Expressen reporter fired: "Should write on paper"

Frida Sundkvist, a profiled excavation reporter, now states that she has been formally fired from Expressen.

She says she was fired because she leaked information to the newspaper Dagens ETC that an Expressen boss had been investigated for sexual abuse of an employee.

- I'm going to the editorial office after this interview to write on the paper and hand in my computer and phone, says Frida Sundkvist to SVT Kulturnyheterna.

She says that she refused a settlement with a three-month salary with the condition that she agrees to a mutual dismissal.

She describes it as a shame.

- I choose to stand up for what I have done.

I have not done anything wrong, says Frida Sundkvist.

See the full interview with the reporter in the video above.

The union's criticism of Expressen: "Extreme and harsh"

The journalists' union is strongly critical of Expressen's actions.

- Going to leave is really the most extreme and harsh measure that you can have against an employee, so we think this is a far too big overreaction from Expressen.

It is always outrageous when an employer resigns, says Ulrika Hyllert, chairman of the Swedish Journalists' Association.

Ulrika Hyllert also says that they are prepared to continue defending Frida Sundkvist if she wants them to "invalidate the dismissal".

Expressen about the accusations: "Headless"

Expressen believes that the reason for the dismissal is not that Frida Sundkvist has spoken to other media, the editor-in-chief Klas Granström writes to the newspaper Journalisten that this is a long and multi-year personnel matter.

- To link this to Expressen wanting to silence internal criticism of journalism and leadership is headless.

Committed employees are and will always be Expressen's biggest asset, Klas Granström writes in an email to SVT.

At the same time, the Swedish Journalists' Association says that Expressen does not have formal protection for employees who want to tell other media about injustices within the company (so-called whistleblower protection).

The union has long demanded that even private media companies should offer employees whistleblower protection - ie the right to point out problems without retaliation and without the employer having to find out who "leaked" information.

- We think it is remarkable with a media company that lives on people being able to express themselves in the media, does not accept it in their own company, says Ulrika Hyllert.