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Afterword : What’s next for the media welfare state?
No full textThis final chapter summarises some of the findings presented in the preceding chapters and asks what’s next for the media welfare state. Continuing the discussion from previous chapters about the increasingly precarious situation of the media welfare state in a media landscape dominated by global actors and transnational policymaking, but also adding a discussion about the political challenges from right-wing populism, the chapter nevertheless ends with a positive vision for the future of the media welfare state, with a renewed role for the institution of public service media
Digital communication infrastructures and the principle of universality : Challenges for Nordic media welfare state jurisdictions
No full textThis chapter examines to what extent the digital communication infrastructure of Norway is subject to regulation of the Internet’s physical infrastructures. To assess how communicative power is distributed, we map the ownership of access networks and backbone infrastructures to ascertain how the Norwegian infrastructure regulation is legally geared to protect universalist principles in media welfare states. Included in the mapping are backbone networks (fibre cables, Internet exchange points, content delivery networks, and data centres) and access networks (broadband wire and electromagnetic radio frequencies). Our findings reveal that backbone infrastructures are essentially unregulated and increasingly controlled by foreign companies and energy companies. This implies an uneven jurisdictional reach of Norwegian legislators, leaving an open gate for large multinational companies to establish infrastructures that generate, store, and distribute data. The result is a potential loss of data sovereignty and communicative power by Norwegian citizens
Political work under post-digital conditions: Or, how politicians endure digital entrapment and distraction in daily life
No full textPolitical workers represent a category of workers whose professional reliance on social media is well-documented. However, while many studies inquire about the role of social media in politics per se, ours is designed to capture political workers’ subjective experiences of what it is like to live and work in the post-digital society. This involves asking to what extent – and at what perceived cost – political workers intentionally seek to self-regulate their media use in the direction of disconnection. Qualitative interviews with 14 Norwegian politicians serve as our window into personal experiences of political work under post-digital conditions and into daily, morally induced dilemmas pertaining to work-related use of digital, connective technology. Our results suggest that today’s political workers are “post-digital experts”, which is required to learn how to endure the entrapping and distracting mechanisms of the post-digital society. The authors acknowledge funding from the Norwegian Research Council (grant no. 287563) for the project “Intrusive media, ambivalent users and digital detox (DIGITOX)” (2019–2024). </p
The cultured traveller: Three theses on cultural capital and the taste for disconnection in tourism
No full textThis chapter starts out from previous research showing that people in possession of greater amounts of cultural capital are more sceptical of new media technology and more inclined than others to withdraw from media in time-spaces of leisure and vacationing. To get at the underlying sociocultural mechanisms behind such f indings, the chapter provides an overview of historical and contemporary patterns pertaining to how cultural capital plays out in relation to tourism and (new) media. Three main theses are presented, linked to representational, connective, and logistical media affordances, respectively. First, I argue that cultural capital generally fosters a predisposition for the “authentic” and thus rejects masscirculated tourism imageries. Second, cultural capital sustains the safeguarding of personal boundaries and thus works against open-ended connectivity and mediated intrusions into the “tourism-world”. Third, cultural capital feeds from a sense of independent navigation in foreign places and thus shuns certain forms of (mediated) guidance. Altogether, the three theses highlight the significance of cultural capital as a counterforce to digitalisation, and as a vector of the disconnection turn.This chapter is part of the ongoing research project “Measuring Mediatization, Stage 2”, funded by the Anne-Marie and Gustaf Ander Foundation for Media Research. </p
Disconnecting the communicating body: On the human work of articulation, maintenance, and repair in the use of personal tracking devices
No full textIn this chapter, I analyse how humans navigate recurring processes of digital disconnection and articulation work to manually repair and reconnect with their wearable devices. I ask what these processes tell us about the relations we form and experience as meaningful with our devices. Specifically, interviews and photo diaries on body-technology relations were conducted with couriers doing delivery services on app-based platforms, with employees who have volunteered themselves to have a microchip implanted in their hand, as well as with self-trackers using tracking devices embedded with sensors for various purposes in their private life. The vignettes in the analysis show how participants constantly navigate moments of disconnection and connection with their devices, resulting in them having to fix the breakdowns to stay connected and work on maintaining a meaningful relationship with their personal tracking device. The analysis shows how the characteristics of this work depend on the context of tracking, the material aspects and physical proximities of the relation between body and device, and the generated data.This research is part of the “Datafied Living” project, funded by the European Research Council (grant no. 947735). </p
Mediebarometern 2023: Tema digitala morgontidningsprenumeranter
No full textMediebarometern är en årlig undersökning av den svenska befolkningens tillgång till, och användning av, olika typer av medier. Undersökningen har genomförts sedan 1979 och det gör Mediebarometern till den äldsta studien i sitt slag i världen. Resultaten i 2023 års undersökning bygger på svar från omkring 6 000 slumpmässigt utvalda personer i åldern 9 till 85 år. Mediebarometern 2023: Tema digitala morgontidningsprenumeranter undersöker tillgången till prenumerationer på digitala morgontidningar bland olika grupper i den svenska befolkningen. Studien analyserar hur denna tillgång relaterar till faktorer som tillgång till medieteknik, tillgång till olika former av medieabonnemang samt nyhetskonsumtion. Undersökningen bygger på data från Mediebarometern 2023 och fokuserar på personer i åldern 25 till 85 år. Rapporten har skrivits av Karin Hellingwerf vid Nordicom
Navigating Pandemic Phases: Public Health Authority Communication during COVID-19 in Norway
No full textDuring a pandemic, the advice issued by public health authorities undergoes significant scrutiny, potentially affecting public adherence to recommended measures. Trust and trustworthiness become key. This book analyses the rhetorical strategies of the Norwegian public health authorities as the COVID-19 pandemic moved through phases that presented different rhetorical problems and challenges. Many consider the Norwegian response successful, making it a particularly interesting case. Adopting an organisation-focused viewpoint, the analysis examines communication strategies through a dataset collected as the pandemic evolved. This included observations within communication departments of the main public health agencies during March and April 2020. The study offers five key insights: 1) A pandemic rhetorical situation has changing constraints and opportunities that influence the agency of the rhetor and necessitates bottom-up, continuing situational analysis and attention to perceptions; 2) The notion of “the rhetorical situation” conceptualises different phases that “bleed” into each other; 3) Trust and trustworthiness are negotiated through specific rhetorical strategies; 4) Transparency is the most crucial strategy; 5) Authorities used a combination of invitational rhetoric, providing a role for the citizens to willingly contribute to curbing the virus, and imperative form through simple directives that citizens were expected to follow. The primary audience for this book is scholars and practitioners within crisis communication. The book is written by a team from the “Pandemic Rhetoric” project, financed by the Research Council of Norway, consisting of Øyvind Ihlen (University of Oslo), Sine Nørholm Just (Roskilde University), Jens E. Kjeldsen (University of Bergen), Ragnhild Mølster (University of Bergen), Truls Strand Offerdal (University of Oslo), Joel Rasmussen (Örebro University), and Eli Skogerbø (University of Oslo).
The effects of an external crisis on the prioritisation of innovations
No full textThis unique study, for the first time, explores the relative importance of 8 × 2 types of media innovations in the newspaper industry, based on empirical data postpandemic, from a survey of over 100 Norwegian newspaper executives (i.e., editorsin-chief, managing directors, and publishers). In the aftermath of the Covid-19 crisis, newspaper leaders did not want to make any dramatic changes; rather, they prioritised incremental change. Improving market positions, the products and services, and the existing revenue streams were top priorities. This was not the time to redefine either the concept of newspapers or the genres of journalism. While radical change was not at the top of the agenda, some indications of a willingness to experiment were identified
Supporting transformation towards sustainable lifestyles within adult education in the Nordic countries
No full textThe aim of this policy paper is to inform decision makers on how sustainability education can be strengthened within adult education to reach the Nordic Vision 2030, applying principles of diversity, professional freedom and a strengthened focus on Bildung. The recommendations in this policy paper respond to the global challenges of sustainability and enable adult education in the Nordic countries to take a lead in the transformation towards a more sustainable world. The recommendations are based on the results of a Nordic pilot learning circle that involved participants from various backgrounds, countries, organizational cultures, and professional roles. The Policy brief presents also the key barriers and drivers that hinder or support transformation towards sustainability within adult education. The pilot project “Development of Educational Models for Sustainable Lifestyles” (2023-2024) has been carried out within the Nordic Council of Ministers Programme for sustainable lifestyles
Good and Equal Health in the Nordics – Conference report
No full textThe digital conference Good and equal health in the Nordics was part of the 2024 Swedish Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers. It was organised in collaboration between the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs and the Nordic Welfare Centre. The conference was funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers