The newspaper in Sweden

The Swedes are a newspaper reading people. On an average day, about 60% of Swedes aged between 15 and 79 read some form of newspaper, either a printed one, or online. Men and women read the paper in equal numbers. And it's about as common for people with low education to read the paper, as it is for people with a higher education. But, we do read less and less.

A few years ago, more than 80 per cent of Swedes read the paper on a typical day. Today, that percentage has decreased. It's mostly people who are a bit older who read the newspaper often. Among those younger than 25, not even half read the paper on a typical day. The subscription papers, broadsheets, are still mostly read in their print edition, while the tabloids are mostly read online.

There are many newspapers in Sweden, more than 150 of them, that are issued almost every day. Most of them can be read both on paper and online. Here are some of the biggest: Aftonbladet is a tabloid. It was founded in 1830 by Lars Johan Hierta, and it's actually the oldest paper that is still in circulation in Sweden. No other newspaper in Sweden has as many readers online as Aftonbladet.

Its editorial page is social democratic. Dagens Nyheter, is the largest subscribed paper, and is aimed mostly at the Stockholm region. Its editorial page is independent liberal, which means that it's not tied to a specific party, but that it mostly agrees with the right-of-center parties. Göteborgs Posten, which is also a subscribed broadsheet, is the largest on the West coast. Its editorial page is said to be liberal, but it's more conservative than for example that of Dagens Nyheter.

Expressen is a tabloid, and the biggest competitor with Aftonbladet. Expressen has a local edition in Göteborg: GT, and one in Skåne, called Kvällsposten. Its editorial page is liberal, and just like Aftonbladet, Expressen has a large portion of its readers online. Svenska Dagbladet, is a subscribed broadsheet based in Stockholm, just like Dagens Nyheter. Its editorial page is considered independent moderat, and is thus pretty far to the political right.

The newspaper Metro, has local issues in Stockholm, Göteborg and in Skåne. Metro is neither subscribed nor sells single copies, but is freely distributed, mostly in the public transport system. Metro was issued for the first time in 1995, so it's among the youngest newspapers in Sweden. Still, it has managed to become one of the most widely circulated. There are many other papers in Sweden.

In almost every town, there's a local newspaper, even in fairly small towns. In addition to newspapers aimed for a certain place, there are also the Christian newspaper Dagen, and the socialist paper Dagens ETC. And there's Dagens Industri, which is focused on business and finance. Many of the papers in circulation today, were founded in the 19th century. Those who founded the papers were engaged in social issues.

At that time, the papers often had a clear political profile, that was not limited to the editorial page. In the 1950s, when television became common, the competition stiffened, and many newspapers disappeared. People spoke about the death of the newspaper. In many towns, that used to have several newspapers, there was now only one left. That increased the risk that people only heard one single political opinion, instead of several.

To increase the diversity among papers, a financial subsidy was introduced in the 1970s: press support, that the government paid out to the second largest paper in each town. Nowadays, it's not television that's the main competitor to the papers, but the internet. The newspapers are going through another crisis, a second death of the newspaper. And it's not at all certain, that there will be a local independent printed newspaper available in each town in the future.