The reporter behind the revelation: Ekot should have been more transparent

On Wednesday, the newspaper Doku revealed that a former journalist at Ekot began a private relationship with the well-known Islamist Raad Al-Duhan, which was classified as a threat to national security.

The reporter had previously examined cases concerning his situation.

In an email to Doku, the journalist states that she began a friendly relationship with the man after the reviews were made.

She then resigned from Ekot in October 2020.

- It is clear that this is very serious.

I think so already in September when I became aware of this for the first time.

We took immediate action and the reporter chose shortly afterwards to quit at his own request, says Ekot manager Klas Wolf-Watz in Wednesday's Aktuellt.

He says that the reporter found herself in a situation where both her and Ekot's integrity could be questioned - something that risked seriously damaging Ekot's credibility.

Reporter: The audience should have received the information

Sofie Löwenmark, the reporter at Doku who made the revelation, says that she does not suspect that Ekot acted as soon as they became aware of the connection.

However, she questions that the reviews remain.

- This information that Ekot had should be given to the listeners and readers to some extent, if the reviews are to remain at all.

She believes that it is no longer possible to look at the report with the same eyes.

Ekot-bossen: We are behind the report

Klas Wolf-Watz, on the other hand, insists that the reviews should remain.

- It should be remembered that Ekot's reporters do not work alone.

There are several control stations before one thing is published.

We have done a proper review of these reports before they were published and we have done so now as well.

I have come to the conclusion that we are behind those reports.

How would you say this story affects your credibility?

- It is clear that it has a negative effect in the short term, that is why we acted quickly.

But Sofie Löwenmark believes that readers and listeners feel led behind the light and believes that Ekot has "darkened" history.

- I think unfortunately that many feel that way. Therefore, I think that Ekot should have acted with a completely different transparency from the beginning, she says.