Sweden was the first country in the world to enshrine freedom of the press in its constitution and currently ranks in the top five of the World Press Freedom Index.
How has the country achieved this progress in press freedom, and how does it maintain its accomplishments?
We had an engaging conversation with Ulrika Hyllert, President of the Swedish Union of Journalists, about protecting press freedom, the role of journalists in the fight against disinformation and propaganda, the challenges posed by artificial intelligence, and media literacy.
We present to you Ms. Ulrika Hyllert’s exclusive interview with Kitabistan.

- Madame Ulrika Hyllert, first of all, thank you very much for taking your time and giving an interview to the Kitabistan vs DisInfo Initiative. At a time when press freedom is declining globally, journalists and freedom of expression face open threats, having this conversation is very meaningful to discuss the Swedish model of the freedom of press and expression we do today. I am confident that this interview will be a valuable resource for our audience. Because Sweden was the first country to enshrine press freedom in its constitution in 1766. A very progressive step for its time. And now Sweden ranks among the top five countries in the World Press Freedom Index.
Unlike many other countries, how is it that press freedom in Sweden has not just remained as a constitutional principle on paper for three centuries, but has also been successfully upheld and implemented in practice?

- Yes, it is a big question, because you can have a lot of different answers. Because in Sweden we see that new laws are making the society more closed, but compared to other countries, it is of course very open. We have a very open society with a tradition that all processes in the society should be open for everyone and not just for journalists. It should be for everyone who lives in Sweden that you could take part in the decisions. Or if it is like a process in a different part of society, you could take part in the decisions. That's a very long tradition. But of course, we have small steps that are moving wrong. We, as a union and other organizations for press freedom, are marking this and discussing it and we are trying to get an opinion for those things.
I just had a talk last week with a journalist. He is covering criminals and that field. There are laws that will make it harder for him to contact sources or protect sources. That's because the police want more tools to do their job. But that is affecting journalists’ work a lot. There is also a proposal that, if the police are doing an investigation, it will be secret for a longer time, and that will also affect journalism. It is a small step, but it is a really big problem. Because even if we are one of the top five countries in the world, we can stay in the top five, but that is because press freedom is lowering everywhere. So, we always need to work for it to be better, because it is not. 
So, about your question. Did you want to hear more about how it is working in practice?

- Yes.

- In Sweden, we have a different system from other countries. Because as a single journalist, if someone publishes my article, I am not responsible for it, it is the editor. And that's a big difference. That's because as a journalist, you should not be afraid of what you are writing or publishing and so on. So, it is a special thing in Sweden. We don't have so many laws about what you can publish as a media. It is in the constitution that there should be a really wide press freedom. It is allowed to publish things that are not true, and also things that would be illegal for someone else to say. But if it is published in the media, you can say more things. So, that's an important thing. 
And instead of having strict laws about what you can publish, we have this self-regulating system. In Sweden, it is called the Media Ombudsman, where if you are a person and feel like a media has published something that is not good for you as a person, you can turn to the media ombudsman and say, this is wrong. And they have a process for checking if it was right or wrong from an ethical point of view, not from the laws. Because it is important that what the media publishes should be very wide. Then the media and the newsrooms, if they take a big responsibility by themselves, that is the way for the media to avoid strict laws about how media can work. 
But a media choose whether they want to be in the self-regulating system. We have medias and papers that are not in the system. And that is the backside of our system. But we have it like that to protect the press freedom and freedom of speech.

- Swedish Journalists Association was founded in 1901, and it also functions as a trade union for journalists. In an era marked by the rapid rise of digital platforms, social media and artificial intelligence, what are the main challenges journalists and media outlets are facing in Sweden, and what kind of work does the Association do to address these challenges?

- We have worked a lot with how you, as a journalist, can act in an ethical way and the right way in this technically very fast developing society. I think there has been a lot of new technology for journalists that they really need to learn. Both for the work and if you want to do your work. It is all about how you will get trust in a new digital world. So, you need to ask the same questions. How will you build trust with new technology? And also, how can you protect sources? It is a big step from the traditional newspaper or radio program. What do the audience want? And what do they not want? There have been big steps even from when computers and cell phones were coming in the 80s. So, it has been like big steps from when you needed a phone to call the newsroom and read your article if you were in the field. Now you can publish from your phone wherever you are. Even before social media and AI, there were big steps, and how you work has been changing a lot. Some roles in the newsrooms are gone. But those people are very important. That has been a big thing for us. For like, I don't know, 30 or 40 years, that employers need to give you education in all new tools and how you should work. So, you need education, so you can still be a journalist, even if the technology is changing.

Right now, or the last two or three years, it has been a big thing with AI, of course. We have made maybe not a policy, but a paper to help our members, what questions they should ask their editors. Is there AI policy in the newsroom? How can we use AI? When do we need to mark that this text was made with the help of AI? It is because you need a policy or you can also have a discussion in the newsroom about what is building trust.

But also, the way the authors write has been a big thing with AI. Can OpenAI use the media's article to train and get that information? And when do the authors and media get paid for what AI, OpenAI is using? So, that is a big question right now.

But also, if I am working on radio, not necessarily on radio, because also the newspaper is using the audio, do I have the right to my voice? Can my newspaper, radio station use my voice with an AI so they can use my voice to read news? And do I have any rights to my voice? So, that is a big discussion, actually, right now. Because we heard that there will come a new law in Denmark about AI and the right to your voice and face.

So, the discussion is really alive around AI. You can use the traditional questions and ask them around AI: What will be with the sources, the trust? Do you have education for this? How can you keep your job when the work is changing? So, it is going very fast.

And in Sweden, it has also been a big challenge changing from a newspaper and getting digital. Because it costs a lot of money - of course, it is global - to both have the newspaper on paper and have it on the Internet or on social media. We also don't really know how the audience will use those new social media or tools, or platforms. So, it is a lot of trying and that costs money. That is a problem, probably global, but even in Sweden. We have a lot of newspapers, local news media that don’t exist anymore.

We also have good support from society with money, a subsidization to local news media, and also a strong public service, which is a big and a good thing in Sweden. Even if it is getting less money, it is still strong. And that it has a big support from politicians. I think that it is really necessary to have a strong local media all over the country.

- Well, you have already mentioned some critical issues and the possible solutions. From my side, I would like to touch upon other critical issues such as disinformation, information manipulation and propaganda. These problems have taken on a more global dimension, especially since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. And even the World Economic Forum's report states that disinformation is one of the five top global risks. How does the Association work to combat disinformation and information manipulation in the country, and also how it helps to safeguard journalists and media outlets against propaganda?

- There is a big discussion, also a topic here in Sweden about disinformation and propaganda. Our organisation’s view on this is that journalism and the openness in society and debate are the answer to disinformation and propaganda. This is also a big responsibility for the platforms. We think that they should take more responsibility.  So, in newsrooms, there are new rules. There is picture verification, so that what is published should not be wrong. Even though we also have examples that this picture was not real. And now from a lot of conflicts around the world, it is hard to verify what is true and what is not. So, that is also a big thing that a lot of newsrooms are really doing a big job. They really verify facts in a lot of ways. Also have those special journalists who could be experts on that. But, of course, everyone who works with news or other journalists need to know this. That's also connected to AI. What do you need to know as a journalist about, how someone who wants to spread propaganda uses AI.

So, that is closely connected to what journalists need to work with and do. That is what we do. 
I think one hard question about this is that we think it will be a problem for the freedom of speech to have laws that forbid propaganda. 
We have had a discussion in Sweden about Russia Today. Can they send their news to Sweden, or not? And we have been against regulations that forbid them to send here because of the freedom of speech. Because we don't know in a couple of years if traditional media could open the door that we don't want to open. We think that propaganda is best. The society, the people in the country can also listen to traditional media, and what they say. You should also be a better journalist and say, okay, this is happening, we think this is propaganda, and handle it in that way.

But it is not an easy question. Because the resources that countries or states have that use propaganda is so big. So, it is hard to protect yourself or society from it.

- But since we are talking about disinformation and propaganda, it is also important to talk about media literacy. What efforts are being made in Sweden to promote media literacy in a society?

- In what way?

- For example, as an Association, do you have any training, webinars, or kind of informative sessions regarding media literacy?

- As a union?

- Yes.

- We, as a union, have training for our freelance journalists. But there are a lot of training for journalists because we are arranging in cooperation with others, other organisations, so that you can get small scholarships for the training.

And we also have society-paid training for journalists. It is called Fojo. They are making a lot of training. In our collective agreements, we have a very good thing that you could go on those trainings at Fojo on full paid working time and your employer, they need to say yes, if you want to go on a training. Maybe it is another system here. So, we are supporting training in different ways.

So a lot of journalists have been on training on those things. I don't know if they have it right now, but for a couple of years ago, they had a special training on just disinformation and how you could, how, what do you, what you need to know as a journalist, if you want to cover this field, so you will be more protected against propaganda and don't just get fooled.

We also have members’ newspaper in our organisation, I don't decide what they should write, but they have also, of course, been covering this field a lot. And we are financing the paper. When there are important topics like this and it is going on, it will reach almost all our members.

In school, all children need to learn about how you could protect yourself and how you can trust the media. So, it is not a small thing in Sweden. We know that propaganda works and it's really hard as just one person to know what is propaganda and what is not if you're out on social media.

- Within the Association, you also have a Professional Ethics Committee. How does this committee monitor the spread of fake news and disinformation with media outlets in Sweden? And in case of violations of professional ethics, what kind of actions or measures are taken in response?

- Right now, they are working in two ways. They should initiate debates and discussions and give them advice on ethical topics. If you are a member, we have an expert working that you can just call and say, “I have this dilemma, or I don't know how to think about this, or I need help. My editor says I should do this, but I think it is unethical. What should I do?” So, we have this support that you, as a member, can also get help with discussing this.

But then it is also a possibility for everyone that you can write to the committee and say this journalist, he or she broke the ethical rules. Because we have ethical rules in our union that if you are a member, you need to follow those ethical rules. So, to build trust about that, you can contact the committee and say, this journalist is not following ethical rules.

But right now, actually, since March, we are having a project that we will look over if this is the best way to work with ethics. Because it has been a discussion if it is the journalist, or is it the newsroom or the editor that are responsible if you are doing something as a journalist. So, right now you can contact the committee, but they cannot announce that yes, someone did wrong. It is like a pause in that work, but they are working with other things.

This spring we started the network. So, if you are a journalist in our union, you can say, I want to be in the network, and then be more into more discussions. I think that they will have seminars about interesting topics or what you need to discuss.

- We often hear from media professionals that democracies cannot exist without independent media. Unfortunately, currently, we are witnessing a decline in democracies, which goes hand in hand with the deterioration of press freedom. For example, authoritarian regimes exert total control over information. How do you think we can protect and defend the freedom of the press in such contexts?

- I think that it is hard to say what comes first, democracy or press freedom. I think that they both are good for each other or like, press freedom is a part of democracy. But of course, journalists are working, even if it is hard in countries where there is no democracy or less democracy, and it is hard. It could be illegal to work as a journalist, but even if it is, some very brave people do it, even if it is not allowed, but you take a big risk. So, I don't really know what to answer.  There is a lot of things that makes a democracy and press freedom is one thing. They are like communicating with each other. How democracy is also about the constitution. How are your views on minorities? Do you have courts that are independent? And so on. 
It is connected, but of course, it can be a media, even if it is not democracy. But it is really hard and it is a big risk and it could be illegal.

- In my previous interview with the Secretary General of Norwegian Press Association, Elin Floberghagen stated that gender discriminatory narratives are not present in the Norwegian press. Frankly speaking, I was positively surprised to hear that. I wanted to ask, are there gender discriminatory narratives or gender-based hate speech in the Swedish media? And if so, what kind of activities are you doing as the Association to combat this critical issue?

- Of course, there is discrimination because there is discrimination in society. But it is also relative. Because, compared to a lot of other countries, it is much better. We have 50-50. It is like, both men and women, are working as journalists. We have laws and regulations that should protect you as a woman and also others, minorities in the newsrooms. But you have those regulations. It is not because they are not needed. They are. But when we are comparing the salaries between men and women, there is no difference if you see the whole picture. But of course, we have problems. So, I don't think that it is not a problem in Norway, but it is not a big problem in the Nordics. But of course it is.

We had Me Too, it was a really big thing in Sweden. We had a lot of cases in the media during Me Too that were really, really problematic. And that put light on a problem that a lot of people have not been seeing, even if it was there. So, it has been better after Me Too, it was around 2017. But it was really needed. We absolutely have problems. But it is not the biggest question that we are working with now. Because there were a lot of things happening during and after Me Too. A lot of those who are responsible and also colleagues are better educated. So, the problem is you can talk about it and you can work with it. But I think it is important to do that. Because everywhere where you put people together, there can be problems in different ways.

And about hate speech, we are together with some of the universities in Sweden. We are doing research about how it is right now. And I don't have any data on how it has been this year. So, it is like two or three years old. But there is a difference if you are a woman or a man, how hate speech is. If you are a woman, you are getting more violent hate speech connected to your sex. So, there are different hate speeches, but women and men are getting the same. In the last research, it was like 30% had got hate speech last year. Men and women, almost the same, but women get more sexualized hate speech. I don't remember the numbers. But if you see young people or people that are not born in Sweden, their health is worse than others. So, it is a problem.

If you are self-censoring yourself, because you want to avoid hate speech, then women do that in a higher case than men, if I remember it right. So, now we have a big discussion about self-censorship or self-censoring and how hate speech is affecting journalism.

- As a trade union of journalists in Sweden, you also work to promote better living conditions and improved work opportunities for journalists. You have already briefly mentioned Collective Agreements, but can you give more details about Collective Agreements?

- I think that around 80% of all the journalists are members in our union. I think in Sweden, we have between 60 and 70% of all employees are members in a union. And the tradition that we have in Sweden, it is called the Swedish model - probably in Denmark and Norway, it is also their model - that we are negotiating with the employers on a lot of questions. and that is the thing that the politicians, they are not deciding anything about salaries and so on. It is up to us as a union to negotiate about it in the Collective Agreements, and also a lot of other things.

So, we have laws about a lot of things, of course. But you can change them in the Collective Agreements, how it works in the media or in another branch.

It is a system that is working very well. And it is also working because we have a lot of members. In the media, not all companies have a collective agreement, but almost everyone. So, for journalists, it is a very common thing that you have a collective agreement with everything from insurance to salary for how late you can work at night, how much you will get paid if you work late, how many nights per month you can work. It is also about if you want to quit the job, what the rules are, and how much pension you will get? There is a lot in these agreements. And it is because that we think that if you are a journalist or have another job in society, you shouldn't need to think about everything. You can just feel like, oh, the union is taking care of that. So, you don't need to think about all that. Rules for a lot of situations in how you should work.

- My last question is Kitabistan's traditional question. We always ask for book recommendations. What book would you like to recommend to our readers and viewers?

- Oh, I should have prepared some kind of a good answer. In Sweden, we have a lot of people that are discussing democracy and want to have new views of how it is working and what is happening with democracy, are reading Timothy Snyder. One of his books about democracy, I think I really want to recommend. Because it is very useful when you see even if a strong democracy is in Sweden, if laws are changing to the wrong. So, it is very useful. And it is, of course, very useful in countries where it is much worse.

- Thank you very much. This is one of my most favorite books, actually.

-  Yeah? Okay.

- Yes. And thank you very much for this insightful interview.

- Yes. And thank you. And good luck with everything that you do.  

Malak Hajiyeva

08.07.2025