En demokratibestämmelse i mediestödet – hindrande åtgärd i TF:s mening?

Sammanfattning: Swedish state aid to the press (presstödet) aims to ensure diversity in news publishing and advocacy and is considered to fill an important democratic function. However, the technical development has left the aid system obsolete, and plans are under way to replace the system in its current form with a technology neutral aid (mediestöd), addressing news media of all content forms and means of dissemination. A recurring debate in this context has been whether the new aid system is to include a so called “democracy criterion”, requiring publishing companies that receive aid to display “democratic values”. A corresponding rule already exists in the Swedish Radio and Television Act. The legal conditions surrounding such a rule targeting the press are, however, fundamentally different. Above all, it can be questioned whether a democracy criterion would cause the state aid to be considered a preventive action in violation of the Freedom of the Press Act, which forms part of the Swedish constitution. In this thesis, it is argued that so, in fact, would be the case. It is also maintained that arguments relating to the democracy promoting objective of the criterion are of no relevance to the legal analysis.