Published 5 April 2023 at 16.53
Media. The Media Ethics Committee blames Dagens Nyheter for having violated good journalistic practice. This after the newspaper, in a news text in the culture section, allowed a person to accuse the left-wing debater Kajsa “Ekis” Ekman of being a “front figure in the new transphobic movement”.
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TwittraShareOn September 1, 2022, Dagens Nyheter published an article about how the appointment of Kajsa Ekis Ekman as editor-in-chief of the left-wing newspaper Arbetaren drew fierce internal criticism.
One of the newspaper's employees, Mika Kastner, was quoted as follows about Ekis Ekman:
– We reacted immediately that it was a person who lacked the necessary managerial experience, but also that it would be a bad image and orientation for the newspaper. It was partly about her stance on foreign policy and her relativizing of Russia Today. Partly about her role as front figure in the new transphobic movement.
DN's publication was reported to the Media Ombudsman by Kajsa Ekis Ekman, who stated that she was very offended by the wording “front figure in the new transphobic movement”. She also stated that the newspaper had not allowed her to comment on the claim.
The claims about her “foreign policy stances” and “relativizing Russia Today” were also reproduced without context and without comments from her, which, according to Kajsa Ekis Ekman, made her appear as an unpleasant and suspicious person. It was not specified what the positions would be, which made it difficult for readers to form an opinion, according to the report.
The media ombudsman considered that Kajsa Ekis Ekman can accept things like the claim about Russia Today because she “is a very experienced debater and has acted on many issues in the public arena for decades”.
In contrast, it was not acceptable that she was portrayed as a “transphobe” in this way, according to the Media Ombudsman:
“To be portrayed as a person with such an attitude is derogatory. It is a person whose arguments are considered to lack weight, someone you do not need to listen to or take seriously. With portraying someone with such a phobia comes a desire to exclude that person from the discussion, 'cancelled' is a term that is often used in today's debate.”
Against this background, the Media Ombudsman considered that DN caused Kajsa Ekis Ekman unjustifiable publicity damage for which the newspaper should be criticized.
The Media Ethics Committee now shares MO's assessment and blames DN for having violated good journalistic practice.