De Dolda Makthavarna. Åsiktsmaskinernas framväxt 2015 – 2025

Sammanfattning

This study examines the extent and contents of syndicated articles written by LiberalaNyhetsbyrån (LNB) and in-house produced editorial articles within 53 Swedish newspapers tomap its potential effects on the local agenda. Through a quantitative content analysis of 888articles gathered from the first half-years during 2015 and 2025, this study maps and comparesarticles written during a time of large changes to local newspapers. The agenda-setting theoryas well as the democracy perspective have been utilized to analyse the centralization of editorialarticles in the chosen local newspapers.The study’s results reveal a big shift in the amount of syndicated content, in-house editorialsdecreased by 42 percent while articles written by Liberala Nyhetsbyrån increased with 39percent between the chosen years. During the first half of 2025 nearly half of all the editorialtext in the newspapers that were studied were written by LNB, indicating that syndicatededitorial articles have transitioned from being a valuable supplement to an indispensable toolfor the output of articles. The results highlight that the syndicated articles mostly centre aroundnationwide and global issues which results in a decreased scrutiny of local power holders anda less local coverage. However, the results also show a small increase in local articles writtenby self-produced writers.The study can conclude that the enhanced reliability on LNB articles have shifted the editorialpower to a handful of centralized writers with a big influence over the political agendanationwide. This development, caused by less editorial resources and the merging of editorialoffices, can lead to lessening trust among the readers and risk weakening local democracies.