During the call Whose SR?

writes current and former employees on Swedish radio about experiences of racism at work.

According to the undersigned, it is both about the work environment, representation and how it affects which perspectives are highlighted in the reporting. 

- I have worked at P3 for seven years and it has pretty much always looked like this, says Palmira Koukkari Mbenga.

She is one of the initiators of the appeal.

That it is coming right now is largely due to the Black lives matter movement, which once again swept the world during the summer. 

- We did not feel that it was perceived as a big or important issue.

Outside of work, that was all my friends and I talked about, and we did it in a Swedish context.

At work, Swedish racism was not at all as acute as, for example, the metoo movement was, says Palmira Koukkari Mbenga.

Affects the news rating

It is also about what Swedish radio considers a domestic news. 

- When something happens in a country that has a large diaspora in Sweden, it is still usually considered a foreign news - not something that concerns the population here, says Palmira Koukkari Mbenga.

The signatories of the call place a number of demands on Swedish Radio's management.

Among other things, they want to see a screening of the number of employees with a foreign and non-European background, a pay audit to see unreasonable differences and a more diversified management of the company.

According to Koukkari Mbenga, the management has not yet given a concrete answer to the demands.

Swedish Radio's CEO Cilla Benkö tells Dagens Nyheter that she was sad and worried about taking part in the appeal.  

- If there is one issue that I have really prioritized, it is that we at Swedish Radio should bring in more people with different backgrounds who bring different perspectives into our discussions, she tells the newspaper. 

Kulturnyheterna is looking for Cilla Benkö for a comment.