Public service and commercial television news in Sweden : ideas and influences

This research will illuminate how regional, organizational, and economic pressures impact organizational definitions of terms such as “public service” and “competition,” as well as the day-to-day work of gathering news. In the field of media studies, public service broadcasting is often posited as being inherently different from commercial broadcasting. Some scholars, however, have taken the opposite position: that public service and commercial entities operate in strikingly similar ways (in terms of organization, management strategy, and output). In order to address the issue in a meaningful way, a multi-faceted research approach is required. In addition to the well-established method of analyzing content, examining how employees of media organizations actually define terms such as “public service,” “commercial” and “competition,” and the degree to which such vii definitions are reflected in workplace activities, are needed to clarify what it means to be a “public service” or “commercial” organization. Using theories taken from political economy, the public sphere, and globalization, this study attempts to discover: (1) how news professionals within national and regional news divisions of both Swedish Television (public service) and TV4 (commercial) define the terms “public service”; (2) how managers and journalists within national and regional news divisions of both Swedish Television and TV4 define and enact the realities of competition; (3) the extent to which regionalism influences news work; and, (4) how resource availabilities influence news work. Through addressing these questions, this study will offer a more multi-faceted view of the differences between public and private television news organizations in Sweden. Also, the work will expand upon the more economic-determinist, nation-specific and region-specific theories surrounding public service, media/news content and news organizations.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Radio-Television-Film

Grantor

The University of Texas at Austin

Year dc:date.issued

2001

Author dc:creator

• Christensen, Christian, 1969-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Strover, Sharon

• Television broadcasting of news--Sweden
• Public television--Sweden
• Journalism, Commercial--Sweden

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright is held by the author. Presentation of this material on the Libraries' web site by University Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin was made possible under a limited license grant from the author who has retained all copyrights in the works.

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/2152/10335

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repositories.lib.utexas.edu:2152/10335