Since the 1960s, the Nordic system of newspaper subsidies has been based on a combination
of direct support for selected titles in need and indirect tax support for the entire press industry
in the form of reduced or zero-rate VAT for subscribed newspapers and magazines (Ots et al.
2016). Although the Nordic countries have been regarded as so-called “Media Welfare States”
(Syvertsen et al. 2014) with relatively similar media support systems, Finland practically
abandoned direct press subsidies and the traditional dual Nordic subsidy model already in the
1990s (Ala-Fossi 2020).
Despite the large amount of public money used on newspaper subsidies over the decades, there
is not much academic research on their impact – or how distinctive national support schemes
and objectives may have on their part differentiated the structure of the newspaper markets in
the Nordics (see eg. Wiren et al. 2021). Nordic newspaper publishing companies have also
faced significant changes and challenges in their business environment (Björkroth & Grönlund,
2015).
Our paper examines whether different approaches to public support for newspapers have
affected the structure of the newspaper publishing landscape in three Nordic countries:
Finland, Sweden and Norway. For this we analyse the financial performance of the newspaper
publishing industry in these countries. Examining and understanding their financial
performance is important when discussing the objectives pursued and already achieved by the
state support policy to newspapers (see for example Gustafsson et al. 2009). In all, with our
paper we can contribute to the study of the newspaper business in the context of specific kinds
of media systems.
Our research question is as follows:
RQ How has the media and support policy influenced the structure and financial performance
of newspaper publishing companies in 2005-2019 in the three Nordic countries?
Our dataset comprises financial key figures of the newspaper publishing companies in Finland,
Norway and Sweden. An extensive financial statement analysis (profitability, solidity,
liquidity, productivity etc.) is done in all three countries. The time span of the financial key
figure analysis is 2005–2019.