The Media Welfare State: Why such a concept, what is it used for, does it have a future?

Abstract

In 2014, Syvertsen, Enli, Mjøs, and Moe authored The Media Welfare State: Nordic Media in a Digital Era to explore the specificities of Nordic media and the analogy between welfare state and media structures. In this short article, we point to how selected works challenge or extend the notions of a media welfare state beyond the original analysis. We begin by placing the work in a tradition of comparative and typology-generating scholarship and point to parallel works emerging at the same time. We then highlight others’ contributions in order to identify tendencies in Nordic media and research. In conclusion, we use examples from current research to argue that changes in the media system may be studied from both the angle of changing media policies and that of changing welfare states.

Keywords

• nordic
• welfare state
• media policy
• typology
• comparative