Swedish Radio raps journalist for private blogging

If you work for Swedish State Radio (Sveriges Radio), you'd best not criticize the Swedish government on your personal blog. And if you post anything from YouTube, be ready for one pissed off boss.

That's the message being sent George Wood, author of the pleasant Notes from Sweden blog and an employee of Sveriges Radio.

In Notes from Sweden, Wood provides a service the Swedish Foreign Ministry should be eternally grateful for. In well-written, unsnarky, varied posts, Wood shows the world that Sweden is not the freezing, windy, overtaxed, overregulated backwater you might, in fact, believe it to be. He applauds Swedish innovations in energy, looks into its space program, helpfully warns against phishing and plugs local business. And that's just in the last couple of weeks. I say again, without an atom of hyperbole, the Swedes should genuinely be grateful for this guy.

Except nothing can change the fact that Sweden is a freezing, windy, overtaxed and overregulated backwater. How do I know? Well, when Wood had the temerity to mildly criticize the Swedish government-- this is like an American bitching about Congress -- his boss, Anne Sseruwagi, dropped down on him like a puma out of a tree. You see, if you work for Swedish State Radio, you are apparently not allowed to express political opinions publicly. Read that again, and let it sink in. For that -- and featuring YouTube clips on his blog -- he got called onto the carpet. And was lucky to keep his job.

From the Swedish press reports, it appears Wood will be able to continue blogging, at least until the bureaucrats at Swedish State Radio get their minds around the concept of private bloggers. I hope they will come up with an enlightened blogging policy, but Wood's experience indicates they might not have the mindset for it.

Technorati : anne sseruwagi, citizen journalism, george wood, notes from sweden, sveriges radio, swedish radio

Posted by Allan Jenkins on February 14, 2007 at 06:43 PM in Civil Liberty, Journalism | Permalink

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