Exploring Sustainable Journalism : through the case of Swedish non-profit “green” newspaper Syre

Abstract: Society is in need of sustainable development, and journalism plays a fundamental role in informing the public and framing society’s issues. This study aims to explore the concept of sustainable journalism and whether the Swedish non-profit “green” newspaper Syre is an example of it. The research question asks in what ways Syre can be understood as an example of sustainable journalism. What has been written about the concept of sustainable journalism so far serves as a fundament for the theoretical framework. The study conducts qualitative interviews with three journalists at Syre. The thesis revolves around two perspectives on sustainable journalism, proposed by Adjin-Tettey et al (2021); sustainable journalism as professional reflexivity, and sustainable journalism as connected to the external world and its challenges. The results indicate that the interviewees could relate more to the latter view in their journalism and seem to consider it their calling and reason for working at Syre, that they consider the three dimensions of sustainability to be interconnected, and tried to integrate them as well as global perspectives in their reporting. Syre also seems to have a somewhat different ethical framework compared to more traditional newspapers and can on many points be reconciled with principles of sustainable journalism.