Fichtelius-affären och public service-ideologin
With this master thesis I wanted to find out whether Erik Fichtelius, an SVT employee, interview project with prime minister Göran Persson is acceptable according to the public service ideology. In order to do that I used Swedish newspaper articles to analyse the so called Fichtelius affair. I also gathered material on SVT and the public service ideology. The master thesis is based on sociologist Manuel Castells theories on mass media and television as presented in the Information Age. Castells claims that in our time different areas, such as politics and television, are melting together. Politics today needs to occupy space in media to not be marginalised. Television has become essential to politics. I found that although Fichtelius behaviour is unacceptable to journalistic ethics and the values of the public service ideology he cant be found guilty of any kind of crime. The laws controlling SVT are too vague.