Abstract The question of how ownership impacts on the performance of the press is a perennial one. Despite the extensive attention devoted to the perceived consequences of ownership, information about what newspaper owners actually do remains limited. This article discusses an alternative path for research on media ownership. It involves the board of directors, the main agency that is expected to exercise ownership power. The article presents a study that focuses specifically on the decision-making in and around the boardrooms of three Swedish newspaper firms between 1955 and 2005. Building on analyses of board meeting minutes and interviews with board members, the study shows that the impact of ownership is established, and develops, in an intricate web of interacting forces, internal and external to the firm. It thus underlines the need for both a multi-theoretical foundation and a multi-method design in research on ownership influence in the media.

中文翻译：

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董事会帝国？

摘要所有权如何影响新闻界的表现是一个长期存在的问题。尽管人们对所有权的感知后果给予了广泛关注，但有关报纸所有者实际行为的信息仍然有限。本文讨论了媒体所有权研究的另一种途径。它涉及董事会，董事会是行使所有权的主要机构。本文介绍了一项研究，该研究专门研究了1955年至2005年瑞典三家报业公司及其内部董事会的决策。基于对董事会会议记录的分析和对董事会成员的采访，该研究表明所有权的影响是在公司内部和外部的复杂相互作用网络中建立和发展。