The new media support set up this year, which aims to strengthen the journalistic presence in poorly guarded areas, has helped media houses dare to invest more in local journalism. At the same time, 46 municipalities still lack editorial staff, and many are struggling with major financial problems, according to the Institute for Media Studies' new yearbook.

Saw an opportunity to bet locally

- If you go back 20 years in time, many media houses, including VK, have had to pull in their local editors when the economy has not existed. Now that support for local journalism came, we saw the opportunity to invest in an area that we think is important but which we could not be in for financial reasons, says Jessica Wennberg, editor-in-chief of Västerbottens-Kuriren, to the Culture News.

Five under-guarded municipalities, so-called "white spots", have received increased coverage with the new media support. For the Västerbottens-Kuriren and Folkbladet's local venture, the earmarked money has been crucial.

- Now we have a reporter in Sorsele-Storuman and we have received a great reception, we have been up there and met readers. The support helped us to dare to make that effort. We also started to prioritize where we have our local editors and we also moved a reporter from Lyksele to Dorotea-Åsele which has also been an under-guarded area, says Jessica Wennberg.

Major financial problems

But the new media support is not a spotless system, says Lars Truedson at the Institute for Media Studies. Although a number of sub-guarded municipalities have received more local journalism, most of the total media support has gone to actors in relatively well-guarded areas.

- This support for white spots is a residual item after the large media support has received all the money it needs. There are many indications that the support for saving the local guard should be protected in the budget and not dependent on how things are going for the major newspapers around the country. If things go bad for them, they get more of that media support, Lars Truedson tells the Culture News.

Ad revenue is crashing

Another challenge for local journalism is the large breed of advertising revenue. The trend shows that the advertising willingness in media is generally high, but not in the case of media that produces social journalism.

"As much money is lost in advertising revenue as the entire media support every year, so the state money can do nothing against these enormous forces that these changes to the business model have initiated," says Lars Truedson.

Risk of corruption

And as advertising revenue declines, readers' willingness to pay becomes increasingly important.

- If no one is watching what decisions politicians make, they will make worse and less thoughtful decisions. Perhaps municipalities can even become more corrupt if there is no journalistic coverage. If citizens think it is important with local journalism, you have to pay for it, otherwise it will be a problem, he says.