The national and regional interviews are unanimous on one point: there will never be enough resources for investigative journalism. But as some interviewed representatives point out, commitment and energy are at least as important to obtaining results. This view is supported by earlier Swedish research (von Krogh 1991; Nord 2007).
The public broadcasters devote parts of their budgets to special programmes built on long-term investigative journalism. Sveriges Radio also designates resources within the main newsroom for daily news for shorter projects (weeks, rather than months) and uses a network of reporters within its 25 local radio stations for joint investigative projects.
The tabloid Expressen has a special unit with three reporters for investigative projects. Aftonbladet claims that investigative reporting is important for the content mix in the paper, but it must be presented so that the relevance to readers is clear. To Svenska Dagbladet investigative and agenda-setting journalism is vital for the survival of the national daily press.
Dagens Nyheter, on the other hand, is more pessimistic about the level of its investigative reporting, and believes that is has shrunk more for Dagens Nyheter than for leading dailies in other European countries.
The editor of the Swedish magazine for investigative reporting, interviewed for this project, estimates a rather high level of investigative journalism in the public broadcasters and a somewhat lower level in the commercial national newspapers. Some local/regional news organizations are very successful with investigative projects, but overall dedication is not as high as it ought to be.
A comparison of European investigative journalism (van Eik, 2005) found that the quality of top Swedish projects is generally lower than in some other countries, but on the other hand, that investigative reporting is more widespread in regional media than in most other countries.
The union representative interviewed for this project points out that traditional media produce much more investigative journalism than do bloggers and social media, that public broadcasters do a considerable amount of good work, but that Swedish news media could and should do more. The number of foreign correspondents has been reduced somewhat over time in commercial media, and some of them have been replaced by part-time stringers. The public broadcasters, especially Sveriges Radio with 18 correspondents, have been more successful in defending their own exclusive international reporting.
