Wednesday, May 11, 2005
Thought-control in Sweden
Public Service, praised by Marxist/Radikal media gurus/professors (what's a title anyway) Noam Chomsky, Walter Lippmann, Ben Bagdikian and Robert McChesney seems to be a paradise if you share their political opinion.
In Europe the public service broadcasting companies are now putting censorship on their reporters. If you're a right-wing journalist, that is. Last year, the Swedish blogger Gudmundson (article in Swedish + another article in English) had to stop his hobby of blogging, due to demands raised by his superiors at the Swedish Broadcasting Company (SVT). The newly appointed Chairman of the SVT Committee Board Lars Engqvist (which appoints, among other things, all the important executives at the SVT Company) has already stressed the importance of a truly free broadcasting service. He just happens to be a long-time member of the Social Democratic government. His predecessor is the former Social Democratic Minister of the Treasury.) For some reason though, it seems to be perfectly alright for SVT employees to attend Communist rallies (article in Swedish) during First of May parades, or to keep commenting on current events (like former journalist Björn Elmbrant's show on "Hyper Capitalism") with radical leftist or progressive ideas. Fancy that! "Free television" is the new campaign slogan of SVT which they air in their daily self-promoting ads. And noone is free under the oppression of capitalism.
As a teacher at the Lund School of Journalism I see the breeding stock that is on it's way to enter fashionable media corporations like SVT. And their world view is horrible to say the least. (Although their knowledge level is just as low as their arguments.) A general hatred of the US, Israel and anything right of center (center being the Social Democrats...) is considered a right-wing conspiracy. Aah, too many anecdotes to tell about this kind of students: Michael Moore is a great journalist, Reagan came to power because of a CIA conspiracy with Iran, the capitalists are controlling media outlets, and so on...
To say that journalists suffer from paranoia is unfortunately not an overstatement. When they get money from a government-sponsored Public Service broadcasting network to bring out their world views things can only be expected to get as bad as in Sweden.
In Europe the public service broadcasting companies are now putting censorship on their reporters. If you're a right-wing journalist, that is. Last year, the Swedish blogger Gudmundson (article in Swedish + another article in English) had to stop his hobby of blogging, due to demands raised by his superiors at the Swedish Broadcasting Company (SVT). The newly appointed Chairman of the SVT Committee Board Lars Engqvist (which appoints, among other things, all the important executives at the SVT Company) has already stressed the importance of a truly free broadcasting service. He just happens to be a long-time member of the Social Democratic government. His predecessor is the former Social Democratic Minister of the Treasury.) For some reason though, it seems to be perfectly alright for SVT employees to attend Communist rallies (article in Swedish) during First of May parades, or to keep commenting on current events (like former journalist Björn Elmbrant's show on "Hyper Capitalism") with radical leftist or progressive ideas. Fancy that! "Free television" is the new campaign slogan of SVT which they air in their daily self-promoting ads. And noone is free under the oppression of capitalism.
As a teacher at the Lund School of Journalism I see the breeding stock that is on it's way to enter fashionable media corporations like SVT. And their world view is horrible to say the least. (Although their knowledge level is just as low as their arguments.) A general hatred of the US, Israel and anything right of center (center being the Social Democrats...) is considered a right-wing conspiracy. Aah, too many anecdotes to tell about this kind of students: Michael Moore is a great journalist, Reagan came to power because of a CIA conspiracy with Iran, the capitalists are controlling media outlets, and so on...
To say that journalists suffer from paranoia is unfortunately not an overstatement. When they get money from a government-sponsored Public Service broadcasting network to bring out their world views things can only be expected to get as bad as in Sweden.
