Introduction: The future of the digital media welfare state

For decades, comparative media studies have classified and compared differentmedia systems around the world. Analyses suggest that the media systems ofthe Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden) sharecertain traits, rendering them media welfare states. In this introductory chapter,we discuss the constituents of the Nordic media model and its contemporary statusand challenges. We then introduce the 14 chapters included in this volume. Thechapters are written by Nordic scholars and deal with a range of aspects connectedto the transformation or stability of the Nordic media system in the digital era.