When the media criticize the media

In this article, Åke Pettersson writes about Sweden’s only media programme that continued broadcasting without interruption for more than three decades. Called Vår grundade mening for the most part of its life, it ran into some problems in 2007 and came close to shutdown before re-emerging under the name of Publicerat, the appellation Pettersson prefers when talking about his programme. Since its inception in 1981 up to its demise in 2013, the radio programme has worked as ‘watchdog’ of the media scene in Sweden. Pettersson won several awards for his observations and discussions of media-related issues in Sweden and beyond. A close examination of the about 1500 episodes that he produced, edited and presented can tell volumes about the history of the Swedish media for over three decades. He starts with a few words about his own programme and then moves to the reaction and responses he has received from both public and private media outlets in Sweden. The article dwells on both positive and negative sides that emanate from a radio programme with a critical angle of the media. He touches upon the collaboration he has had as a practitioner with academia, namely, media journalism scholars. The article, although centring on the Swedish media scene, can have a lot of bearing on how the media may get involved in self-criticism to improve conditions and increase public awareness of media-related issues.