MPs critical of the "commentary"

Following the party leader debate on Wednesday, Swedish Radio's Ekonyheter devoted two minutes to an interview with his political commentator, Fredrik Furtenbach. The party leader who got the most space was Jimmie Åkesson (SD) with a 20 second long clip.

- Even if the politicians were allowed to talk how long they wanted, we would well be needed because it is an industry with very unspoken messages, he tells SVT's Agenda.

MP Hanif Bali (M) is critical of the role of commentators.

- As soon as a party makes a political statement about more police or more money for the health care, a political commentator takes in and then it is only Paradise Hotel journalism, namely who likes this and who is against it instead of focusing on content, he says.

Aftonbladets commentator Lena Mellin:

- I try to be a consumer ombudsman for our readers and viewers and explain to them what the hell is going on, she says.

How do you know that exactly what you see is happening?

- I can't know that until afterwards, but I can say that I have quite a long experience in the field and I am rarely wrong, says Mellin.

Former Ministers Beatrice Ask (M) and Annika Strandhäll (S) discussed the issue in a studio talk in Sunday's Agenda.

- Basically, I think the political commentators have an important role to play, says Strandhäll, who emphasized the need for context and interpretation in a media climate with fast news, disinformation and social media.

Beatrice Ask thinks that the commentators have spread too much and that they partly devote themselves to the wrong things.

- As a viewer, I would rather hear what someone is saying than get a comment about what someone thinks they are thinking, says Beatrice Ask.

- They devote a great deal to game theory, they devote themselves to interpreting, it's like modern-day language tricks.