The politics of constructing television audiences: Diversity, equality and inclusion in Swedish media policy

This article seeks to analyze audience constructions in Swedish policy documents dealing with televised media from 2012 to the present. The period analyzed has been characterized by changes in Swedish media policy due to new technology, neoliberal governing ideas, and globalization. Further, debates about media policy have recently become polarized, and longstanding ideals of diversity, gender equality, and inclusion have been challenged. The article analyzes the political work performed by audience constructions and unpacks the characteristics of spectators in their capacity as citizens, Swedes, consumers, and the protected. The article shows that audience conceptualizations reproduce hierarchies based on socio-economic conditions, age, disabilities, gender, ethnicity, and place of residence. Further, the article finds that the tensions between audiences in their capacity as citizens and consumers have been smoothed out and identifies the beginning of a nationalist turn in public service policy, as it moves from an emphasis on inclusion through acknowledging differences to the pursuit of a more assimilationist agenda and the creation of an essentialist Swedish identity.