Particularities of media systems in the West Nordic countries

	Surface area (thousand per km²)	Population (thousand)	GDP (million USD)	GDP per capita (USD)	GDP per capita (rank)
Faroes	1	49	2,689	55,818	18
Greenland	2,166	56	2,707	48,179	25
Iceland	103	354	25,878	73,190	12
Denmark	43	5,797	355,675	61,355	16
Finland	338	5,518	276,743	50,153	22
Norway	385	5,314	434,167	81,702	7
Sweden	450	10,183	556,086	54,609	19

[i] Comments: Amounts refer to 2018, otherwise most recent available data (in current USD).

[ii] Source: The World Bank, n.d.

Table 2

Newspapers in the West Nordic countries, 1950–2018 (daily and non-daily titles and circulation)

	1950	1960	1970	1980	1990	2000	2010	2018
Number of titles
Faroes
dailies	0	0	0	0	1	2	1	–
non-dailies	6	6	6	7	8	3	3	3
Greenland
national non-dailies	0	0	0	2	2	2	2	2
Iceland
dailies	5	5	5	6	6	3	2	2
non-dailies	9	10	6	9	18	19	21	18
Circulation in thousands
Faroes
dailies	0	0	0	0	6	17	9	0
non-dailies	11	16	20	35	30	11	18	12
Greenland
national non-dailies	0	0	0	9	10	9	4	4
Iceland
dailies	46	57	68	88	96	91	130	119
non-dailies	..	..	..	..	56	57	231	136
Circulation per 100 inhabitants
Faroes
dailies	0	0	0	0	13	37	18	0
non-dailies	36	47	52	80	64	23	37	24
Greenland
national non-dailies	0	0	0	18	18	15	8	7
Iceland
dailies	32	32	33	38	38	32	41	33
non-dailies	..	..	..	..	..	20	73	38

[i] Comments: Paid-for and free papers included. Dailies = newspapers issued 4 times or more per week. Non-dailies = newspapers issued 1–3 times per week (.. = data not available).

[ii] Source: Dalsgarð, 2002; Karlsson, 2008; Paulsen et al., 2018; Ravn-Højgaard, 2019; Statistics Faroe Islands, n.d.; Statistics Iceland, n.d.; Thomsen & Søllinge, 1991

Table 3

Public service broadcasting audience shares in the Nordic countries, 2019 (per cent)

	Organisation	Radio	TV
Faroes	KvF	..	..
Greenland	KNR	82	54
Iceland	RÚV	50	67
Denmark	DR	77	36
Finland	YLE	49	44
Norway	NRK	65	39
Sweden	SR/SVT	70	35

[i] Comment: .. = data not available.

[ii] Source: KNR, 2020; Nordicom, n.d.-a–b

Table 4

Public service media organisations in the Nordic countries, 2017–2018 (revenue and full-time positions)

	Revenue (thousand EUR)			Public financing (%)	Full-time positions
	Total	Public	Market	Public financing (%)	Full-time positions
Faroes (KvF)	10,053	8,359	1,694	83	95
Greenland (KNR)	9,844	9,096	748	92	92
Iceland (RÚV)	47,989	30,714	17,275	64	260
Denmark (DR)	548,639	496,346	52,293	90	2,699
Finland (YLE)	472,265	461,771	10,494	98	3,333
Norway (NRK)	583,101	549,094	34,007	94	3,419
Sweden (SR/SVT/UR)	768,285	734,960	33,325	96	4,617

	Revenue (EUR per capita)			Full annual PSM licence fee or tax (EUR)
	Total	Public	Market	Full annual PSM licence fee or tax (EUR)
Faroes (KvF)	205	171	35	80–241
Greenland (KNR)	176	163	13	^*
Iceland (RÚV)	138	88	50	139
Denmark (DR)	549	496	52	335
Finland (YLE)	472	462	10	50–143
Norway (NRK)	583	549	34	308
Sweden (SR/SVT/UR)	768	735	33	243

Comments: Revenue in current prices.

* direct government funding

Source: Annual accounts and financial statements of the PSM organisations, authors reworking

Table 5

Appointment of public service media boards in the West Nordic countries

	Organisation	Members	Appointment
Faroes	KvF	7	Four members appointed by the political parties represented in the parliament, two by the minister, and one by the staff of KvF.
Greenland	KNR	6	Head of board and one member appointed by the government, three others upon recommendations by the University and The Cultural Association, and one by the staff of KNR.
Iceland	RÚV	9	The governing board of RÚV is elected by parliament by proportional representation, and one is appointed by the staff of RÚV without voting right.

[i] Source: Faroese Law-Site, 2006; Inatsisiliorneq Lovgivning, 2004; National Parliament of Iceland, 2013

Table 6

State involvement in media in the Nordic countries (allowances and restrictions)

	Faroes	Greenland	Iceland	Denmark	Finland	Norway	Sweden
Direct subsidies to private media	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Indirect subsidies to private media^a	Yes	No^c	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Limits to media ownership^b	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No
Advertisements allowed in public service radio & TV	Yes^d	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No
Advertisements allowed on the public service web	No	No	No	No	No	No	No

a For example, lower VAT rate on subscriptions and sale to users.

b That is, other than restrictions and limits set out in competition laws.

c However, the public sector is the main advertiser in the private media.

d Advertisements allowed but revenue goes to the state budget.

Source: Nord, 2008; with additions from the authors

Table 7

Media subsidies to private media in the West Nordic countries

	Subsidies (thousand EUR)
Faroes
Subsidies introduced in 2017. Platform neutral.	270
Greenland
Long tradition of state funding. Platform specific support to print media.	Radio & TV: 250
	Press: 330 (as of 2020)
Iceland
Bill introduced in Parliament in 2019 proposing subsidies to private news media. Platform neutral.	2,890 (as proposed)

[i] Comments: All amounts are rounded to the nearest decimal (current EUR).

[ii] Source: Faroese Law-Site, 2017; Menntamálaráðuneytið, 2019; Ravn-Højgaard, this issue

References

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Articles in this issue

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/nor-2021-0020 | Journal eISSN: 2001-5119 | Journal ISSN: 1403-1108

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Language: English

Page range: 102 - 123

Published on: Mar 26, 2021

Published by: University of Gothenburg Nordicom

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

Keywords:

the Faroe Islands,

Greenland,

Iceland,

comparative research,

size

Related subjects:

Social sciences,

Communication science,

Mass communication,

Public and political communication

© 2021 Signe Ravn-Højgaard, Valgerður Jóhannsdóttir, Ragnar Karlsson, Rógvi Olavson, Heini í Skorini, published by University of Gothenburg Nordicom
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Volume 42 (2021): Issue s2 (March 2021)