- The EU's power and influence have increased in recent years.
It is important that the media are aware that the EU is today part of domestic politics, says Ulrika Beck-Friis at the Institute for Media Studies.
Around the issues of all agenda items in Swedish municipalities and regions are affected by the EU, directly or indirectly, according to Sweden's municipalities and regions.
At the same time as the EU's power over Swedish politics has increased, the number of accredited EU journalists in Brussels has also decreased.
The report "EU in Swedish media" surveys the quality, scope and perspective of the Swedish media's coverage of EU issues.
It also states that journalists' own analyzes of EU politics have become more common than reports and critical reviews of the institutions.
This is because the EU is complex and many processes are very slow.
To make reporting comprehensible to people, journalists use evaluative and interpretive journalism, but what exists today is very good, says Ulrika Beck-Friis.
“It is remarkable”
The number of accredited EU journalists has also gotten worse since Sweden joined the Union.
Today, there are only nine Swedish EU correspondents in Brussels - while the corresponding figure in the USA is 33. This could result in a democratic knowledge gap, the Institute for Media Studies believes.
Anders Selnes is editor-in-chief at Europaportalen, which has covered EU politics since 2000. In December 2022, the online newspaper had two of nine accredited EU correspondents in Brussels.
He would like to see the Swedish media have as many correspondents in Brussels as in the US.
- But considering our strong connection to the EU, both politically and economically, and that we have elected politicians who are supposed to make laws there, it is remarkable.
If you didn't know better, you could think that we are members of the American Union and not the European Union, he says.