In a letter, 39 employees and former employees of Swedish Radio accuse the company of racism and lack of representation.
– The main problem is that SR does not reflect Sweden, neither in journalism nor among those who work here, large and important diasporas in Sweden are severely underrepresented when it comes to who works here and also in our reporting.
Is the problem mainly about journalism or the work environment?
– Both and, it is not possible to separate them completely. Journalism is affected by the work environment, it is affected by who works here and the conditions for racists who work here. It can be that it is difficult to get through your ideas and your angles and perspectives due to what it looks like in managerial positions
The letter, which has now been signed by 39 people who was sent to SR’s management for about a month, gives examples of when employees have been discriminated against. Among other things, it requires that recruitment be reviewed and that the company set a long-term goal that at least 25 percent of the employees must have a foreign background and that at least 15 percent of the employees must have a non-European background.
Swedish Radio’s CEO Cilla Benkรถ says that she was worried when she received the letter, but that she does not agree that there would be major problems with structural racism in the company.
– When we check the facts that are in this data that is about journalism and recruitment, then we find things that are not included or things that are actually not correct. Then it is the case that the feelings are correct, we can not take them away from these employees. We must continue to talk about what we have a work environment and we treat each other, she says.
– Every fourth employee at SR has a foreign background, we would not have that if we were a company with structural racism.
They claim that the higher up you get in the hierarchy, the whiter it is.
– I do not agree with that, but it is clear that it takes a while before you become the top manager at SR, for me it is not just skin color that comes into play. For me, it is important that we have employees with different backgrounds and different perspectives and you can have a foreign background and bring relevant perspectives and experiences into a discussion even if you have a white skin color.
Source: ICELAND NEWS