Right-wing alternative media users in Scandinavia: A comparative study of ideological attitudes and (dis)trust

		Denmark (n = 1,958)		Norway (n = 2,009)		Sweden (n = 1,991)
Mean	SD	Mean	SD	Mean	SD
Daily/weekly right-wing alternative media use		0.05	-	0.08	-	0.14	-
Party affiliation (party groups)	Far left	0.15	-	0.13	-	0.12	-
	Left	0.28	-	0.16	-	0.26	-
	Centre	0.07	-	0.13	-	0.14	-
Right	0.20	-	0.17	-	0.18	-
Far right	0.11	-	0.10	-	0.13	-
No party/NA	0.19	-	0.20	-	0.17	-
Continuous variables	Support far-right ideas	0.38	0.18	0.34	0.18	0.35	0.20
Continuous variables	Political trust	0.70	0.21	0.71	0.21	0.63	0.24
Media trust	0.69	0.19	0.72	0.19	0.68	0.23
Social trust	0.69	0.26	0.67	0.26	0.62	0.26
Control variables	Gender (women = 1)	0.50	-	0.49	-	0.47	-
	< 30 years	0.10	-	0.10	-	0.14	-
	30–44 years	0.14	-	0.21	-	0.28	-
45–59 years	0.27	-	0.33	-	0.28	-
60+ years	0.49	-	0.35	-	0.30	-
Education (university/college = 1)	0.33	-	0.41	-	0.56	-

[i] Comments: All variables range from 0 (min) to 1 (max).

[ii] Party categories (Manifesto Project):

Far left: Enhedslisten, Socialistisk Folkeparti, Alternativet, Veganerpartiet, Frie Grønne (DK); Rødt, SV (NO); Vänsterpartiet, Feministiskt initiativ (SE).
Left: Socialdemokratiet, (DK); Ap (NO); Socialdemokraterna, Miljöpartiet de gröna (SE).
Centre: Radikale Venstre, Kristendemokraterne (DK); Senterpartiet, Venstre, Krf, MDG (NO), Centerpartiet, Liberalerna, Kristdemokraterna (SE).
Right: Venstre, Det Konservative Folkeparti, Borgerlisten, Liberal Alliance (DK); De kristne, Høyre (NO), Moderaterna (SE).
Far right: Nye Borgerlige, Dansk Folkeparti, Stram Kurs (DK); Fremskrittspartiet, Demokratene, Alliansen, Selvstendighetspartiet (NO); Sverigedemokraterna, Alternativ för Sverige, Nordiska motståndsrörelsen (SE).
Other parties/no party omitted.

Table 2

Daily/weekly use of right-wing alternative media by gender, age, and education

		Denmark	Norway	Sweden
Total		0.050 [0.040–0.060]	0.079 [0.067–0.090]	0.144 [0.127–0.160]
Gender	Men	0.062 [0.047–0.078]	0.106 [0.087–0.125]	0.190 [0.166–0.215]
Women	0.038 [0.025–0.050]	0.049 [0.035–0.062]	0.093 [0.074–0.113]
Age	< 30 years	0.044 [0.014–0.073]	0.066 [0.030–0.102]	0.097 [0.062–0.132]
Age	30–44yrs	0.051 [0.025–0.077]	0.080 [0.054–0.106]	0.133 [0.105–0.161]
45–59 yrs	0.053 [0.034–0.072]	0.077 [0.057–0.097]	0.145 [0.116–0.174]
60+ yrs	0.050 [0.036–0.064]	0.083 [0.062–0.103]	0.161 [0.132–0.191]
Highest level of education	Basic/High school	0.053 [0.040–0.065]	0.084 [0.068–0.100]	0.145 [0.122–0.168]
University/college	0.047 [0.031–0.064]	0.071 [0.052–0.090]	0.142 [0.121–0.162]

[i] Comments: Predicted probabilities and [confidence intervals] from binary logistic regression models. The reference category consists of respondents who more rarely or never consume news from right-wing alternative media.

Predicted probability of daily/weekly use of alternative media, by party affiliation and support for far-right ideas
**Comments:** Predicted probabilities from binary logistic regression models, controlling for gender, age, education. Dashed vertical lines mark the interquartile range of observations.
Alternative media (examples given): Den Korte Avis, Trykkefrihed.dk, Document.no, Resett.no, Nyheter Idag, Samhällsnytt. Control variables included (at their observed value): gender, age, education.
Party categories (Manifesto Project):
Far left: Enhedslisten, Socialistisk Folkeparti, Alternativet, Veganerpartiet, Frie Grønne (DK); Rødt, SV (NO); Vänsterpartiet, Feministiskt initiative (SE).
Left: Socialdemokratiet, (DK); Ap (NO); Socialdemokraterna, Miljöpartiet de gröna (SE).
Centre: Radikale Venstre, Kristendemokraterne (DK); Senterpartiet, Venstre, Krf, MDG (NO), Centerpartiet, Liberalerna, Kristdemokraterna (SE);
Right: Venstre, Det Konservative Folkeparti, Borgerlisten, Liberal Alliance (DK); De kristne, Høyre (NO), Moderaterna (SE).
Far right: Nye Borgerlige, Dansk Folkeparti, Stram Kurs (DK); Fremskrittspartiet, Demokratene, Alliansen, Selvstendighetspartiet (NO); Sverigedemokraterna, Alternativ för Sverige, Nordiska motståndsrörelsen (SE).
Other parties/no party omitted.
Far-right ideas: composite index, 12 items (see Table A3 in the Appendix).

Predicted probability of daily/weekly use of alternative media by political, media, and social trust
**Comments:** Predicted probabilities from binary logistic regression models, controlling for gender, age, education. Dashed vertical lines mark the interquartile range of observations.
Alternative media (examples given): Den Korte Avis, Trykkefrihed.dk, Document.no, Resett.no, Nyheter Idag, Samhällsnytt.
Political trust: Trust in government, parliament, courts. Control variables included (at their observed value): gender, age, education.

Predicted probability of daily/weekly use of alternative media
**Comments:** Predicted probabilities from binary logistic regression models, all variables included simultaneously. Dashed vertical lines mark the interquartile range of observations.

Table A1

Consumption of news from different media sources (per cent)

Media	Country	Daily or almost daily	A few times a week	More rarely	Never	Don’t know/NA
Alternative media	DK	1.94	3.12	19.25	72.78	2.91
Alternative media	NO	3.24	4.63	21.2	69.59	1.35
SE	5.73	8.44	27.93	55.7	2.21
Tabloid newspapers	DK	21.76	12.61	29.93	31.26	4.45
Tabloid newspapers	NO	46.79	21.11	21.35	8.36	2.39
SE	34	16.42	27.88	18.03	3.67
National newspapers	DK	24.87	14.15	32.74	27.43	0.81
National newspapers	NO	11.2	16.63	41.91	29.62	0.65
SE	25.77	16.32	38.07	19.34	0.5
Local newspapers	DK	10.78	42.44	32.58	13.02	1.17
Local newspapers	NO	44.25	26.43	23.15	5.72	0.45
SE	27.57	25.57	36.87	9.64	0.35
National Broadcasters	DK	82.53	9.4	5.82	1.69	0.56
National Broadcasters	NO	82.68	11.9	3.93	1.24	0.25
SE	65.6	18.78	11.85	3.57	0.2

[i] Comments: Research question: “How often do you usually read, watch, or listen to news from the following sources?”

[ii] Alternative media (e.g., Den Korte Avis, Trykkefrihed.no (DK); Document.no, Resett.no (NO); Nyheter I dag, Samhällsnytt (SE))

[iii] Tabloid newspapers (e.g., EkstraBladet, BT (DK); VG, Dagbladet (NO); Expressen, Aftonbladet (SE))

[iv] National newspapers (e.g., Politiken, Berlingske Tidende (DK); Dagens næringsliv, Klassekampen (NO); Dagens Nyheter, Svenska Dagbladet (SE))

[v] National Broadcasters (e.g., DR, TV2 (DK)/NRK, TV2 (NO)/SVT, TV4 (SE))

[vi] Local newspapers

Table A2

Indices of far-right attitudes (principal factors analysis)

Items	Factor1	Factor2	Factor3	Factor4	Factor5
We should make it easier for immigrants to gain access to [Norway/Sweden/Denmark] (reversed).	0.613	−0.033	−0.370	−0.001	−0.012
Immigration is a serious threat to our national character.	0.768	−0.156	−0.220	0.062	−0.034
Violence between different ethnic, racial, or religious groups is largely inevitable.	0.548	−0.203	0.016	0.025	0.043
Only people with white skin color should be allowed to live in [Denmark/Norway/Sweden].	0.519	−0.209	0.142	−0.093	−0.045
It is okay to use violence to defend [Danish/Norwegian/Swedish] culture.	0.570	−0.138	0.158	−0.119	−0.012
We should reinstate the death penalty for certain criminal offenses.	0.575	−0.078	0.078	−0.030	0.013
[Norway/Denmark/Sweden] is a lawless society.	0.723	0.109	−0.051	−0.050	0.034
Having a strong leader in government is good for [Norway/Sweden/Denmark], even if the leader bends the rules to get things done.	0.424	−0.294	0.083	0.055	0.050
The people, not the politicians, must make the final decisions on law and politics.	0.423	0.142	0.220	0.116	−0.020
The [Danish/Norwegian/Swedish] democracy works well (reversed).	0.518	0.474	0.039	−0.027	0.011
Politicians in [Denmark/Norway/Sweden] act in accordance with the will of the people (reversed).	0.460	0.491	−0.009	−0.011	0.003
Men are oppressed in today’s [Denmark/Norway/Sweden].	0.495	−0.005	0.144	0.109	−0.024
Eigenvalue	3.796	0.720	0.317	0.060	0.010

[i] Comments: Items omitted due to low factor scores:

Conditions should be created to achieve more equality between women and men (reversed).
The most important thing that children should learn is respect for authorities.

Table A3

Use of right-wing alternative media, traditional newspapers, and national broadcasters by gender, age, and education.

		Right-wing alternative media		Traditional newspapers		National broadcasters		Right-wing alternative media		Traditional newspapers		National broadcasters		Right-wing alternative media		Traditional newspapers		National broadcasters
	More rarely	Daily/weekly	More rarely	Daily/weekly	More rarely	Daily/weekly	More rarely	Daily/weekly	More rarely	Daily/weekly	More rarely	Daily/weekly	More rarely	Daily/weekly	More rarely	Daily/weekly	More rarely	Daily/weekly
	Total	0.21	0.05	0.19	0.77	0.07	0.91	0.21	0.08	0.07	0.92	0.04	0.95	0.28	0.14	0.11	0.86	0.1	0.87
Gender	Men	0.22	0.06	0.17	0.77	0.07	0.9	0.25	0.11	0.06	0.93	0.04	0.94	0.28	0.19	0.11	0.86	0.12	0.84
Women	0.2	0.04	0.2	0.76	0.07	0.92	0.17	0.05	0.08	0.91	0.04	0.95	0.28	0.09	0.12	0.86	0.08	0.89
Age	<30 years	0.26	0.04	0.32	0.57	0.16	0.78	0.22	0.07	0.11	0.87	0.06	0.86	0.29	0.1	0.21	0.74	0.23	0.7
Age	30–44yrs	0.25	0.05	0.27	0.67	0.13	0.85	0.22	0.08	0.1	0.89	0.1	0.87	0.26	0.13	0.17	0.81	0.2	0.75
45–59 yrs	0.24	0.05	0.21	0.73	0.05	0.93	0.25	0.08	0.06	0.93	0.03	0.97	0.27	0.15	0.11	0.88	0.08	0.88
60+ yrs	0.15	0.05	0.08	0.9	0.02	0.96	0.17	0.08	0.05	0.94	0.01	0.99	0.29	0.16	0.06	0.92	0.02	0.96
Highest level of education	High school	0.18	0.05	0.2	0.74	0.07	0.91	0.19	0.08	0.09	0.9	0.04	0.94	0.27	0.15	0.11	0.87	0.1	0.87
University/college	0.24	0.05	0.17	0.8	0.07	0.91	0.24	0.07	0.04	0.95	0.04	0.95	0.29	0.14	0.12	0.86	0.1	0.86

[i] Comments: Predicted probabilities from multinomial logistic regression models. The reference category consists of respondents who never consume news from right-wing alternative media.

Table A4

Daily/weekly use of right-wing alternative media (binary logistic regression models)

		(m1) Party affiliation	(m2) Support far-right ideas	(m3) Political trust	(m4) Media trust	(m5) Social trust	(m6) Full model (DK)	(m7) Full model (NO)	(m8) Full model (SE)	(m9) Full model
Gender (ref=men)	Women	−0.61*** (0.10)	−0.41*** (0.10)	−0.64*** (0.10)	−0.44*** (0.11)	−0.75*** (0.10)	−0.26 (0.22)	−0.22 (0.21)	−0.24 (0.16)	−0.23* (0.03)
Age (ref=less than 30 yrs)	30–44 yrs	0.14 (0.19)	0.09 (0.19)	0.16 (0.19)	0.21 (0.20)	0.27 (0.18)	0.04 (0.47)	−0.11 (0.39)	0.19 (0.27)	0.08 (0.68)
Age (ref=less than 30 yrs)	45–59 yrs	0.17 (0.18)	0.10 (0.19)	0.37* (0.18)	0.40* (0.19)	0.40* (0.18)	−0.08 (0.43)	−0.14 (0.37)	0.37 (0.27)	0.16 (0.41)
60+ yrs	0.29 (0.18)	0.19 (0.18)	0.60*** (0.18)	0.57** (0.19)	0.51** (0.17)	−0.07 (0.41)	−0.13 (0.37)	0.69** (0.27)	0.3 (0.13)
Education (ref=basic/high school)	University/college education	0.06 (0.10)	0.19† (0.10)	0.05 (0.10)	0.10 (0.10)	−0.01 (0.10)	0.25 (0.25)	0.49* (0.21)	0.07 (0.15)	0.23* (0.04)
Country (ref=DK)	*NO	0.35 (0.46)	−0.37 (0.39)	1.26*** (0.36)	2.08*** (0.37)	1.06*** (0.32)				1.26 (0.18)
*SE	0.43 (0.46)	0.90** (0.34)	1.69*** (0.32)	1.87*** (0.34)	1.48*** (0.30)				1.48† (0.09)
Party affiliation (ref=Far left, DK)	Left	−0.00 (0.42)					−0.24 (0.44)	−1.01† (0.57)	0.57 (0.36)	−0.28 (0.53)
	*NO	−1.11 (0.69)								−0.83 (0.25)
	*SE	0.69 (0.54)								0.88 (0.12)
	Centre	−0.07 (0.61)					−0.05 (0.61)	−0.59 (0.42)	0.64† (0.37)	−0.03 (0.96)
	*NO	0.01 (0.72)								−0.57 (0.44)
	*SE	1.11 (0.71)								0.69 (0.34)
	Right	0.57 (0.40)					0.08 (0.43)	0.06 (0.40)	−0.09 (0.38)	0.07 (0.87)
	*NO	−0.04 (0.54)								−0.05 (0.94)
	*SE	0.23 (0.54)								−0.14 (0.81)
	Far right	1.70*** (0.39)					0.71 (0.47)	0.38 (0.42)	0.63 (0.40)	0.71 (0.13)
*NO	0.24 (0.52)								−0.4 (0.52)
*SE	0.80 (0.51)								−0.04 (0.95)
NA	0.01 (0.46)					−0.56 (0.48)	−0.04 (0.40)	0.34 (0.37)	−0.53 (0.27)
*NO	0.96† (0.58)								0.48 (0.45)
*SE	1.26* (0.57)								0.88 (0.15)
Support far-right ideas (ref=DK)			3.81*** (0.55)				2.52** (0.8)	4.09*** (0.69)	2.39*** (0.56)	2.39** (0.00)
	*NO		2.20** (0.73)							1.43 (0.17)
	*SE		0.71 (0.64)							0.13 (0.90)
Political trust (ref=DK)				−2.02*** (0.42)			0.26 (0.61)	1.22* (0.59)	0.06 (0.46)	0.15 (0.81)
	*NO			−1.20* (0.55)						1.03 (0.22)
	*SE			−1.21* (0.50)						−0.01 (0.99)
Media trust (ref=DK)					−2.86*** (0.46)		−1.87** (0.61)	−4.64*** (0.55)	−3.32*** (0.40)	−1.82** (0.00)
	*NO				−2.53*** (0.60)					−2.76*** (0.00)
	*SE				−1.32* (0.53)					−1.44* (0.05)
Social trust (ref=DK)						−0.74* (0.37)	0.51 (0.46)	0.43 (0.41)	0.57† (0.31)	0.46 (0.31)
	*NO					−0.96* (0.48)				−0.13 (0.83)
	*SE					−0.61 (0.44)				0.17 (0.76)
Constant		−3.377	−4.632	−1.792	−1.368	−2.532	−3.271	−2.146	−1.855	−3.4
r2 (pseudo)		0.124	0.161	0.118	0.186	0.068	0.103	0.278	0.214	0.229
n		5958	5958	5958	5958	5958	1958	2009	1991	5958

† p < 0.1,

* p < 0.05,

** p < 0.01,

*** p < 0.001

Predicted probability of daily/weekly use of alternative media by support for different dimensions of far-right ideas
**Comments:** Predicted probabilities from binary logistic regression models, controlling for gender, age, education.
Composite indices:
Immigration scepticism: We should make it easier for immigrants to gain access to [Norway/Sweden/Denmark] (reversed); Immigration is a serious threat to our national character.
Authoritarianism: We should reinstate the death penalty for certain criminal offenses; The most important thing that children should learn is respect for authorities; [Norway/Denmark/Sweden] is a lawless society; Having a strong leader in government is good for [Norway/Sweden/Denmark], even if the leader bends the rules to get things done.
Populism: The people, not the politicians, must make the final decisions on law and politics; The [Danish/Norwegian/Swedish] democracy works well (reversed); Politicians in [Denmark/Norway/Sweden] act in accordance with the will of the people (reversed).
Anti-gender equliaty: Men are oppressed in today’s [Denmark/Norway/Sweden]; Conditions should be created to achieve more equality between women and men (reversed).
Far-right extremism: It is okay to use violence to defend [Danish/Norwegian/Swedish] culture; Violence between different ethnic, racial, or religious groups is largely inevitable; Only people with white skin color should be allowed to live in [Denmark/Norway/Sweden].

Predicted probability of use of alternative media by party affiliation and support for far-right ideas
**Comments:** Predicted probabilities from multinomial logistic regression models, controlling for gender, age, education.

Predicted probability of use of alternative media by political, media, and social trust
**Comments:** Predicted probabilities from multinomial logistic regression models, controlling for gender, age, education.

Predicted probability of daily/weekly use of traditional newspapers and national broadcasters by party affiliation and support for far-right ideas
**Comments:** Predicted probabilities from logistic regression models, controlling for gender, age, education.

Predicted probability of daily/weekly use of traditional newspapers and national broadcasters by political, media, and social trust
**Comments:** Predicted probabilities from logistic regression models, controlling for gender, age, education.

References

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/nor-2025-0019 | Journal eISSN: 2001-5119 | Journal ISSN: 1403-1108

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Language: English

Page range: 217 - 249

Published on: Sep 26, 2025

Published by: University of Gothenburg Nordicom

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

Keywords:

right-wing alternative media,

Related subjects:

Communication science,

Mass communication,

Public and political communication

© 2025 Kari Steen-Johnsen, Audun Fladmoe, Karoline Andrea Ihlebæk, published by University of Gothenburg Nordicom
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Volume 46 (2025): Issue 2 (June 2025)

Right-wing alternative media users in Scandinavia: A comparative study of ideological attitudes and (dis)trust

Figures & Tables

Table 1

Table 2

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Table A1

Table A2

Table A3

Table A4

Figure A1

Figure A2

Figure A3

Figure A4

Figure A5

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