This is an opinion piece in Dagens Nyheter. The author is responsible for the opinions in the article.
We live in strange times. Sweden is preparing. We buy artillery systems, join NATO, and urge households to stock up on canned food and crank up radios. But as we simultaneously build defenses against external threats, we are dismantling defenses on another front.
The cuts to public services come at a time when authoritarian states such as Russia, China and Iran are investing heavily in undermining established media outlets in democracies. The information war is in full swing as political leaders and tech billionaires in the West actively cast doubt on journalism and undermine trust in independent media.
The SVT in this mode Being forced to limit news, sports and social programming is serious. The reason is also unreasonable. When TV4 left the terrestrial network, the entire cost of this socially critical emergency infrastructure fell to SVT. The bill amounted to almost SEK 200 million. At the same time, new legal requirements for digital security and redundancy were introduced – measures that the state itself needs to protect society from cyberattacks. The state orders safe delivery but sends the invoice to the editor.
The fact that SVT is now forced to choose between journalistic production and renting broadcast towers is a political failure. It is as if the Swedish armed forces were forced to sell ammunition in order to afford heating their barracks. This is not about media economics, but about national security.
The Psychological Defense Authority has stated that a free, verifiable and independent media is one of the three foundations of Sweden’s psychological defense. It is not a new finding. Two years ago, Reporters Without Borders pointed out in its referral response to the government that weakened media means increased vulnerability to disinformation and influence peddling. This warning is more relevant today than ever.
Our opponents, Led by Russia, it is investing billions to sow division and distrust through disinformation. This is one of the reasons why the public service is now subject to tough campaigns. The goal is to confuse us to the point where we no longer know what is true – and therefore cannot make rational decisions in a crisis.
When crisis hits, people turn to SVT and Sveriges Radio. Confidence is sky high. But trust is a new commodity. It is not built when war is raging, but in everyday life. Every local newsroom that closes and every newscast that is replaced by repeat is a loss of that trust. If the audience in peacetime does not recognize themselves in what is being offered, they will not listen in war either.
If the government does not support the media, we risk being left with our weapons and planes while the enemy has already won the war for our minds
The private media landscape is at least as important for overall defense. Here too, we are seeing an alarming trend where local newsrooms are disappearing, local politicians are left unchecked and misinformation is allowed to run wild. At the same time, a historic shift is taking place, with global tech companies leeching the Internet for quality Swedish journalism to train their AI models – without giving anything back to the editors who did the work.
If the government thinks so If we are serious about total defense, the entire media ecosystem must be secured. Reporters Without Borders therefore calls for the following measures:
1. Pay for the infrastructure. The costs for the ground network via Teracom are purely contingent costs. The public service must be fully compensated.
2. Activate emergency procedures. There is a surplus of SEK 3.6 billion in the public service reserve. It is unreasonable to save in the barns when the house is burning. Funds must be released for digital security and preparedness.
3. Introduction of a financing model for private media via tech companies. The state should introduce an AI fee or license model in which companies that train their systems on Swedish journalism also contribute to its funding.
A free press is not free. It costs money. But the alternative – a society in which lies go unchallenged and trust in information has collapsed – will cost us infinitely more. If the government does not support the media, we risk being left with our weapons and planes while the enemy has already won the war for our minds.
