Fake News on Swedish Radio

Ebba Busch is a Swedish politician in the Christian Democrat party. She is somewhere to the right of center politically. In the wake of the recent riots in Sweden over the Koran-burning appearances of Danish activist Rasmus Paludan, Busch recently was interviewed, and she asked why there were not more Islamists injured in the rioting when considering the well over 100 Swedish cops who were injured. A relevant question also given the number of police injured and the few rioters thus far arrested and charged with the rioting.

Sweden Radio caused a furor when they mistranslated Busch’s use of the word Islamists and substituted the word Muslims instead. The difference is important. The world Islamist does not simply refer to any and all Muslims. An Islamist is a Muslim who believes in the imposition and dominance of Islam throughout societies and the world-including the imposition of sharia law. Some Islamists, like ISIS and Al Qaeda, believe violence and terror are the ways to accomplish this. Other Islamists eschew violence believing that their goals can be obtained through immigration, demographics, outreach, disinformation, lawfare, conversion, etc. Many Islamists agree with a combination of all of the above-inluding violence and terrorism. 

But not all Muslims are Islamists. 

So the Christian Democrat party is correct to complain about the mistranslatuon by Swedish Radio.

The below article from Nya Dagbladet is translated by Fousesquawk.

 https://nyadagbladet.se/inrikes/sr-anklagas-for-medveten-feloversattning-av-busch/

Domestic

SR accused of deliberate mistranslating of Busch

Disinformation in the media

Posted May 6, 2022 by Isac Boman

Caption beneath photo: SR mistranslated KD leader in at least three languages

In Sweden Radio’s Somali, Arab, and Kurdish channels, Ebba Busch’s statement after the Koran riots was translated in a seriously erroneous manner.

Critics believe that the incorrect translations seem to be deliberate, and the Christian Democrats (KD) are demanding a meeting with the leaders of the tax-financed channel.

As Nya Dagbladet was earlier able to report, Ebba Busch, in an interview with Sweden Radio, asked why we didn’t see injured Islamists instead of the 100 (actually at least 180) police who were injured during the riots. 

“So we have at least 100 injured police, and the big question that should be asked is: “Why don’t we have at least 100 injured Islamists, criminals, and rioters?”

When Sweden Radio reported on the statements on its channels, the term “Islamists” was suddenly changed to “Muslims” in both the Arab and Somali broadcasts.

The Bonnier* newspaper, Dagens Nyheter, first reported that Sweden Radio’s Arab-language editorial staff incorrectly reported that Busch asked, “Why have we not seen 100 injured Muslims?”- a mistranslation that was noticed by an Arab-speaking man who also reported the post to the media ombudsman.

Editor-in-Chief Gabi Kratz claimed in defense that it was all a “mistake” that came up in the reading of the same news-in spite of the fact that the incorrect translation was also found in text form on the editor’s official Facebook page.

The site Doku has also revealed that Sweden Radio’s Somali editorial staff incorrectly translated Busch’s statement and used the word, “Muslims” instead of “Islamists”. In addition, a caption in the feature claimed that “KD’s party leader, Ebba, was complaining that police didn’t kill many Muslims”. 

The Christian Democrats maintain that there are indications that the incorrect translations are “sitting out there in the system” and demand that the (Sweden Radio) officials explain themselves.

“We are very upset (that) they are spreading pure lies, and they are doing it on channels where it is the hardest to detect”.

“We demand an explanation and a meeting with the management of Sweden Radio. They must now explain how they run their publishing (business). It is 4 months to the election, and we do not accept disinformation from anyone,” he continues.

Johan Ingerö tweet, May 3 (1)

In addition, who takes responsibility now for their mistranslations? When and where will the Arab-language denials come?

So we are already talking about riots with hundreds of injured. This can worsen the situation and increase the danger.

Johan Ingerö tweet, May 3 (2)

They are also different words in Arabic. “Muslim”= Muslimoun. “Islamist”= Islamioun

And there are also different words to describe different things. It doesn’t sound like this was likely a mistake.

Johan Ingerö, policy chief for the Christian Democrats’ party leadership, asks whether Sweden Radio’s publishing management even knows Arabic, and further wonders how they can run the publishing in a language they can’t even master and ensure that the reporting is correct.

He states that the word for Muslim compared to Islamist is different even in Arabic and that it is untrue that the mistranslation was a mistake.

It has also come out that the same mistranslation from Islamists to Muslims also occurred in the headline of Sweden Radio’s Kurdish section. Sweden Radio’s publisher has avoided answering further questions but claims that it is something they “are investigating”.

Critics have pointed out that the tax-financed Sweden Radio’s frequent mistranslations not only risk leading to increased tensions and violence such as what took place during the Koran riots, but also that the distortions of Busch’s statement can influence the Christian Democrats’ opinion polls and the election results in the fall.