The remit for public service broadcasting

Where

Sweden

When

2012

Key objectives of the measure:

The public service broadcasters Sveriges Radio AB (SR)13, Sveriges Television AB (SVT)14, and to some extent Sveriges Utbildningsradio AB (UR)15 must, among other things, offer a diverse range of programmes encompassing everything from broad interest to special-interest programmes. Programming must be characterised by high quality and innovation in form and content. A central part of the remit is that programmes, through availability and diversity, must meet varying conditions and satisfy different interests among the entire population, and that they must reflect conditions in the whole country. This concerns the geographic reflection of the country’s different regions, and the fact that the people who live in the different parts of the country are different, for example, with regard to ethnic and cultural background, gender and age.

Public service broadcasters must also pay particular attention to linguistic and ethnic minority interests in their programming. This must be a prioritised area and availability must improve. The minority languages Sami, Finnish and Meänkieli (Tornedal Finnish) and Romany Chib must assume special status. Broadcasters must have a dialogue with the groups affected.
Broadcasters report annually in public service reports on how their public service remit has been met. The Broadcasting Commission of the Swedish Broadcasting Authority reviews the reports and assesses whether the broadcasters have met their remit. The assessments of the Broadcasting Commission are reported to the Government every year. Major evaluations of activities are conducted ahead of each permit period.

Main feature of the measure:

The following up of the remit to reflect diversity in society highlights the difficulty of quantifying diversity. The way that has been used so far to ensure that SR and SVT meet the requirement to reflect the whole country is a condition that at least 55 per cent of their general production that is broadcast nationally must produced outside Stockholm. This condition has been evaluated with the result that its effectiveness has been brought into question because, among other things, the type of programmes produced and how regional and local character is brought out should have greater significance for reflecting the whole country than a certain percentage being reached. However, the condition remains in place for the time being. In 2011, 57 per cent of SVT’s and 56 per cent of SR’s general production were produced outside Stockholm.

Broadcasters’ activities for linguistic and ethnic minorities are primarily measured in the number of hours broadcast in different languages.

Return to the platform

Read the full report