Speculative story led to death threats
An ordinary news story speculating about the potential purchase of a new player for a local football club, Mjällby AIF, led to death threats against a Swedish radio reporter. The first threat came an hour after the broadcast in December 2005 where an anonymous man informed the reporter that his life would be over if the story meant that the deal fell through.
The reporter, Fredrik Persson, immediately reported the threat to the police who has taken it very seriously as it appears to have been made by someone with knowledge about the mechanisms of player transfers. The reporter’s name is now taken off public records and his house is under police surveillance.
That has not prevented a second threat on the reporter’s life. In January he received a new phone call. This time the caller said that he should stop covering the affairs of Mjällby AIF because it was damaging the market value of the club.
In a remarkable twist to the story, the reporter has also reported one of the managers of the football club to the police. The club has officially condemned the threats and promised to exclude any member that might be found guilty of making them. However, when Fredrik Persson spoke on the phone with one of the club managers, the manager also warned the reporter that “he should stop monitoring the affairs of Mjällby AIF if he had any self-preservation instincts."
Seminar on threats against sports journalists
According to the magazine Journalisten published by the Swedish Union for Journalists, sports journalists are frequent targets of hate mail, unpleasant phone calls and smear campaigns on the websites of football clubs.
The Swedish Union for Journalists is therefore planning a seminar on threats against journalists together with the Swedish Football Federation and supporter associations as a way to stop the practice.