Do Politicians Lead the Tango?

Abstract

The relationship between journalists and their political sources is often described as symbiotic. Furthermore, political sources are often regarded as more powerful than journalists in this relationship. However, most of the research referred to in the international literature is done in the US or Britain. Therefore, the question regarding the relationship between journalists and their political sources, in terms of power, needs to be asked in other countries. This article examines the relationship between journalists and their political sources in Sweden during the National Election in 2002, and in so doing makes a distinction between the power over the process of news making and the media agenda, and the power over the content and the framing of news stories. The results show the importance of making such a distinction. They also show that, in Sweden, it is the journalists and not their political sources that lead the tango most of the time.