ABSTRACT
In a debate organized by the Swedish public broadcasting company Radiotjänst, Olof Forsén, head of the talks section, admitted that radio had hardly challenged listeners during its first three decades. Forsén attributed this to the “considerable extenuating circumstances” surrounding the new medium, and explained Radiotjänst's approach thusly:
At the time we used to say that one should “disturb neither God nor Hitler”, and obviously no swear words could crop up. In radio, we stuck to the view that we could hope to remain free so long as we kept ourselves neutral and didn't touch upon exciting issues. Otherwise we would become state radio, and lose the freedom that we appreciated so highly.
(quoted in Hadenius 1998, p. 119)