But in the 2000s , the climate has become tougher. I make no bones about it influenced my decision to retire. To be mistrusted, questioned and accused both the one other sucks. Last week, I was accused of being accomplices to the development that Sweden has undergone in the last five-ten years. It was referring to the increasing flow of refugees.
Another reader called and claimed that we concealed the events in Cologne, Kalmar and Stockholm, although they dominated both the news and opinion pages every day since they became famous. The same reader also thought we’d post pictures of the severed heads as well as the three-year-drowning in the Mediterranean. I tried to explain what the press ethics, but I fell on deaf ears.
Unfortunately it helps not to present the facts to people who get their worldview of so called alternative sites that spread their poison. They are hostile to refugees, politicians, journalists and establishment. Unverified information, generalizations and rumors may continue to spread through the rapid divisions or press the “Like” button in social media.
The contempt for the facts are devastating. When complex issues are black and white, when knowledge and science replaced by enjoying a meal, or interpretations of what someone like-minded posted in his Facebook feed, then there is reason to be concerned about social development.
Right Populism and nationalism spreading in Europe. Russia, Hungary and Poland have taken great strides away from Western democracy.
We see similar tendencies in Sweden. Organized Web campaigns aimed at reducing confidence in the established media. Debater Isobel Hadley-Kamptz made in an article in the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet week parallels with Putin’s Russia. “… we know today how Russia is aiming to destabilize the world by spreading rumors on the net. We know their paid troll armies, which spread both directly and Putin propaganda as more subtle smokescreens. The aim is to reduce the social community and trust and reduce the psychological defense, then the defense will and the resilience to pressure and precisely disinformation “.
Individual journalists are persecuted and threatened. We risk self-censor ourselves to avoid unpleasant emails and phone calls. I myself have avoided writing columns about certain topics that I’ve been looking forward to a quiet weekend with his wife.
There are also political forces in Sweden who want to go to the Hungarian and Polish way and restrict freedom of expression and control journalism. The conclusion is that what Helsingborgs Dagblad stands for, a free independent journalism is needed more than ever.
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