2022: 6,594
2021: 5,175

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