Last week, SVT did an interview with Carl-Oskar Bohlin (M), Minister for Civil Defence. The plan was that the conversation would be included in the documentary series "Swedish pain points" and also cut down to shorter news items in, for example, Rapport. The publication was supposed to take place on Thursday, but SVT's news management chose to postpone it, which the newspaper Journalisten was the first to notice.
The theme of the demanding interview was high-ranking politicians' tone of voice and criticism of the media. Carl-Oskar Bohlin himself had the hearing filmed and has published it on his YouTube channel. He has named it "45 minutes of test-driven questions from SVT". He describes SVT's thesis as "criticism of the media risks undermining society's trust", and writes that he does not share it.
Kristina Lagerström is a reporter at SVT and was the one who did the interview with the minister.
- We must review those in power, it is a natural part of the work. I am the first to agree with Carl-Oskar Bohlin that it is a very strange interview. He barely accepted the premise that it was an interview, but started debating with me and questioning my questions. This made the interview difficult to conduct and took forever.
She believes that there is a great risk that those who see the clip perceive it as a journalistic end product, when in fact it is raw material that must be cut and processed before broadcast.
Kristina Lagerström is critical of the news management's decision to postpone the documentary and believes that it could have been published as planned.
- I think it's regrettable, I feel frustrated. It is especially important to stick to your plan when the person in power comes out and criticizes the interview and starts a drive against the editors. I have received quite a lot of hate by email.
She believes that the situation is ironic:
- That we cannot publish as we intended, when the interview is about him counterattacking individual publications, and relevant questions are asked about his behavior in relation to that, is incredibly ironic. It feels unreal.
Karin Ekman is program area manager at SVT Nyheter, and has made the decision to postpone the feature.
- It is normal for us that we have a variable deadline, which is moved back and forth depending on how the work progresses. I looked at the program yesterday to see how far we have come and could tell that we are not done yet. The team is working hard to get it done.
Karin Ekman also says that no new date has been set yet and that publication may take place both before and after the election.
Do you see any risk in you postponing this particular interview, given that the minister himself went out and published it in advance?
- It is a clever situation given the debate that has arisen. But we cannot, because of this debate or other views on our journalism, publish to face suspicion. I sympathize with Kristina and understand her well. We must ensure that the journalism we offer is thoroughly reviewed and corresponds to the ambition we had with the job from the beginning.
Why did you post the interview on your YouTube channel before SVT published it?
2. I have interviewed the reporter who says that there is a great risk that those who see the clip perceive it as a journalistic end product, when in fact it is raw material to be cut and processed before broadcast. It is therefore misleading.
How do you comment on that?
