Month: November 2004

My post yesterday about liberals being dissatisfied with media sent Swedish blogs into a buzz (1, 2, 3 and 4). The point I was trying to make was that when liberals say they are not satisfied with the media, I would like to hear why. One can only assume that it comes from a perceived leftist media bias, but I want to hear more convincing arguments.

I argued yesterday that most leading papers in Sweden are politically to the right. Some argued that this is only reflected in the op-ed pages but on the other hand, that is where the heavy opinion building material is published. And for example Dagens Nyheter states that “The paper is being edited in a liberal and open minded spirit.” Yes, the paper, the whole paper.

Of course I am aware of the surveys from recent years that show that journalists are voting to the left of the public. The interesting question is, is that being reflected in the reporting. No, says media professor Kent Asp of JMG (Journalist School at Gothenburg University) in his official media report of 2002. Asp says that during the last election “the right wing parties got more favourable media coverage than the social democrats and its two support parties”.

Media paper Journalisten explains: “[this] should be interpreted as that the right got more exposure, more positive attention and a larger impact for their key topics. The right got most positive treatment in Rapport and Aktuellt [on Swedish public service TV] followed by TV4 news, Dagens Nyheter, Göteborgs-Posten, Svenska Dagbladet and Expressen.”

Journalisten continues: “Examining all the media in the report shows that the social democrats got the least favourable coverage of all parties.”

Another example. Dick Erixon writes on his blog on Oct 29, regarding the Cecilia Uddén topic, that “[…] something that media organisations want to avoid at any cost, then it is to give right wing voices space in media.” Might very well be so, but I’m not convinced. A survey performed by journalist Maria-Pia Boëthius showed that the influential programme “God morgon världen” on Swedish Radio during 1999 had 63 per cent right wing panelists and 37 per cent left wing. And that is in a medium that is supposed to be unbiased.

Per Wirtén writes in Arena: “Then something odd happens, namely that many journalists vote to the left, but they write liberal. It is quite interesting. Instead of polling journalists’ voting habits, you should examine their values.”

It is so easy to claim there is a leftist media bias. If you can prove it, it would be easier for me and others to believe it.

Swedish media continues to notice Observer’s list of the 10 most influential blogs. Recent articles: Falu-Kuriren, Sundsvalls Tidning and Sydsvenskan.

You think that marketing is about pricing, promotion and distribution? That’s sooo 1985. The American Marketing Association has updated its defintion of marketing, which it has had since 1985. The new one is all about value and customer relations.

Old: “Marketing is the process of planning and executing conception, pricing, promotion and distribution of goods, ideas and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational goals.”

New: “Marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders.”

Via What’s Your Brand Mantra?

I was part of a panel debate on Monday night at Bloggforum in Stockholm along with several of the most distinguished Swedish bloggers. The first panel included for example liberal thinker Johan Norberg who after the panel went on to participate in a debate at the Publishers’ Club, Publicistklubben. Norberg summarized his experiences in an interesting article in Smejdan and on his blog. He writes: “[…]Publicistklubben was an old, tired and homogenous club for buddies in Swedish radio, discussing how to avoid criticism from outside, which they considered dangerous. Bloggforum, on the other hand, was a wonderful meeting of energetic bloggers from all sides, with ideas, a belief in the power of arguments, and a conviction that criticism and competition is something important that makes you better. When I despaired about old media at Publicistklubben, I was comforted by the fact that I had already seen a better future at Bloggforum.”

He continues: “I have rarely seen such separate worlds. At Bloggforum there was a touching unity about the fact that critisism, conflict and competition are the very breath of life for media. It is because bloggers constantly monitor and critizise each other that you are forced to check your sources, sharpen your arguments and improve your analysis. It is the guarantee for the readers. If someone continues to make mistakes or lie, dissatisfaction spreads across the net and you lose credibility and readers.

Only fifteen minutes away, were representatives from the old monopoly media and argued that it was scary that it has become allowed to scrutinize their reporting.”

During Bloggforum, Norberg touched upon the question on why there are more liberal bloggers in Sweden that leftist. As part of the explanation both during the panel and on his blog, Norberg blames media.

“EXPLAINING THE LIBERAL BLOG EXPLOSION: Another of the big discussions at Bloggforum was why classical liberals, libertarians and free-marketeers seem to be more active bloggers. This was my guess when I got the question:

– We are more dissatisfied with the media, so we have to be the media ourselves to get our point of view across.”

[Two more points found in original article here.]

Most uf us who are familiar with Swedish press, know that 8 out of the 10 largest (paid) papers in Sweden are liberal or conservative, and one of the other two is Dagens Industri, who hardly can be categorized as social democratic in its reporting. So how can liberal bloggers be dissatisfied with their own media?

Sweden’s 10 largest papers:

1. Aftonbladet: “independent social democrat”

2. Dagens Nyheter “independent liberal”

3. Expressen: “liberal”

4. Göteborgs-Posten: “liberal”

5. Svenska Dagbladet, “independent conservative”

6. Sydsvenskan: “independent liberal”

7. Dagens Industri: “independent”

8. Nerikes Allehanda: “liberal”

9. Östgöta Correspondenten: “independent conservative”

10. Upsala Nya Tidning: “liberal”

[Edit: I placed DN and Expressen in wrong order]