Public Service – at your service? : A study of attitudes toward the public service broadcasting company SVT

Abstract: Public service broadcasting is a longstanding broadcasting institution in Sweden. Being the most consumed and highly trusted media broadcasting institution on the market, it suffers both challenges and acclaim. It has become a highly politized matter. For the first time since its founding, trust and attitudes towards the public service broadcasting companies are starting to slowly dwindle and are being questioned. Representatives from parliament parties are calling for abolishment and restructuring, and the consumers are abandoning the public service broadcasting channels for commercial competitors. This is especially noticeable amongst youth. The aim of the study is to identify and analyse what factors can be relevant for understanding attitudes towards public service broadcasting. With a theoretical background in Markus Prior’s post-broadcast democracy, James G. Webster and Thomas B. Ksiazek’s audience fragmentation theory, and Strömbäck’s definition of media trust, a theoretical framework regarding consumption and factors concerning attitudes was constructed. Through this, the value of a public service broadcasting system could be charted, and consumer attitudes be understood.   The study consists of data from a nationwide survey. The data was analysed with binary logistic regression analysis, performed on two samples, one representing the Swedish population at large, and one representing youth. This to observe whether or not there were any differences between what factors constitute trust and positive attitudes towards public service broadcasting. Main findings include that youth is much less politically polarised than the population at large. Factors such as education, gender, and regularly consuming public service broadcasting content were also shown to be significant for attitude formation. From this, I could derive that the Swedish population, despite increased polarisation, still has very high levels of trust in, and positive sentiments towards the public service broadcasting company SVT.