Maria Edström

FREELANCE JOURNALISTS AS A FLEXIBLE WORKFORCE IN MEDIA INDUSTRIES

Economic cutbacks in the media sector diminish the chances of employment for journalists, and consequently the number of atypical workers in the media industry, such as freelancers, is growing worldwide. This study of Swedish freelancers is grounded in both quantitative and qualitative data. The quantitative data are taken from ongoing surveys conducted by researchers at the University of Gothenburg, based on representative samples of practising journalists made in 1989, 1994, 1999 and 2005. Around 2000 journalists were included in each survey. The qualitative material consists of 13 biographical interviews with freelancers in northern Sweden. The results will be compared with international studies. The choice to work as a freelance journalist is connected to lifestyle, and the idea of “life as a project”, as well as entrepreneurialism, in ways that are connected to the societal processes of individualization and “flexibilization”.

Market-Driven Challenges to Freedom of Expression and the Interaction Between the State, the Market, and the Media

Abstract The controlling function of the media is essential for freedom of expression in a democratic society. One of the pre-conditions of this controlling function is independence in relation not only to the state but also in relation to commercial interests. It is the latter relationship that is the focus of this article. Recent changes in the media landscape have put pressure on the independence of the media. Commercial interests seem to gain more influence on media content. The distinction between journalism and advertising has become less clear and it is not always maintained despite both legislation and self-regulation that dictate such a division. The aim of this article is to analyse the consequences of the changes in the media landscape and the challenges posed to the infrastructure for freedom of expression in Sweden, including legislation and self-regulation. The analysis is made with the help of the analytical distinction between market-driven and democracy-driven freedom of expression.

Visibility patterns of gendered ageism in the media buzz: a study of the representation of gender and age over three decades

Abstract The mainstream media provides a constant flow of visual images of men and women, whether it is via newscasts, billboards, magazines, or television. In media research, these different media types are usually investigated separately. The aim of this study is to analyse the accumulated gender representation of all images that we passively or actively take part in, here defined as “the media buzz.” To capture the representation of gender and age in the media buzz, this study focuses on images from one day in the most circulated media within Sweden: news, feature stories, fiction, and advertising. The empirical data is drawn from three different decades—1994, 2004, and 2014. Overall, the study indicates there to be a general male/female balance in terms of numbers. However, when turning older, both men and women become almost invisible, even though older men are more visible than older women. Older persons rarely reach the news and they are more likely to be found in advertising and feature material. The work presented here suggests that the structures of visibility and the clusters of gender-age representation in the media foster stereotyping. The media buzz not only contributes to ageism, but is also still distinctly gendered.

Building and Sustaining Freedom of Expression

Abstract Although countries protect and promote freedom of expression in different ways, free speech can be understood to have two basic aspects in democratic constitutional systems: non-censorship and diversity of voices. This article examines how the approach to free speech in Sweden contains both these aspects. Selected comparisons with the US First Amendment, and German broadcasting law, indicate the value in the Swedish approach but also reveal challenges that it faces if free speech’s dual aspects are not clearly recognised – a danger that some contemporary statements suggests is real. Articulating free speech in terms of both non-censorship and diversity may aid Swedish parliamentary processes to uphold important structural aspects of the freedom, but it would also bring into focus larger questions about the limits of parliamentary processes alone in building a viable system of freedom of expression for the future.

Sweden: Women Reach Parity but Gender Troubles Persist

Gender equality has been a hallmark for Sweden and other Nordic countries for decades, and Sweden is used to being among the top five in the Gender Gap Index conducted by the World Economic Forum. There is political consensus in Sweden that society should ensure that men and women have the same rights, obligations and possibilities so that both have equal power to shape society and their own lives (SOU, Official Report of the Swedish Government 2005, p. 66). These political aims have, of course, also affected the media industry in general and newsrooms in particular. In terms of numbers, there is parity in some occupational roles in news organizations, as was learned in the Global Report on the Status of Women in the News Media (Global Report) (Byerly 2011); these include senior professional (i.e., reporting) and junior and senior management. During the last ten years, there has also been an increase in the number of women in senior editorial positions, such as executive editors and CEOs, for large newspapers and public service broadcasting companies. But these advances in women’s status are not reflected in news content, which is still male dominated and marginalizes women’s representation and issues related to gender equality (Edstrom 2012a; Edstrom et al. 2012).