Interview with Ingrid Thörnqvist of Sweden's STV
ZEYNEP YÜNCÜLER
yunculerzeynep@gmail.com / @yunculerzeynep
We were supposed to hold an interview with Ingrid Thörnqvist, editor of foreign news desk of Sweden’s state TV STV Nyheter, on ‘freedom of press’ at the beginning of December. However, it was not found, by Turkey’s Directorate General of Press and Information, ‘proper’ for me to travel abroad with a ‘gray (service) passport’.
As I was not able to have the chance to conduct a face to face interview with my colleague Thörngvist, we exchanged messages online.
In Sweden, where freedom of expression and press was brought under protection of law as a first in the world in 1766, there is currently not even one journalist detained.
As a journalist from the country with the most number of journalists in jail, Turkey, I spoke with Mrs. Thörnqvist about conditions and practices surrounding media in Sweden.
‘Swedish media organizations protested against closure of media companies in Turkey”
As I reminded Thörngvist that over 100 journalists in Turkey are currently in jail, numerous media institutions have been shut down by decrees passed under state of emergency, and, at least 2300 media professionals lost their jobs, Thörnqvist commented by stating: “Freedom of speech is crucial for democracy. Citizens can only form their political opinions if they are provided with true facts and balanced, impartial reporting. Swedish media organizations have protested against the closure of Turkish media companies.”
There have been demonstrations in Turkey, as well, however, pressure on the media has increased day by day, houses of journalists have been raided by police, and journalists get threatened because of their reporting. Since there are no such incidents in Sweden, I asked Thörnqvist what has been done for Swedish journalist Dawit Isask, who is currently jailed in Eritrea.
Thörnqvist said, “Swedish journalists trade unions, some newspapers and many human rights organizations have protested and demonstrated against this. The Swedish government claims it is working with diplomacy to get him freed. Reporters without borders in Sweden and globally work a lot with these issues.”
‘Journalists’ sources are very strongly protected in Sweden’
When I mentioned again that journalists in Turkey get targetted and threatened,Thörnqvist responded by highlighting that ‘freedom of speech is a constitutional right and that journalists’ sources are very strongly protected.’
Thörnqvist added: “It is not allowed, according to the constitution, to ask a journalist where he /she got their information. The constitution protects the sources, people who want to deliver information to journalists, who I think is essential and gives security for whistleblowers. As a public service channel we are not allowed to take sides in any political issues and we have to be impartial and balanced. We have rules for publication - like not publishing the name and face of suspects before they are sentenced. We are not allowed to discriminate people for their political opinions, race, religion or sex. There is a special board which decides if we (in public service) have broken these rules. If they decide that we did, we have to publish their decision.”
‘In Turkey, we have received accreditation for our correspondents’
Earlier in November (2016), two journalists from Sweden had been questioned by police in Turkey’s southeast city Diyarbakır for having taken images/footage in the area around the hotel they were staying, where parts of it were designated as military zones. At that time, Thörnqvist’s statement was: “This is something that not only happens to our journalists, it's an everyday thing there now.”
When I asked about her comments on this, Thörnqvist said: We always try to obtain the permissions needed for journalists before we go to other countries. Many countries require special permissions and visas; we deal with these documents daily.
In Turkey we have received accreditation for our correspondents working there. In Diyarbakir we need a special permission because it is a war zone. We have obtained these permissions and we realize that the authorities need to check this, especially in a tense situation as in Turkey now.
Our correspondents have been treated well and were allowed to continue their reporting after being checked.”
Source: https://www.birgun.net/haber-detay/gazeteciler-de-kaynaklari-da-koruma-altinda-141063.html