DUCKPOND (Rixstep) — There's been a bit of a splash in the Swedish duckpond. The Bonnier's number one attack dog, noted for her broadsides at the WikiLeaks founder, has been outed as a diabolical - manic, say the ducks - propagandist.
Publishing a book called 'A Half-Truth is Also a Lie' right in time for the big book expo, she included a formidable slew of half-truths herself about her duckpond colleagues.
And now the otherwise sleepy duckpond media have gone on a counterattack.
Out of Context
The attack dog in question, Hanne Kjöller, namely had a debate ten years ago with one of Sweden's foremost investigative journalists, Janne Josefsson, where he called her out already then on spurious tricks and half-truths. The former registered nurse Kjöller never forgot. So she tried to turn the tables on him in her book, released ten years later.
She was outed then and she's being outed now. Yet the suspicion is she really thought the original exchange, recorded by Swedish state radio, might be beyond retrieval, so she gritted her teeth and tried again.
Oops. Not only did Swedish radio find the recording in question, but they've now come out and released an extended audio clip of the exchange so everyone can hear for themselves.
That's WikiLeaks scientific journalism at its finest. And Lars Truedson of state radio published an introduction to the clip.
Listen Yourself - Did Kjöller 'Dirty-Quote' Janne?
Last weekend we told of the kerfuffle between DN.se's Hanne Kjöller and Janne Josefsson about a quote in Kjöller's book 'A Half-Truth is Also a Lie' where she claims Josefsson in some way has admitted that his program deliberately twists the truth, using the following quote to prove her point:
'We promote facts that strengthen our opinions and disappear the rest.'
Kjöller based her quote on an article she wrote for DN.se after the debate in question. Already then there were protests from the producers of Josefsson's program, pointing out she was twisting things by taking them out of context. But those protests didn't stop Hanne Kjöller.
When we heard Janne Josefsson reacted to the same quote in Kjöller's new book, we dragged up the recording of the entire debate to hear for ourselves who was right and who was wrong.
You heard of the results of our research last weekend. But now we're giving you even more.
This audio file has never before been published, but we've now been granted permission to publish from Stina Dabrowsky, chairman of the Publicist's Club.
Lars Truedson (L) with Martin Wicklin from Swedish state radio.
You can now listen to the first two hours of the debate. The part of interest occurs right after the 50 minute mark, depending on how much context you want to include.
All in all you can say that Janne Josefsson says more or less the exact words that Kjöller's quoted. This is a direct transcript of the recording:
'We promote facts that strengthen our theories really hard and we disappear details that are in conflict.'
BUT - and this is what's interesting - he says it in a very special context where he - in my interpretation - is trying to warn his fellow journalists that it's possible to use the medium of television to trick the viewers without resorting to outright lies. Namely that one can create 'impressions' and brainwash the viewers with other means, and therefore, says Josefsson, we need further controls at our editor's desks.
Suddenly one sees that Kjöller's quote, out of context, was used to mislead the reader. And that has to have been the intent. Not the words themselves that journalists are expected to reproduce. Otherwise you can't even achieve a half-truth.
Kjöller's attacks on Assange are legendary. One hardly knows where to begin. But perhaps this is one of the best: when Kjöller came out with an especially 'OTT' op-ed where she once again got even the most basic facts wrong, the members of Flashback reacted. Here's the exchange, with Kjöller's replies in green.
Hi!
I read your editorial http://www.dn.se/ledare/signerat/trasig-eller-forstord this morning and I'm wondering if you have a theory why the condom can't be bound by DNA to either of the people who've been in contact with it?
Nope.
OK. Then I guess you don't have a theory about that.
But have you thought about why AA deleted her tweets and blog posts but still wanted to be JA's press secretary after the alleged assault?
Nope. I wasn't aware of that at all.
For anyone with even a limited knowledge of the case, the matter of the deleted blog posts and tweets is key.
You're evidently ignorant or you've chosen to selectively ignore parts of the story.
You say 'time will tell us what happened' but time doesn't seem to have helped you, does it? It's obvious you can't be certain what happened when you've not bothered to familiarise yourself with the case!
And to admit you weren't aware that AA agreed to be JA's press secretary after the alleged assault makes this even more embarrassing for you.
No cordial sendoff this time. Sorry. You should be ashamed of yourself.
I'm sitting on a stool in the corner, a brown paper bag over my head, boo-hoo, in a cold sweat from the shame.
Blushingly,
Hanne Kjöller
Kjöller in Context
A revealed in this article based on an extensive investigation by Aftonbladet, there's an unholy alliance between the Bonniers (and their DN.se where Kjöller is currently leading cultural editor) and the current ultraconservative government of Rove's friend Fredrik Reinfeldt.
The Bonniers have taken illegal control of Sweden's biggest media conglomerate, and Reinfeldt passed legislation removing traditional media controls. The Bonniers will publish propaganda to keep Rove Reinfeldt in power and Bush's Brain Reinfeldt promises not to file charges against the Bonniers for illegal media control.
Former registered nurse Kjöller, who's been described by her colleagues as kicking the sick when they're down, has gone on to spread the propaganda Reinfeldt's needed to implement his complete destruction of the country's world-famous social utopia.
Attacking the WikiLeaks founder is only part of the bigger plan.