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Truth of Expressen is Stranger than Fiction

Sweden's premier sleaze tabloid have done some pretty dumb things in their day, but this may top all.


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ANKEBORG/DUCKBURG — They're not ashamed to play dirty. They harass celebrities to up their site visits (and get prosecuted in court for it). They organise hate campaigns against innocent people (and sometimes get them sent to prison until the judicial system wakes up). They recently made a tempest out of a word all of them use all the time. They published Julian Assange's name against their code of publicist ethics because they knew how much they'd profit by it.

And they've even accused WikiLeaks of conducting smear campaigns against them.

But today's catastrophe sets a new standard for tabloid journalism worldwide: a new world order where even the most casual research isn't necessary - just print any shit you want. Let the ducks suck away.

Rupert Murdoch take note: you still have some decency remaining. But try with a trip to Expressen's HQ in Marieberg Sweden to learn how to lose what you've got left.

Background

This all started at Flashback. Of course it did. With a post by the venerable 'trenterx' last Friday.
https://www.flashback.org/sp40526971

Trenterx had found (or uploaded) a FOI document online with information about Swedish-Cuban relations (and a few spicy details about a certain miss known to create headlines). After a few false starts with an incorrectly formulated URL, the others kicked into gear and started looking at the file.
http://img688.imageshack.us/img688/9430/assangebilaga.pdf

Coincidentally the same sleaze wad published another embarrassingly ludicrous piece on how 'Assange supporters' hacked medical records in Sweden.
http://www.expressen.se/nyheter/sjukhusen-hackades-av-assangeanhangare/

Trenterx continued throughout that day to report on the South American aspects of the documents. The documents include a scan of the formal entreaty sent by Ecuador to Sweden regarding questioning Assange in Knightsbridge - which the Swedes in their famous fashion stamped, processed, then dutifully ignored.

Next came Aftonbladet's revelation that foreign minister Carl Bildt was pushing the ministry to use Gmail instead of secure alternatives 'because encryption can take too long'.
https://www.flashback.org/sp40535759

MyfairLady connects this to a YouTube clip with Julian Assange at 21:43 local time.



And still no mention of anything else. It isn't until the following day that espressino picks up the tempo with a few references to the FBI in Sweden.
https://www.flashback.org/sp40549928

And finally at 16:05 local time Sunday 25 November 2012, trenterx finds the connection to Elizabeth Farrelly and the berserk Swedish embassy in Canberra. (The data dump is over 100 pages so give them a break.)
https://www.flashback.org/sp40555376

The next comment on this topic is by fiatigerlilja over two hours later.
https://www.flashback.org/sp40558915

A half hour after that, fiatigerlilja is digging up more precious bites from the inept Sven-Olof Petersson.
https://www.flashback.org/sp40559544

Finally at 20:06, 'O.s.a.' asks if it's possible to protest Sven-Olof Petersson's behaviour and suggest he's not suitable to represent the country.
https://www.flashback.org/sp40560592

GoodwinStrawman remarks at 20:23 that Sven-Olof Petersson is unsuitable to represent Sweden, considering his 'berserk' behaviour.
https://www.flashback.org/sp40560502

Rixstep summarises the day's activities in a piece published later the same evening.
http://rixstep.com/1/20121125,00.shtml

By this time, the news was all over the Twittersphere. All @wikileaks did was call attention to what half the duckpond were already tweeting about.

Truth of Expressen is Stranger than Fiction

But those ever-vigilant 'investigative reporters' Hanna Jakobson and Oscar Julander at Expressen got to work. Under the caring and expert tutelage of editor-in-chief Thomas Mattsson, they wrote their own version of the truth - 'stranger than fiction'.

'WikiLeaks Have Released Swedish Documents'


Ahem. Expressen have done some pretty dumb (and criminal and unforgivable) things in their day, but this may top all.

See Also
The Technological: Carl Bildt Does a Sarah Palin
Industry Watch: Truth of Sweden is Stranger than Fiction

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