New Survey of Journalists’ Political Views Halted

The fact that the Swedish journalism profession is strongly left-leaning may be Sweden’s worst kept secret, and it’s something you’re reminded of as soon as you turn on the radio, the TV, or happen to open a newspaper. But checking just how things really stand faces opposition.

A left-leaning media and public service sector is not unique to Sweden; the same situation exists throughout much of the Western world. Within the profession, the self-image is that of being completely flawless and objective. While the media wields enormous power, there are very few, if any, who scrutinize the media houses themselves.

Journalists’ political views have been measured previously and showed a strong overrepresentation for the left — especially the Green Party — but a follow-up seems unlikely, as a new survey is being obstructed by the Swedish Union of Journalists.

In 2012, journalism professor Kent Asp published a much-noticed study about the political alignment of the journalism profession. Among other things, it showed that the Green Party had three and a half times stronger support among journalists compared to the general public, and the Left Party had three times as much support.

According to the survey, 70 percent of journalists voted for one of the red-green parties, which at that time did not include the Centre Party.

This is, of course, extremely problematic and is evident in the daily flow and reporting. In 2019, the old TV license was also replaced by a public service fee, which the Swedish people are now forced to finance whether they want to or not.

New survey was halted

Is it still just as bad? Attempts were recently made by Kent Asp’s younger colleagues, but they were stopped by the Union of Journalists, which did not want to help with the survey. This is written by Håkan Boström in an editorial in Göteborgs-Posten.

When Boström contacted the Union of Journalists and questioned their stance regarding a new measurement, they claimed in principle to have nothing against examining journalists’ values, but at the same time were aware that such surveys have been used against the profession. The official reason was “survey fatigue” and that the timing was unfortunate.

Håkan Boström. Facsimile Youtube/Världen idag

According to the researchers themselves, the issue was that the union did not want questions about party preferences to be included. Regardless of the reason, it is a problem, Boström notes:

From a democratic and scientific perspective, the attitude is more problematic. Journalists, along with teachers, are perhaps the group that has the most influence over our perception of reality. At the same time, examining those in power is a central part of the professional identity. The media readily publishes surveys about other groups in society. Therefore, it is reasonable to also welcome research into their own group. All statistics and facts can, of course, be misused in debate, but that is hardly a strong argument for not allowing facts to emerge — especially if your mission is to represent free speech.

Low trust among right-wing voters

Just a few days ago, a new survey from the SOM Institute showed that trust in SVT’s content has dropped markedly among voters who describe themselves as “clearly to the right.” In just one year, the proportion saying they have “very or fairly high trust” dropped from 57 percent in 2024 to 46 percent in 2025.

This means that for the first time, trust in this group has fallen below the 50 percent mark. The decline is not unique to SVT, but is also seen for other established TV actors such as TV4.

At the same time, trust remains unchanged among left-wing voters and people who place themselves “somewhat to the right,” which reinforces the image of a growing political divide in the view of public service, indicating that criticism of a political bias in programming may be warranted.

When SVT’s then-director Hanna Stjärne was interviewed in 2021 about the lower trust among right-wing voters, she said that the fact that many of the employees harbor left-wing sympathies is not a problem. She instead argued that it is “a very hypothetical question” whether employees’ political views could influence journalism.

— Being a journalist is a profession. It’s a profession. Our mission and that of all journalists is to remain neutral and impartial in our reporting, to act professionally regardless of personal preferences, said Stjärne.

On the other hand, it was important to have ethnic diversity, and SVT even kept statistics on the ethnic backgrounds of its employees. The stated purpose was to achieve a “broad range of candidates” and decrease the proportion of Swedes.