Media policy attitudes and political attitudes: the politization of media policy and the support for the ‘media welfare state’

Figures & data

Table 1. Active variables creating the space of political attitudes in Sweden.

Heading	Variable	Categories	N	%
Left-wing vs. right-wing	Politicians should reduce economic gaps	-/- -	268	13.7
		+	783	40.1
		+ +	903	46.2
	Taxes are too high	- -	398	20.4
		-	504	25.9
		+	592	30.4
		+ +	452	23.2
	Remove ‘karensdag’	- -	295	15.5
		-	395	20.8
		+	655	34.6
		+ +	552	29.1
	Welfare should be non-commercial	- -	240	12.6
		-	295	15.5
		+	646	33.9
		+ +	724	38
	ROT/RUT tax cuts should increase	- -	385	22.8
		-	459	27.2
		+	546	32.3
		+ +	300	17.7
	Reintroduce wealth tax	- -	781	42.8
		-	309	16.9
		+	473	25.9
		+ +	264	14.5
	Make ‘LAS’ more flexible	- -	650	33.9
		-	450	23.5
		+	631	32.9
		+ +	187	9.7
GAL vs. TAN	It is good that homosexual couples can get married	-/- -	116	6.3
		+	119	6.5
		+ +	1608	87.2
	Give the police force more authority	-/- -	269	14.2
		+	613	32.4
		+ +	1011	53.4
	Increase penalties for crime	-/- -	228	11.7
		+	604	31
		+ +	1120	57.4
	Reduce immigration	- -	243	12.6
		-	321	16.7
		+	615	32
		+ +	746	38.7
	Increase taxes on fossil fuels	- -	310	16.3
		-	377	19.8
		+	727	38.1
		+ +	492	25.8
	Stay in the EU	- -	153	8.2
		-	178	9.2
		+	586	31.4
		+ +	948	50.8
	Give more resources to the armed forces	- -	119	6.5
		-	272	14.7
		+	745	40.3
		+ +	711	38.5
	Liberalize wolf hunting	- -	411	27.8
		-	399	27
		+	392	26.6
		+ +	274	18.6
	Increase gender equality	- -	100	5.2
		-	134	6.9
		+	608	31.3
		+ +	1099	56.6

- - means ‘I don’t agree at all’; - means ‘I don’t agree’; + means ‘I agree’; and + + means ‘I fully agree’. ROT/RUT are tax cuts on household services, LAS is the Employment Protection Act, and ‘karensdag’ is an initial day of sick leave without pay.

Table 2. Citizen’s media policy attitudes (percentages).

	“I do not agree at all”	“I do not agree”	“I somewhat agree”	“I fully agree”	“I do not have an opinion”	Total
It is every citizen’s duty to gather information and stay up to date on important societal matters	1,4	3,3	39,9	53,2	2,2	100%
The state and the educational system should ensure that all citizens have the right skills in order to use important internet services	4,4	14,0	47,1	29,7	4,7	100%
It is important that news media report on issues related to minority groups	3,5	7,7	40,2	44,6	4,0	100%
Public funds should be used to ensure diversity on the media market, for example by supporting smaller actors and news outlets	8,5	15,4	44,4	21,6	10,0	100%
The financial support to public service media should be decreased	39,7	21,9	17,2	13,2	8,0	100%
Public service media are important in order to guarantee access to independent journalism	7,0	5,4	20,9	64,0	2,7	100%
Public service media should not produce broad formats, but solely focus on news and societal information	49,9	24,7	15,8	6,7	3,2	100%
Global internet companies should be taxed by the Swedish state	8,3	8,2	24,7	38,4	20,5	100%
It is important that I have control over the information that is collected about me when I use social media	0,8	2,2	21,6	73,0	2,5	100%
Commercial media companies (including social media companies) should act against false information	2,0	1,6	12,7	80,9	2,8	100%
Commercial media companies (including social media companies) should take democratic responsibility by supporting local journalism	5,4	11,2	41,9	24,9	16,5	100%
Public service media should expand digitally and become an alternative to commercial actors	21,2	20,9	26,7	11,8	19,4	100%
Internet access is a citizen right and as such internet access should be publicly funded via taxes	16,9	19,3	36,7	20,0	7,0	100%
Citizen journalism is a viable alternative to established news media in the parts of the country lacking professional journalism	34,0	27,2	16,4	2,9	19,5	100%
Journalism is not important in a society where everyone can share and consume information on the internet and social media	71,6	15,5	7,3	3,4	2,2	100%
Knowledge on how various media work should become a more important element in primary school	0,6	1,8	20,9	74,1	2,7	100%

Figure 1. The Swedish space of political attitudes. MCA, axis 1 and 2. Missing values (including “I don’t have an opinion”) have been removed (n = 874). - - = “I don’t agree at all”, - = “I don’t agree”, + = “I agree”, + + = “I fully agree”.

Figure 2. Projecting media policy attitudes into the Swedish space of political attitudes. MCA, axis 1 and 2. Missing values (including “I don’t have an opinion”) have been removed (n = 874). - - = “I don’t agree at all”, - = “I don’t agree”, + = “I agree”, + + = “I fully agree”.

Table A1. Benzécri-adjusted eigenvalues of the top 10 dimensions among the active variables.

Dimension	Adjusted eigenvalue (%)	Cumulative
1	64.9	64.9
2	14.5	79.4
3	11	90.4
4	3.4	93.8
5	2.7	96.5
6	1.2	97.7
7	0.5	98.2
8	0.4	98.6
9	0.3	98.9
10	0.2	99.1

Table A2. Relations of active variable modalities to dimensions 1 and 2 (eta squared).

	Dimension 1	Dimension 2
Reduce economic gaps	0.478	0.158
Legalized homosexual marriage is good	0.074	0.062
Strengthen police	0.375	0.092
Strengthen penalties	0.414	0.137
Taxes are too high	0.583	0.280
Remove ‘karensdag’	0.120	0.141
No profits in welfare	0.333	0.207
Increase ROT/RUT	0.271	0.198
Bring back wealth tax	0.426	0.241
Make ‘LAS’ more flexible	0.321	0.263
Reduce immigration	0.532	0.228
Increase tax on fossil fuels	0.317	0.205
Stay in EU	0.043	0.175
Strengthen armed forces	0.356	0.206
More wolf hunting	0.143	0.206
More gender equality	0.222	0.131

Table A3. V-test for modalities in supplementary variables on the two main dimensions.

Dimension 1 (GAL/left vs. TAN/right)		Dimension 2 (Intensity of opinion)
Modality	V-test	Modality	V-test
Civic duty to be informed: - -‎/- (incl. don’t know)	1.277	Civic duty to be informed: - -‎/- (incl. don’t know)	0.306
Civic duty to be informed: +	−1.500	Civic duty to be informed: +	−0.805
Civic duty to be informed: + +	0.909	Civic duty to be informed: + +	0.653
State and edu. system ensure media literacy: - -‎/- (incl. don’t know)	9.115	State and edu. system ensure media literacy: - -‎/- (incl. don’t know)	2.435
State and edu. system ensure media literacy: +	−3.076	State and edu. system ensure media literacy: +	−2.954
State and edu. system ensure media literacy: + +	−4.707	State and edu. system ensure media literacy: + +	1.033
Important self control data: - -‎/- (incl. don’t know)	1.694	Important self control data: - -‎/- (incl. don’t know)	0.054
Important self control data: +	0.041	Important self control data: +	−2.373
Important self control data: + +	−0.799	Important self control data: + +	2.213
More media literacy in school: - -‎/- (incl. don’t know)	3.006	More media literacy in school: - -‎/- (incl. don’t know)	2.414
More media literacy in school: +	4.505	More media literacy in school: +	0.549
More media literacy in school: + +	−5.439	More media literacy in school: + +	−1.424
Important news on minorities: - -‎/- (incl. don’t know)	11.367	Important news on minorities: - -‎/- (incl. don’t know)	5.707
Important news on minorities: +	5.343	Important news on minorities: +	−4.907
Important news on minorities: + +	−13.194	Important news on minorities: + +	0.900
Public funds to ensure media diversity: - -	6.474	Public funds to ensure media diversity: - -	6.628
Public funds to ensure media diversity: -	4.179	Public funds to ensure media diversity: -	−1.028
Public funds to ensure media diversity: +	−1.396	Public funds to ensure media diversity: +	−4.426
Public funds to ensure media diversity: + +	−5.984	Public funds to ensure media diversity: + +	2.037
Public funds to ensure media diversity: Don’t know	−0.340	Public funds to ensure media diversity: Don’t know	−0.713
Cut PSB funds: - -	−13.931	Cut PSB funds: - -	2.243
Cut PSB funds: -	−0.344	Cut PSB funds: -	−6.760
Cut PSB funds: +	7.541	Cut PSB funds: +	−0.458
Cut PSB funds: + +	12.561	Cut PSB funds: + +	5.780
Cut PSB funds: Don’t know	−0.289	Cut PSB funds: Don’t know	0.093
State should tax global tech: - -	7.354	State should tax global tech: - -	5.406
State should tax global tech: -	1.994	State should tax global tech: -	−2.137
State should tax global tech: +	0.306	State should tax global tech: +	−7.569
State should tax global tech: + +	−5.669	State should tax global tech: + +	5.391
State should tax global tech: Don’t know	0.124	State should tax global tech: Don’t know	−0.530
PSB should be stronger on web: - -	9.613	PSB should be stronger on web: - -	5.262
PSB should be stronger on web: -	−0.872	PSB should be stronger on web: -	−3.433
PSB should be stronger on web: +	−2.559	PSB should be stronger on web: +	−4.624
PSB should be stronger on web: + +	−5.005	PSB should be stronger on web: + +	3.481
PSB should be stronger on web: Don’t know	−2.089	PSB should be stronger on web: Don’t know	0.594
Internet access human right should be pub. funded: - -	8.966	Internet access human right should be pub. funded: - -	3.491
Internet access human right should be pub. funded: -	2.293	Internet access human right should be pub. funded: -	−3.271
Internet access human right should be pub. funded: +	−5.454	Internet access human right should be pub. funded: +	−3.404
Internet access human right should be pub. funded: + +	−4.197	Internet access human right should be pub. funded: + +	4.243
Internet access human right should be pub. funded: Don’t know	0.592	Internet access human right should be pub. funded: Don’t know	−0.553
PSB important independent journalism: - - (incl. don’t know)	10.461	PSB important independent journalism: - - (incl. don’t know)	7.850
PSB important independent journalism: -	5.206	PSB important independent journalism: -	−0.071
PSB important independent journalism: +	4.657	PSB important independent journalism: +	−2.685
PSB important independent journalism: + +	−12.490	PSB important independent journalism: + +	−2.291
PSB should not be broad: - - (incl. don’t know)	−3.393	PSB should not be broad: - - (incl. don’t know)	2.128
PSB should not be broad: -	−3.934	PSB should not be broad: -	−4.069
PSB should not be broad: +	4.905	PSB should not be broad: +	−0.542
PSB should not be broad: + +	6.223	PSB should not be broad: + +	3.488
Commercial media should work against false info: - -‎/- ‎(don’t know)	5.226	Commercial media should work against false info: - -‎/- ‎(don’t know)	5.598
Commercial media should work against false info: +	2.750	Commercial media should work against false info: +	−1.332
Commercial media should work against false info: + +	−5.403	Commercial media should work against false info: + +	−1.832
Commercial media should take demo. resp: - -	7.262	Commercial media should take demo. resp: - -	5.885
Commercial media should take demo. resp: -	3.829	Commercial media should take demo. resp: -	−0.836
Commercial media should take demo. resp: +	−1.657	Commercial media should take demo. resp: +	−5.106
Commercial media should take demo. resp: + +	−5.187	Commercial media should take demo. resp: + +	2.879
Commercial media should take demo. resp: Don’t know	1.069	Commercial media should take demo. resp: Don’t know	0.930
Citizen journalism is sufficient: - -	−6.595	Citizen journalism is sufficient: - -	3.114
Citizen journalism is sufficient: -	0.330	Citizen journalism is sufficient: -	−3.499
Citizen journalism is sufficient: +‎/+ +	6.459	Citizen journalism is sufficient: +‎/+ +	0.316
Citizen journalism is sufficient: Don’t know	1.115	Citizen journalism is sufficient: Don’t know	−0.087
Journalism not important today: - -	−8.643	Journalism not important today: - -	1.412
Journalism not important today: -	5.665	Journalism not important today: -	−1.539
Journalism not important today: +‎/+ +	5.568	Journalism not important today: +‎/+ +	−0.253
Moderates, Christian Democrats	14.376	Moderates, Christian Democrats	−2.205
Left Party	−13.154	Left Party	8.483
Sweden Democrats	9.714	Sweden Democrats	5.011
Centre Party, Liberals	−0.487	Centre Party, Liberals	−7.143
Social Democrats, Green Party	−12.000	Social Democrats, Green Party	−2.376