Public Service Broadcasting as an Object for Cultural Policy in Norway and Sweden. A Policy Tool and an End in Itself

Abstract

The future of public service broadcasting (PSB), and its role for democracy and culture in an age of globalization and digitalization, is a disputed issue among communication scholars, journalists, the general public and politicians. The PSB institutions are dependent on politi cal support for their survival, and they have to live up to cultural policy obligations. The focus of this analysis is on the rhetoric employed in the white papers on PSB and overall cultural policy, produced between 2005 and 2007 in Norway and Sweden. The analysis shows that both countries emphasize the need to secure an inclusive public sphere, a vivid democracy and a national culture. The rhetoric differs in the sense that the Norwegian focus is on PSB as a tool for achieving cultural policy goals, while the Swedish focus is more on why the idea of PSB is important in itself.