Press support
Despite increasing competition in the media market, morning newspapers purchased by subscription play a major role in citizens being able to keep themselves informed about the world around them and take part in discussions on issues of significance for society in general.
Press support has been available since the beginning of the 1970s. The support is distributed by a central government agency, the Press Subsidies Council, and primarily consists of two parts: operational subsidies and distribution subsidies. Operational subsidies are a form of direct support to 'second' newspapers, i.e. newspapers that have a competitor with a higher circulation in their place of publication. Distribution subsidies are granted for cooperation in newspaper distribution on condition that at least two daily newspapers collaborate. In addition, the daily press receives indirect support in the form of reduced value added tax (VAT).
In 2009, press support amounted to a total of approximately SEK 550 million. The Government considers that press support should be safeguarded, since it is important for the diversity of media at local and regional levels.
New conditions for press support
The European Commission has undertaken a review of the compliance of Swedish press support with rules on state subsidies. As a result of the Commissions review, the Government has presented the Bill New Conditions for Support to the Daily Press (Government Bill 2009/10:199), containing proposals for amendments to certain of the provisions of the Press Subsidies Ordinance in order to ensure that the Ordinance does not conflict with EU state subsidy regulations. The Riksdag approved the Bill on 2 June 2010. On 22 June 2010, the Commission decided to approve the amendments to the Press Subsidies Ordinance proposed by Sweden. The amendments entered into force on 1 January 2011.
The amendments primarily entail adjustments with regard to subsidies to metropolitan newspapers. Maximum support was lowered from approximately SEK 60 million to SEK 45 million per year, which primarily involves Svenska Dagbladet and Skånska Dagbladet. The support is more clearly linked with the extra costs that newspapers have in order to operate in a metropolitan market. Current levels of support to smaller and medium-sized newspapers will not be affected.
Another change is that subsidies that are limited to referring to a certain proportion of the costs of publication may only be used to cover costs that are linked with publication of the newspaper for which a subsidy has been granted. The newspaper publishers receiving support must provide an account of the costs covered by the subsidy.
Since press support represents central government support, it is important for the purposes and legitimacy of the support that subsidies are only paid to newspaper companies fulfilling the conditions of the support. Provisions on repayment of wrongly disbursed support have therefore been introduced as of 1 January 2011.
In addition, the Press Subsidies Ordinance will be limited in time to 31 December 2016. A review of the impact of press support on media diversity and competition will also be made, focusing on producing data for possible necessary changes to the press support system after 2016.
