This study examines how the most viewed Swedish entertainment shows represent the population of Sweden in 2005 compared to 2020. This was executed through quantitative coding and content analysis of the participants in the chosen television programs and compared to the population in Sweden during these separate years. The coding was based on the dimensions juridical sex, skin color, age, residence, profession/social group and whether the participant had a visible or pronounced disability. Moreover the study investigated if there is a better representation on the shows that are aired by Swedish public service, than by the commercial channels. The result showed a big improvement in representation of non-white participants from year 2005 to year 2020, but that there are still a few shortcomings in some of the dimensions, such as in the dimension visible or pronounced disability. The improvements in representation are in accordance with McQuails normative theory – that the media will adapt their content to the demands of the public, one of them being diversity. Another result of the study was that the entertainment programs in public service had a more fair representation than the commercial channels in the dimensions: gender, skin color and age. This is in accordance with McQuails theory on Public Broadcasting. Despite this, the Public Service channel did not live up to the requirements on diversity from the state in several dimensions in the selected programs. The lack of representation of the society as an entirety that the results showed can be interpreted as a threat to democracy since it does not allow everyone to take part in the public sphere that television as a medium consists of.

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