Sweden Democrats demand public broadcasters explain role in trust surveys

The Sweden Democrats (SD) want the directors of Swedish public broadcasters SR and SVT to appear before parliament’s Culture Committee following reports that SD voters are underrepresented in trust surveys conducted by the SOM Institute, according to SVT Nyheter.

The right-wing news site Kvartal recently reported that SD supporters are systematically undercounted in the SOM Institute’s surveys measuring public trust in institutions, including public service media. The institute has acknowledged that SD voters respond at lower rates than other groups but maintains that the survey is distributed equally.

SD leader Jimmie Åkesson criticised both the SOM Institute and media outlets for “uncritically spreading manipulated data.” Now, SD’s culture policy spokesperson Alexander Christiansson is pushing for SR and SVT chiefs to testify before the committee, arguing that the broadcasters have used the flawed data in debates against him.

“It is extremely serious if public service companies have been aware that the trust results were not weighted and have still used them in arguments against me,” Christiansson told SVT. He also reacted strongly to reports that SVT and SR co-finance the SOM surveys, calling it “terribly serious.”

The SOM Institute has clarified that while media companies contribute funding, it retains full control over methodology and reporting. It also stated that weighting responses by party preference would make little difference to the trust ratings for SVT, falling within the survey’s margin of error.

In written responses, SVT’s communications director Hanna Dowling referred to the SOM Institute’s statement, while SR’s press chief Claes Bertilsson declined to comment on SD’s demand for a committee hearing.

The SOM Institute has defended its approach, noting that weighting is not a universal solution and can introduce greater uncertainty in survey results.