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39 current and former Swedish Radio journalists are launching a call against racism in the company.
Mona Ismail Jama from the Somali editorial office of Radio Sweden says:
– Sometimes colleagues come without showing up and ask if we know someone who sells weapons.
The call is based on protests by Black Lives Important, which according to four initiators Palmira Koukkari Mbenga, Maya Abdullah, Mona Ismail Jama and Freshta Dost have exposed serious problems on Swedish radio.
“Swedish radio does not reflect the whole of Sweden, neither among the employees nor in its content. There are very few black employees in the company and other groups with large diasporas in Sweden are also severely under-represented. “
The appeal is twelve pages long. It claims, among other things, that minorities are casually portrayed as victims or perpetrators in reports and news, that white newsrooms misjudge the magnitude of various social problems, and that almost all managers are white, who in turn employ white employees, even if sometimes they are not qualified.
Photo: Private
Freshta Dost.
Freshta Dost, who works at P3 Nyheter in Gothenburg, has often felt exotic, excluded and invisible.
– An unknown colleague from Stockholm called me when I was new to SR and asked if he could read a talk in which he would sound like a Bulgarian beggar. It was important that the pause be heard. For me it was a very strange question, I don’t know how a person from Bulgaria breaks, he says.
Freshta has also been asked to play an ISIS sympathizer, and she knows several male colleagues on Swedish radio who have been asked to play criminals.
– There are patterns in our stories that bear witness to the structures and culture within Swedish radio, says Freshta Dost.
Photo: Private
Mona Ismail Jama |
Mona Ismail Jama of Radio Sweden Somali is critical of many of SR’s programs.
– The description of reality is very skewed. Just go to an editorial office and you will see who works there. Journalists must be objective, but each has their own backpack. If you have a certain number of Södermalm backpacks, then you do not represent society.
He recounts when a white colleague walked into his editorial office without introducing himself and asked if they knew of anyone who sold guns.
– There are two things I react to. You enter the newsroom in a disrespectful way, without introducing yourself. I don’t think he would have behaved like this if he had joined an ethnic Swedish newsroom. Second, all Somalis are believed to know where to buy weapons.
On another occasion, in fourth place, a coach told Mona that “you have chosen the Swedish style.”
– I asked him what he meant. He said “you probably have friends who work at ICA, so you have chosen the Swedish path.” It is the racism of low expectations, it is the racism against the Somali majority that is expressed there.
Photo: Mattias Alm / Swedish Radio
Palmira Koukkari Mbenga.
Palmira Koukkari Mbenga at P3 Nyheter and the others who signed the appeal are now demanding more employees from minority groups.
– We want at least 25 percent of employees to have foreign backgrounds and 15 percent to be non-European. This will also apply to managerial positions.
Racism within SR affects not only employees, but listeners as well, according to her.
– When something happens in a country that has a large diaspora in Sweden, it is very easy for it to only be seen as foreign news. It is not believed that there are many people here in Sweden who are also affected.
Photo: Swedish Radio
Maya Abdullah |
Maya Abdullah of Sveriges Radios Eko-redaktion agrees with:
– There is a daily resistance when we talk about journalism, what perspectives should we raise. We need to pitch three times more than other colleagues for a topic to be included in the news feed.
Sveriges Radio CEO Cilla Benkö says she was concerned when she read the appeal, but then adds:
– When we check the facts found in this data on journalism and hiring, we find things that are not included or things that are not really correct. So it is the case that the feelings are correct, we cannot take them away from these employees, Benkö tells SR.
Maya Abdullah criticizes his statement:
– Our CEO accuses us of factual errors, but has so far failed to point to any. It is depressing that top management rejects an elaborate factual appeal and rejects the testimonies of nearly 40 employees. This in itself is proof of the discriminatory and racist structures of the company.
Lena K Samuelsson, Editor-in-Chief of Aftonbladet, says:
– It is just to state that all the big media, including Aftonbladet, are bad at reflecting the diversity that today constitutes Sweden. We mainly hire from journalistic training, so there is already a limitation. Since newsrooms look the way they do, it certainly affects those who are actively running for us. This means that we also need to get better at finding skills that don’t always come here.
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