According to the Swedish Constitution and its Freedom of the Press Act, the owner has no right to interfere with editorial content. Only the person filed as responsible according to the press law, the editor-in-chief, has that right. If the owner wishes to decide editorial content, they must fire the responsible person and appoint a new editor-in-chief.
Interviews with leading news media representatives indicate that management, sales departments, and newsrooms are separated most of the time. This is particularly true for public service media, but private media also refers to restrictive internal rules in this matter and underlines the division between journalism and business. At the same time, some editors admit that increased market competition and economic pressure have led to less distinct boundaries between news and advertisements. In most cases where cooperation between commercial and editorial departments exists, it is conducted more subtly, as the issue of market influence on news content is still highly controversial. The Journalists’ Union is worried about such issues in some news organisations.
