As Swedes Drawn to Honest Foreign Coverage of Their Own Country, MSM Slams ‘Nasty’ Immigration Stories

The deputy editor of Sweden’s Expressen slammed Danish media as “nasty” for being more open about mass migration, complaining that many voters, especially populist supporters, were losing faith in the mainstream media.

In an editorial for Expressen, Karin Olsson complained that voters for the populist anti-mass migration Sweden Democrats were distrustful of Swedish media and that they would likely support the “nasty” Danish media who she explains have fewer “limits” when talking about mass migration and Islam.

In her piece, Olsson cited a survey conducted by the Institute for Media Studies which showed that only 63 per cent of SD voters trusted the reliability of the Swedish mainstream media.

The survey also showed that among the general public, 68 per cent of Swedes believed that the political bias of journalists has an effect on the stories they write. For SD supporters, the number was even greater at 82 per cent.

Mass migration is one area in particular where Swedes have issues trusting the mainstream media with just 29 per cent saying they trust the media’s take on the subject while 39 per cent said they did not but that number reached a massive 75 per cent distrust among SD voters.

According to a poll conducted by polling firm Demoskop last month, the number one concern for Swedish voters going into the national election later this year is immigration.

The Sweden Democrats have been the most hardline on mass migration of any Swedish political party with more and more voters, particularly young voters, agreeing with the SD on immigrant policy.

Last week following a leaders debate on four subjects, including immigration, SD leader Jimmie Åkesson polled first on the topic of immigration and on law and order, winning the overall debate.

“It is serious that the supporters of such a large party do not trust mainstream media in important social issues,” Olsson wrote and blamed the SD’s “strategy of profiling against an alleged elite who engage in ‘fake news'”.

The subject of fake news has become a hot-button issue in Sweden ahead of this year’s national elections with the Swedish government granting mainstream media outlets £1.2 million to fund projects to fight “fake news” on social media.

 Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com