'Killed Too Few Muslims': Christian Democrats Lock Horns With Swedish Radio Over Botched Quote
© AFP 2023 / KICKI NILSSON
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The Christian Democrats have accused the tax-financed national broadcaster of spreading “pure lies” and said they won't tolerate misinformation from anyone during this election year. Swedish Radio admitted the misquotes and distortions in the aftermath of the recent Muslim unrest and ascribed them to “stress”.
After having their leader Ebba Busch misquoted by Swedish Radio over the Muslim riots that gripped the Nordic country after a series of Quran-burnings by Rasmus Paludan, the Christian Democrats have demanded a meeting with the broadcaster's leadership.
After the Easter riots, the Christian Democrats leader Ebba Busch spoke about dozens of injured policemen and asked rhetorically: “Why don't we have at least a hundred injured Islamists, a hundred injured criminals, a hundred injured rioters?”
In a news piece by Swedish Radio's Arabic page, however, “Islamists” were rendered into “Muslims”. Subsequently, it transpired that Swedish Radio's Somali page distorted Busch's statement even more. A caption to a portrait of Busch read: “Christian Democrat leader Ebba [Busch] accuses the police of killing too few Muslims”.
Christian Democrats Peter Kullgren complained to the news outlet Doku that Swedish Radio spread “pure lies” in channels where they are most difficult to detect, adding that the party is “extremely upset”.
“The fact that it happened in both the Arabic and Somali broadcasts indicates that it is a part of the system. We demand an explanation and a meeting with the management of Swedish Radio. They now have to explain how they manage their publishing business. It is four months until the election and we won't accept misinformation from anyone,” Kullgren said.
In a written response, Swedish Radio's editor-in-chief Gaby Katz regretted what had happened.
“It is very sad that it has gone wrong, and therefore good that it has been pointed out so that we can correct the errors and reach out – we are now clear that corrections have been made. We also ensure that there is nothing similar in other publications about this. All we want is for the reporting to be correct and accurate,” Gaby Katz said.
“It is very sad that it has gone wrong, and therefore good that it has been pointed out so that we can correct the errors and reach out – we are now clear that corrections have been made. We also ensure that there is nothing similar in other publications about this. All we want is for the reporting to be correct and accurate,” Gaby Katz said.
Responsible publisher Klas Wolf-Watz admitted the errors and ventured that they possibly had been made “under stress”. At the same time, he pledged to review the routines to make sure that it doesn't occur again.
Swedish Radio is tax-financed and led by a board appointed by the Swedish government.
In April, Swedish-Danish politician Rasmus Paludan and his anti-Islamist party Hard Line held a self-proclaimed “election tour” of Swedish cities, focusing on immigrant districts, where several copies of the Quran were burned for ideological reasons and in celebration of free speech. The demonstrations unleashed massive Islamic riots, with arson, stone-throwing and violence. Overall, dozens of policemen were injured and at least 40 locals were detained, including minors. The damages in the aftermath of riots sprawling across several Swedish cities, from the capital city Stockholm to Malmö in the south, has been estimated at millions of kronor.
Paludan was subsequently reported to police to incitement of ethnic hatred and denied permissions to hold similar demonstrations.
