In the autumn of 2019, Ekot published several reviews of cases where Islamists were classified as a threat to national security by the Security Police.
On Wednesday, the newspaper Doku revealed that one of the people who did Ekot's reviews had personal connections to one of the people who were reviewed.
- As soon as I became aware that there was a situation where Ekot's integrity could be questioned, I acted and took action.
The reporter voluntarily chose to leave Swedish radio and Ekot shortly afterwards, Ekotchefen Klas Wolf-Watz has previously told Kulturnyheterna.
However, Ekot's actions have been criticized from several quarters, including in the leadership position in DN:
"The information about the relationship has been known by SR since the autumn of 2020. Nevertheless, it took Dokus' revelation before Ekot acted, and then only by adding the report, which is still on the site, a kind of warning text."
Stands behind Ekot's boss
DN also believes that Ekot downplays the seriousness by saying that it is a personnel matter.
Swedish Radio's CEO Cilla Benkö defends Klas Wolf-Watz's actions in an interview in Studio one.
- Based on the information that Ekochefen had when he acted, I think based on my professional view as a manager and publicist that he acted correctly, she says.
But she also says that she understands that the revelation has a negative effect on Swedish radio.
- Of course it is not good for Swedish radio, but as a manager you can only act on the information you have at the moment.
What we have to do now is to ensure that there is no long-term damage to Swedish radio.
Cilla Benkö is also behind the decision to leave the publications on Swedish Radio's website.
- As CEO, I have no reason to think otherwise.
I stand behind the ECO manager's decision and trust that I have in him a good publicist who has made the right decision, she says.