The government, the national telecommunications administration and the national broadcasting corporation divided responsibility for the Swedish television system.
The national public broadcasting system was typically associated with a limited amount of TV and radio services, as well as having a ban on advertising in the programs, with a lack of privately owned TV and radio services.
In the 1980s, the market for private interests and commercial funding increased in broadcasting as the new structural and regulatory framework evolved in Sweden. This caused there to be more commercial interest as broadcasting became more of an ‘industry’ with the audience becoming ‘consumers’ and programmes becoming ‘products’, with increasing competition.
While Sweden holds value for freedom of the press and was the world’s first country to adopt a freedom of the press law, the press is subsidized by the government. Media conglomerate companies own a majority of the mass media in Sweden.
There are five media companies that own a majority of all the newspapers in Sweden, with four television and three radio groups dominating a majority of the audiovisual sector of Sweden. The most prominent owner is Bonnier AB, which is a privately owned Swedish media group that is controlled by the Bonnier family. Bonnier AB is a media conglomerate that operates 175 companies in 15 countries.
Sweden still holds their ban on advertising on programs, which may be the reason that a large sum of their shows are produced outside of the country.
There is still a high government presence in the media as there has been controversy over political bias and cover ups in the media regarding political and social figures in Sweden. In 2010, the Alliance, which is a center-right liberal-conservative political alliance in Sweden, was criticized for implementing a law that caused all new public service products to be needing approval from the government before they were able to be approved.
Overall, the party system in Sweden has been described as “one of the most stable in the world, with the same five political parties represented in the parliament between 1918 and 1988.” (Nord & Gruel 116).
Despite these controversies, Sweden portrays its media as being independent from political power and prides itself in holding political figures accountable.