PtG Article 07.04.2006

Handball sponsor threatens life of sports editor

A Danish sports editor has reported a death threat to the police after a sponsor of a local handball club threatened to "smash up your face and find some people to kill you."

The incident took place outside a stadium after a semi-final in the Danish championship for women handball teams. One of the teams was Aalborg DH that has been marked by a series of dubious financial problems.

The sports editor, Mikkel B.Ottesen, has been covering the affairs of the club in a critical manner, and that is what incensed the sponsor.

"He called me a liar and said I wrote lies about the club in the newspaper," Mikkel B. Ottesen told Danish TV2.

The sponsor denies threathening the sports editor but there was a witness to the episode that is now being investigated by the Danish police.

The sports editor says that he and other journalists have had brushes with the sponsor before but it is the first time he has received death threats. The editor has reported the episode to the police because he believes that journalists have the right to carry out their work without being threathened.

See Play the Game's list of threats against sports journalists