Updated 19.04 | Published 18.12
Aftonbladet has reviewed Göran Thorstenson’s and Birgitta Ed’s foundation.
Now Thorstenson hopes that the reporter will have to “pay a high price” for his review, in an email to Dagens Nyheter.
– It is part of a larger trend to brand individual journalists, says DN’s editor-in-chief Peter Wolodarski.
The Fållöknastiftelsen, which is run by the prime minister’s wife Birgitta Ed and her partner Göran Thorstenson, has been the subject of scrutiny in Aftonbladet.
The volunteers – lobbyists and business leaders
Reporter Lisa Röstlund reveals, among other things, that everyone connected to the foundation’s mansion works for free in exchange towards “a good network”except Ed, who invoices SEK 22,000 a month.
Röstlund also succeeded wallraffa Fållökna during a working day. Using a fake name, she registered, got past the Säpo guards without showing identification – all the way into the prime minister’s bedroom.
READ THE FULL REVIEW HERE
The articles are not liked by Thorstenson.
In an email sent to a DN writer who wrote about the review, Thorstenson writes that he “sincerely” hopes that the DN writer and Röstlund “one day have to pay a high price for what you are now contributing to”. This is reported by DN’s editor-in-chief Peter Wolodarski in a column.
Wolodarski considers the wording “remarkable” and “unfunny”.
– There may be threats sometimes, but I can’t remember a person in this position so close to the prime minister sending something like this.
How do you interpret the email?
– That it is part of a larger trend in our time to brand individual journalists who are doing their job. It will cost money to review, the purpose of that, one might ask, is it to keep quiet? That it should be so unpleasant to do a review like this that you simply refrain from it.
“Reasonable to report”
The email from Thorstenson was not sent with the intention of publishing, as Wolodarski interprets it. Nevertheless, the newspaper published a short extract from it.
– I think the wording is so remarkable and unusual that when I wrote about this whole story about the journalistic and what has been done by Aftonbladet, I thought it was reasonable to report his reaction to us.
The wording was sent to your employee, have you taken any action?
– The measure we have taken is to make it public, that is to say tell us what he is up to and write to us in an email. It is good if there is a discussion about this and that he gets to explain himself.
Aftonbladet is looking for Göran Thorstenson via email.
