This paper explores the implementation process of digital audience metrics as a key strategy in Swedish legacy news production during the last three decades. The historical adoption of metrics in the newsroom is not new but has grown fast (from analogue audience measurements in the 1950s and monthly statistics of unique visitors in the 1990s to a wide range of real-time data). This trend is important because Swedish news organisations have invested heavily in data analytics, which involves integrating metrics-driven journalism into a particularly strong and homogenous tradition of professional autonomy. Based on interviews with key senior managers and supported by the analysis of trade publications, as well as published interviews, the findings reveal three chronologically overlapping periods: the naive stage of 'getting online', the destructive period of 'social media prominence', and the end of the 'paywall hesitation'. This trend has led to a new equilibrium in which audience metrics are perceived as better aligned with the professional values of news selection. More importantly, the industry-wide embrace of metrics as guidance for more relevant and rational news production revolves around two main factors: First, although metrics are tied to organisational targets, they remain under editorial control. Second, the degree of granularity and diversification of metrics allow for wider support of their use for strategic purposes.

Previous research has shown that young people's voices are under- and misrepresented in the news. However, the editorial mechanisms behind this outcome remain largely unexplored. Drawing from the professional frame of media accountability, young people present journalism with a double challenge: to avoid harm while enabling participation. In this paper, we examine editorial mechanisms of including/excluding young people in the news in Sweden and Estonia through an overview of ethical breach cases affecting minors and a set of semi-structured interviews with editors. These investigations are set in the context of digital changes and from the perspectives of children's rights and childhood as a social construct. The interview study revealed that facilitating the freedom of expression might be an editorial ideal, but in practice, minors have limited value as news sources. While editors paid close attention to protective measures for underage interviewees, these measures were sometimes inconsistent and overly protective. Furthermore, the majority of ethical breach cases concerned children who were talked about, rather than with. Therefore, we argue that current editorial interpretations of media accountability limit young people's voices in the news, while still failing to provide an effective remedy for harm.

This research briefly analyses Swedish and Estonian laws, journalistic codes of ethics, and newsroom guidelines that set the foundation for minors (not) being interviewed as news sources. Textual analysis of such documents shows that regardless of minors' right to free expression, minors are mostly addressed only in victims' roles, prioritizing protection over representation. Focus on guardian consent of under 18s is justified as protection, which also helps protect the newsroom from adverse reactions. We argue that the regulative basis of journalism reinforces the exclusion of minors from news coverage and prevents them from participating in public discussions. Therefore, the documents need updating from contemporary childhood sociology perspectives according to which minors are considered a resourceful group and distinguished into several age groups and roles, thus can be empowered to be included in news media.

In this chapter, we present an overview of hyperlocal media business models in a global media environment. Our aim is to analyze operational rationales, with a specific focus on long-term survival and resilience. Hyperlocal media is a new addition to local media ecosystems and has been discussed as an important element for building a feeling of belonging and connection in local communities, added democratic values, and sense-making function at the local level. Here, we analyze how hyperlocal media operate, what business models, if any, hyperlocal practitioners have adopted, as well as their reflections on how hyperlocal media can become sustainable. The aim of this research overview is to explore the potential for long-term survival and resilience.

Hur kan en journalist både känna lokal samhörighet och professionellt oberoende? Hur påverkas nyhetsflödet när lokalredaktioner försvinner? Vad har journalistiken för roll när diskussionen går het i den lokala Facebook-gruppen? Närhetens dilemma, medieekologi och utmaningar från sociala medier är några av de frågor som tas upp i denna bok, där bilden av den svenska lokaljournalistiken fördjupas. Här möter vi lokaltidningens kommunreporter, den fristående lokala nyhets­sajten, granskande lokala reportrar och många andra. Boken ger både praktiska yrkeskunskaper och sammanfattar den omfattande forskning om lokal journalistik som vuxit fram de senaste åren. Boken riktar sig till journaliststudenter, yrkesverksamma journalister och alla andra som är intresserade av de lokala mediernas betydelse för demokrati, identitet och tillhörighet samt lokalsamhällets utveckling.

This article examines motivations, rewards and strategies in hyperlocal news entrepreneurship. The material is an interview study with eight entrepreneurs who independently own and manage hyperlocal news sites in Sweden. The conclusion is that the means of the hyperlocal entrepreneur both motivate and create an obstacle for growth. The findings of struggling business models, self-exploitation and civic motivations correspond with previous research in different countries, but alternative perspectives are suggested drawing from theories of entrepreneurial passion and processes. Civic motivations can be viewed as part of entrepreneurial passion, and the precarious nature as a low-risk effectuation process. The effectuator explores possible outcomes of given means and builds the business by controlling the affordable loss rather than calculating the possible return. Along with the obvious difficulty in finding a profitable business model when operating in a very small market, this implies a new perspective on failure and success in hyperlocal entrepreneurship, but also underlines that any measures of support for the sector need to be easily accessible for the individual entrepreneur.

Medierna har en viktig roll i demokratin, enligt de medieutredningar som lagts fram sedan 1970-talet. Medier ska ge medborgarna information, de ska ge utrymme för samhällsdebatt och fungera som oberoende granskare av makthavare. Detta gäller inte minst de lokala medierna, och när dåvarande demokratiminister Alice Bah Kuhnke tillsatte en ny medieutredning 2015 var försvagningen av de lokala medierna en viktig del av bakgrunden.

Några av medieutredningens förslag blev verklighet i riksdagens beslut 2018 om en ny mediepolitik, till exempel att fler lokala medier ska kunna få statligt utvecklingsstöd och att medieföretag ska få stöd för att förbättra lokaljournalistiken i svagt bevakade kommuner. Men om detta kommer att kunna vända utvecklingen är ännu osäkert. Även om människors intresse för lokala nyheter finns kvar, så är de ekonomiska förutsättningarna för lokala medier osäkra:

• Dagstidningarnas pappersupplagor fortsätter sjunka, och det är svårt att öka andelen betalande läsare på webb och mobil. Annonsintäkterna minskar och går än mer till de digitala giganterna Google och Facebook.
• Public service (SVT och Sveriges radio P4) är ekonomiskt mer stabila. Men de är beroende av politiska beslut, och det finns en osäkerhet inför framtiden med en växande kritik från både kommersiella medieföretag och från högerkrafter i politiken.
• Hyperlokala medier fortsätter att växa fram, men hållbarheten är osäker både ekonomiskt och professionellt. Många startar och många lägger ner.

Kommer det att finnas lokala journalister kvar 2030? Ja, människor kommer fortfarande vilja ha lokala nyheter och åtminstone en del kommer att vara villiga att betala för dem.  Men det kommer troligen finnas färre professionella lokaljournalister – och fler amatörer eller halvprofessionella lokalreportrar som vill berätta om det lokala, som vill stärka den lokala identiteten och göra något ”för bygden”.

Jokern i varje framtidsspaning är sociala medier som Facebook, Instagram, Twitter och Snapchat. Andelen som använder Facebook för att få nyheter minskar i USA och ökar inte längre i de flesta västeuropeiska länder. Troligen kommer det att växa fram nya plattformar som vi idag inte känner till, och mycket pekar på att de lokala aktörerna själva blir mer aktiva i sin digitala kommunikation, såväl kommunen och polisen som politiska partier. Det innebär att allt mer lokal information kommer också att vara partisk, det vill säga komma från parterna själva, vare sig det är nätverk, organisationer, kommuner eller politiker – information som kanske ofta presenteras i en journalistisk form.

Men hur går det då med den oberoende och granskande lokaljournalistiken? Det som kommer att avgöra detta är i vilken mån läsarna och lyssnarna är villiga att betala för den lokala journalistiken, antingen via prenumerationer eller via skatten till public service.

Using a survey of a sample of hyperlocal actors in Sweden (N = 178), this article examines preconditions, motivations and sustainability for hyperlocal media operations, outside the traditional media chains, in order to provide a picture of their function in the current media landscape, and to further build on the understanding of the hyperlocal business model. This study extends the hyperlocal definition by including media platforms other than websites. The results show that the operations indeed aim to support and foster citizenship, strengthen democracy and mirror the local community. At the same time, as shown by other studies, the fact that they are not large-scale, highly profitable operations may challenge their sustainability. Nonetheless, most of them claim to be profitable, largely because of the print platform, and have a positive outlook on the future. Revenues from advertising and readership are currently less substantial for Web-based operations, which reinforces the need to broaden the definition of hyperlocal publishing platforms when talking about financial sustainability. Currently, hyperlocal media in Sweden, with small resources and a lower publishing frequency, cannot be viewed as a replacement of established media, but play important roles as complementary alternative voices and contribute to media plurality in the local community.

This study investigates how hyperlocal entrepreneurs interpret and undertake the role of accountable journalism, but it still acknowledges the many roles hyperlocal news may hold in a local community. The analysis is built on the approaches within this group toward (1) business and (2) journalism. The findings suggest that the focus of (A) nonprofit/nonprofessional could be to mirror community events, often as a “positive” counter-image. Within (B) nonprofit/professional, interrogative reporting could be viewed as a contribution to the common good. Niches of news alerts and partnership content are found within (C) for-profit/nonprofessional, while a full news standard is the (struggling) ambition within (D) for-profit/professional. The argument can be made that a deeper understanding of how media accountability can be addressed and/or promoted in this diverse sector of scarce resources is a vital question for policymakers, educational institutions and the public–as well as for the future of local journalism.