Abstract:

In order to investigate this problem we have studied a sample of editorials in three leading Swedish newspapers during the last fifty years. We chose to examine three newspapers with different political outlooks. Dagens Nyheter is the largest morning paper in Sweden and has traditionally been a liberal paper. In the 70's, however, it has claimed that it is a politically independent newspaper. Svenska Dagbladet is the leading conservative organ in Sweden and it is, like Dagens Hyheter, published in Stockholm. Arbetet, our third newspaper, is published in Malmo and is the largest Social Democratic paper in Sweden. The editorials in these newpapers one month before every election since 1928 have been examined. The material covers sixteen election campaigns and some 1,3 editorial pages. Our main purpose has been to illustrate how the political debate has been affected by opinion polls.