I picked up a Swedish publication....Resume....which had this interesting report from the Stockholm School of Economics. They sat down with seven Swedish newspapers or TV news producers (Aftonbladet, Dagens Nyheter, Expressen, Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet, Swedish Radio, Swedish Television, and Upsala Nya Tidning), and asked some questions about where Swedes are going with their views on news.
At some point, they came to this surprising conclusion.
Roughly fifty-percent of Swedes DON'T get their daily dose of news from the listed seven producers (seen above).
One out of five Swedes in the survey said that their focus in life led to distrust of the news media. Note....that didn't really make up the whole of that 50-percent number. This would lead one to ask more questions.
One gets the impression after reading the Resume article....that a fair number of Swedes want news to fit their thinking, their agenda or their focus in life. This isn't to say that they are right-wing or conservative.....they could very well be leftist, or on an environmental theme, or desiring good news only. These are people who weren't going toward the seven normal delivery vehicles of news in Sweden.
What Resume does hint toward the end of this article....this is the first time anyone has ever looked at news and viewers in Sweden. In some ways, the survey now lays out a great mystery and requires more research.
The curious thing, when you sit and look at this information....is that news organizations mostly survive because of capitalistic tendencies. They go after a consumer and ensure that the consumer is satisfied. Up until now, the Swedish news empire felt they were in control and easily had the bulk of consumers. Now? Less so.
Some people will say that news is not consumer driven....but factual. However, these are not the people paying the bills at the newspapers or determining the national TV tax.
I sat and looked up the state TV tax. 250 Euro a year.
Where does this all lead? I suspect that the newspapers and TV news people are a bit shocked at the high level (50-percent) of people who don't use their service or product. If there was a slant or agenda....this report more or less confirms that people have caught on and simply declined the product. A problem for future politics?
The next big election in Sweden is in Sep of 2018. To be honest, Swedish politics runs along a normal script with roughly eight political parties. The majority are center-left/center-right....a Green Party...and the remainder on the left. The Swedish Democrat Party would be the only party that has a right-wing theme. The only new-comer party that Swedes might admit to? The Pirate Party....but it's mostly a younger voter theme with them.
An upsurge for the Swedish Democratic Party? They will 'brag' in speeches of taking 25-percent in the next election. That would be double of what they took in the last election (12.9-percent of the total vote).
The angry frustrated crowd influenced by their choice of news? Yet to be played out and if you read the whole Resume article....there's this big mystery left....what exactly are these readers thinking? Are they pro-capitalist, anti-capitalist, pro-immigration, anti-immigration,etc?
Curiously enough....the population of Sweden is 9.6 million. Number of Facebook members? Just over 5 million. The German identification of the fake news problem is likely to repeat with the same accusations in Sweden (sooner or later).
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