According to the Swedish Constitution, and its Freedom of the Press Act, the owner has no right to interfere with the editorial content; only the person who is filed as responsible according to the press law (editor-in-chief) has that right. If the owner wishes to decide over editorial content, she or he has to fire the responsible person and appoint a new editor-in-chief.
National interviews mainly show that influence on the news from the advertising/ commercial side of the enterprise is generally not at hand – not at all in the public broadcasting companies, and very little in most of the printed newspapers. In one of the morning papers, the editor-in-chief is also chief executive officer, and there is some debate as to whether that leads to editorial influence over the economy or vice versa. When it comes to the online operation, one afternoon paper describes a much harder commercial climate in uncharted territory with ownership pressure for profitability, which leads to an ongoing debate within the newsroom about the borders between news and ads.
Any influences from owners and management were also denied by regional public service media representatives. Private media newsrooms had the same experiences, and underlined the division between journalism and business, even if the major regional newspaper Sundsvalls Tidning admitted a “tougher climate” with regard to increased competition and a more market-oriented media environment.
