"Religion" i public service. Hur är det tänkt?

Abstract

The essay explores how the category ‘religion’ occurs and functions in the regulatory documents governing the Swedish public service companies. The study also highlights Swedens changed religious demographics and the changing media landscape. The material that is under investigation is the external and internal policy documents for Sveriges Radio, Sveriges Television and Utbildningsradion. The study is done by a qualitative content analysis which results are carved out by search units in relation to the category religion and then discussed and analyzed. The theoretical approach that the essay is based on is a critique of the concept ‘religion’ by Talal Asad and William T. Cavanaugh, theories about medialised religion of Stig Hjarvard and public journalism of Marta Axner and Mia Lövheim. The essay's conclusions are that a clear specification of religion is missing in the documents examined, although the term is usually used with a broad and inclusive meaning. Furthermore, the documents shows an awareness from the public service companies that religion is something that is often linked with minority groups and that this often is a basis for discrimination.