The Swedish constitution forbids journalists from revealing their sources (except, for instance, in cases of imminent threat to national security) and forbids authorities from searching for sources who have given secret material to the media for publication purposes. Journalists are also, as previously noted, not sentenced by law for offensive publications. only the editor-in-chief is responsible by law. The exceptions deal not with content, but with conduct while gathering information. For instance, journalists can be prosecuted for posing as officials or for trespassing on private property.
The public broadcasters Sveriges Radio, Utbildningsradion and Sveriges Television have clauses in their charters to publish news items that are factual and impartial; power-holders in society (which includes the state itself) are to be scrutinized. The only imposed partialities concern defending democracy and human rights. The financing of public service media is decided in periods of six years at a time. There is a certain distance between the government/parliament and the public broadcasters. The government appoints a committee, which in turn appoints board members of the different broadcasters: radio, education and television. on a national level, public radio and public television have editorial resources that are greater than the commercial corporations considered separately. Swedish radio has, for instance, 18 foreign correspondents; no newspaper has even half that number. However, on a regional and local level, the commercial newspapers have bigger news operations than the regional radio and television operations do. The national and regional interviews do not reveal any particular worries on the part of the media representatives regarding their independence from influential interests in society.
