Swedish Radio's incorrectly translated quotes from Ebba Busch (KD) have this week been met with harsh criticism, not least from the Christian Democrats' party leadership who have considered boycotting Swedish radio's party leader interviews. 

- These were serious and incorrect statements that we published in three different languages ​​on Radio Sweden.

We have corrected it, but it is unfortunate that it happened, says Klas Wolf-Watz.

It was in the Arabic-, Kurdish- and Somali-speaking channels that Ebba Busch's quotes were changed from "Islamists" to "Muslims" after her famous statements about the Easter riots.

One of the captions also stated that "Ebba Busch accuses the police of not killing many Muslims".

"Mistake"

Swedish Radio is investigating the incident internally.

According to Wolf Watz, it is too early to say how the mistranslations arose, but from what has emerged so far, these are editorial mistakes.

- We have talked to the employees involved and what we see so far is that it was about mistakes made both from the reporter side but also from supervisors, he says.

- These are employees that I have great confidence in.

We must go through the question marks that exist and draw the conclusion after that.

Threatened with boycott

This week, SR's leadership has declined a meeting with the Christian Democrats' party leadership, which in turn has considered boycotting the party leader hearings on Swedish Radio.

- It's very sad.

It is important for us and for the audience that Ebba Busch participates in Ekot's party leadership hearings.

I understand that they react strongly and are critical, says Klas Wolf-Watz and adds:

- Reviews of our publications take place via the Review Board and the Media Ombudsman.

There is no political scrutiny of what we do.

Therefore, I do not want to sit in a meeting where party representatives should be able to investigate what we do.

The policy must keep an arm's length distance from the business.

It is important for credibility.

Javascript is disabled

Javascript must be turned on to play video

Read more about browser support

The browser is not supported

SVT does not support playback in your browser.

We therefore recommend that you switch to a different browser.

Read more about browser support

Will Ebba Busch (KD) be missing from Swedish Radio's party leader hearings?

See what led to the party's consideration in the feature.

Photo: SVT