SVT’s CEO Praises Public Service – Wants a “Shared Reality”

As more and more people are awakening to the left-wing bias in public service and have grown tired after decades of propaganda, the giants SVT and SR feel increasingly threatened and are doing everything to justify their existence and the need for continued massive funding. In an opinion piece, SVT’s CEO champions public service and claims the system has served Sweden well.

Unlike politicians, journalists cannot be voted out and the scrutiny of major media houses and their methods is almost non-existent. At the same time, the media, alongside politicians, is the group with the most power and has played a major role in Sweden’s transformation over recent decades. Yet, the self-image continues to be one of infallibility, always representing what is good and right.

Anne Lagercrantz has been CEO of Sveriges Television since 2024, after a long career at SVT, TV4, and Sveriges Radio. She has been head of TV4 News, Ekot, and SVT’s news and sports operations. She began her journalistic career at TV3 and Expressen.

At a time when traditional media are increasingly questioned and their monopoly has ended due to the internet, Lagercrantz writes in an opinion article that the claim neutral news reporting does not exist is “a dangerous argument that risks undermining the idea of shared facts and a shared reality.”

She also asserts that when journalists “step into the profession, there is a common mission: to put aside private loyalties in order to describe reality as fairly and truthfully as possible, and scrutinize those in power.”

Swedish journalism. Photo: Patrik Nylin, CC BY-SA 4.0

Social Media

Lagercrantz refers to the high quality of Swedish journalism by saying it is almost always “a team effort,” and that “ideas are discussed with one or more editors and with colleagues,” and there is “an obligation to correct inaccuracies.”

The problem, as she sees it, is instead social media, with types of feeds that SVT and other media houses cannot control.

“In such an information landscape, it ultimately becomes difficult to maintain a shared factual basis for the democratic conversation,” Lagercrantz fears.

American Media

She also believes that professionals like SVT “need to show how journalistic methods differ from opinions, propaganda, and activism.”

The nightmare is the USA:

Allowing an erroneous narrative about news media being unreliable and incapable of depicting the world objectively and impartially to take hold would be devastating. Living in a world of only opinions and no facts would leave the public disoriented, frustrated, and divided. Neither Sweden nor Finland is the USA, but it is worth remembering the American media system. There, partisan news journalism has become normalized.