Mid Sweden University

Media in Europe have undergone profound transformations. These changes involve structural transformation (global trends, the role of politics, EU, etc.); sectoral transformation (e.g., deriving from within the media domain); and the role of particular individuals (such as media moguls). In this respect, there is a lack of comparative studies which systematically explore the relations between these three dimensions in European transformative processes. To add new insights to existing knowledge about media systems across parts of Northern, Eastern and Central Europe, the purpose is to compare understandings of media transformation during the last two decades from a structural, sectoral and individual perspective. Eighty interviews were conducted with media experts from Austria, Bulgaria, Czechia, Latvia and Sweden. The results demonstrate detailed examples of not only an emerging commonality, with similar changes across Europe, but also consistent differences concerning areas such as the role of history, the pandemic and geopolitical tensions.

This book originated out of our concern that there is insufficient knowledge about rumors that affect crisis communication. We need more certainty on how to act when rumors and concerns arise. Our broader concern is consideration of how anxiety shapes the motivation for the spread of rumor, its acceptance, and how government agencies might contribute to moderate public anxiety.

This book is the result of a project that aimed to improve organi- zations’ crisis management and to change their crisis communication in connection with crises. To our knowledge, this is the first book on rumors and crisis communication that includes the mechanisms and phenomena behind rumors that can affect how crisis communication is designed during a crisis. This work is based on relevant research and scientifically proven methods.

Our main audience is students studying media and communication science at colleges and universities; professional journalists; and crisis managers and communication professionals in organizations, authorities, and municipalities. The overall purpose of this book is to increase students’ and professionals’ knowledge of and approach to rumors during concerns and crises. This publication can be used in courses on crisis communication, as well as in practice when planning and preparing for practical crisis communication work. It benefits several different actors in organizations from small to large municipalities/regions as well as all authorities and politicians. Because most actors ask for working methods in the area, there are opportunities to implement the results for practical use. The idea is that each actor, independently and in collaboration with others, should be able to benefit from the methods.

There are four parts to this book. The first part reviews various phenomena and mechanisms that can be the causes of the spreadingof rumors and public concern. We also discuss the difference between rumors, misleading information, and disinformation. The second part focuses on how crisis communication is affected by rumor spreading and how rumors can be managed during crises. This part is based on research but also contains practical cases. The third part is built around different scenarios, and provides recommendations and advice based56on scientific research and scientifically proven methods. Finally, the fourth part includes four scenarios that can be useful for training.

Due to the sad loss of Professor Lars Nord in August 2024, Catrin Johansson was invited to contribute to finish his work in part 2 on rumors and crisis communication.

We hope that the insights and experiences of rumors and crisis communication in this publication will be used by students as well as crisis managers and communication professionals. The content provides research-based knowledge as guidance for decision-makers tasked with crisis communication.

Gary, Henrik, Catrin, and Lars

Evanston, Stockholm, and Sundsvall, May 21, 2025

The basic idea behind this chapter is to partly bridge the gap in previous deliberation studies by offering a sustainable model for operationalizing deliberation empirically in a comparative context. The chapter introduces the key concept of deliberation and its associated basic ideals in social science studies and overviews empirical applications of news media's deliberative performance in journalism and political communication studies. Basic principles behind the operationalization of the concept as an outcome variable of a fuzzy-set analysis are discussed and motivated. A deliberative communication index is calculated based on macro/meso level and micro-level data. Among the 14 analysed cases in the comparison, Sweden, Estonia, Germany, Austria, and Greece belong to the set of high deliberative communication, while Italy, Latvia, Czechia, Slovakia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, and Hungary are out of the set of countries with high deliberative communication.

Lokaltidningskoncernen Mittmedia stod 2018 på ruinens brant. Checkkrediten var utnyttjad, det var tveksamt om löner skulle kunna betalas ut och oron bland personalen var stor. Räddningen för bolaget kom när svenska Bonnier och norska Amedia tillsammans köpte koncernen 2019. Men samtidigt som ekonomin var ansträngd, var den digitala kompetensen inom koncernen i absolut framkant. Under nästan ett decennium hade Mittmedia gjort en uppmärksammad digitaliseringsresa där man genomfört mer genomgripande förändringar än någon annan mediekoncern i Sverige. 

Denna bok är en berättelse om de människor som arbetade inom Mittmediakoncernen under 2010-talet. De digitala spjutspetsar som fick arbeta med utvecklingsfrågor befann sig på en fantastisk arbetsplats, men många medarbetare hade det tufft när sparpaket, uppsägningar och omorganisationer avlöste varandra. 

Boken ger ett forskningsperspektiv på Mittmedias digitala omställning och baseras på retrospektiva intervjuer med personer med redaktionella medarbetare, fackligt förtroendevalda, bolagsstyrelse och ledning, Genom ett unikt samarbetsavtal har forskarna också fått tillgång till en stor mängd interna dokument. 

This article offers a longitudinal perspective on communications during election campaigns from a political-party perspective, where strategic considerations about digital media are compared across time. Our analysis is grounded on the concepts of hybridisation and data-driven campaigning, where digital technology tends to play a central role without replacing all traditional campaign features. Empirically, the study is based on a longitudinal analysis of four election campaigns in Sweden during 2010–2022. The analysis shows that Swedish political parties have gradually integrated digital campaign features in their structure and strategy. The process is not linear, but rather back and forth, as party perceptions of the importance of communication channels vary across time. The results imply a development where all parties, regardless of size and ideology, are increasingly making rational judgments of which combinations of old and new campaign methods and communication channels are most effective.

The study explores the perspectives of political parties regarding news media coverage in election campaigns. By analyzing official post-election analyses produced by Swedish political parties from 2010 to 2022, the study offers a novel approach to the study of political party views of news media. The findings largely support the arguments proposed by mediatization literature, highlighting the significance of media in party communication. Parties display eagerness to attract positive media attention while expressing regret over inadequate or negative publicity. More surprisingly, there is a lack of references to media bias in the reports, suggesting that the hostile media effect is not a major concern among Swedish parties. Despite criticisms related to irrelevant reporting and perceived negative coverage, party perceptions towards the media remains predominantly neutral. The study contributes to the understanding of the complex relationship between political parties and news media in the context of election campaigns.

 This article explores institutions that monitor news media performance. It opens up critical inquiry into how knowledge about media systems is shaped, shared, and bounded in society. Using Sweden as an illustrative and data-rich case, we first map the overall media monitoring structure in Sweden. Second, we examine the kind of knowledge and data about media that monitoring institutions produce, including their motives and the underlying values they support. Third, we extrapolate questions about implicit and explicit motives to participate in an “information regime.” Fourth, by means of media system theory, we discuss the international relevance of the Swedish case to understand media monitoring systems in other parts of the world.