Superstars Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Fredrik Ljungberg are boycotting Aftonbladet.
And they are not alone.
Björn Borg, Patrik Sjöberg, Tomas Brolin and Kent Carlsson are other legendary sportsmen that are refusing to talk to Swedish newspapers.
Why do our major sportsmen have such a poor opinion of the Swedish press?
________
Hardly any newspaper in the world is monitoring Zlatan Ibrahimovic as intensely as Aftonbladet. Their sports supplement, the main and editorially largest in the country, printed on pink paper just like Italian publication Gazetta dello Sport, can find reasons - sometimes on a daily basis - to publish something about the star. Their inventiveness is admirable.
Particularly as Zlatan has not spoken with the Sports paper's journalists in six years.
"He even refuses to answer questions at general press conferences," sighs acting Sports Manager Håkan Andreasson. "The reason is that when he was single, we published a personal ad for him. It was a stupid joke. We probably hurt his masculinity. We have apologised, but it hasn't helped."
Fredrik Ljungberg recently followed Zlatan's lead. He has not, at the time of printing, given an explanation yet, but we suspect that Aftonbladet's Peter Wennman's column about him being 'overpaid' might have something to do with it.
World Champion high jumper, Patrik Sjöberg from Gothenburg, is responsible for another historic sports boycott which lasted ten years. He was extremely outspoken with the whole world's media, except the Göteborgs-Posten. His home town morning paper followed him constantly, his business, his tax evasion attempts, and his everyday life. Small town mentality and jealousy, said the critics; what he does outside of the sports arena is up to him.
"Wrong. A world class star should expect to be scrutinized," says Janne Hansson, now Chief Sports Editor of Borås Tidning. "I would of course never apologize to Sjöberg. But yes, it did feel strange not being able to talk to him after he set the world record and the whole of Gothenburg was celebrating."
Are Swedish sports journalists different from their European counterparts? Well, after talking with columnists and editors in chief for some of the biggest newspapers, the following is clear:
Swedish sports journalists strive for objectivity. They have more talk-less journalism than others. They feel that it is wrong to befriend a sports star. They do not show favouritism for their home football team. They never say 'we' with the team if it's the national team. They always keep a critical eye open, particularly towards their 'own' sportsmen.
Other countries' sports journalists have another attitude, according to most Swedes.
Spain and Italy "pursue mostly cheerleader journalism when it comes to football". "In Madrid, everyone hates Barcelona and vice versa. Journalism is as objective as the supporters."
And we don't even need to mention the differences between English and Swedish sports coverage. "A woman has sex with a football star and then tells the papers what he was like in bed. That's the kind of thing English papers publish. We would never do that." "English papers angle everything to the extreme. And the witch hunt on Sven-Göran Eriksson was awful."
But Mats Härd, columnist for Göteborgs-Posten, sees similarities in the European sports press.
"We angle things a little too much and highlight match heroes and scapegoats. And we are definitely copying England and prying into the private lives of our sportsmen. It's not really that strange that the stars are avoiding us these days. We used to be able to have a beer with a sportsman after a competition, now they turn on their heel at the door when they see me," he says.
Janne Hansson:
"There is probably even more tension between football players and journalists in Italy and England than there is here."
Concurrently with the ever-increasing sums of money within major sports, sportsmen are being kept on a much shorter leash by their employers. Sports journalists are complaining that it is the employers that are deciding who gets the interview. The stars are becoming more and more unreachable. "Plus the fact, most of them are sulky little divas."
Which stars boycott the local press? That depends on their sport. At least when you look at the famous cases. Athletics, football (Tomas Brolin felt followed and mocked by several papers, including the British press) and tennis (Björn Borg was scrutinized to the hilt mainly by Expressen, and threatened to leave the country; for world no. 6, Kent Carlsson from Eskilstuna, just the Eskilstuna-Kuriren publishing a picture of him and an unknown woman with the heading, Kent's new girlfriend? was enough for a boycott).
Ice-hockey players are the complete opposite. "You can walk right into their changing rooms after a match and ask them anything you like. Even the major NHL players in the US, where there are a lot of Swedish players, are more open and laidback than any other sport. It's almost part of the game, being open with the press."
To conclude, we can confirm that the relationship between European sports journalists is nevertheless considered fairly good. Zlatan is constantly expressing himself in Aftonbladet, despite the boycott, he just does it via the Gazetta dello Sport.
And Swedish readers will probably be able to find out what Fredrik Ljungberg thinks and feels before long.
By Jonas Wallmark
And they are not alone.
Björn Borg, Patrik Sjöberg, Tomas Brolin and Kent Carlsson are other legendary sportsmen that are refusing to talk to Swedish newspapers.
Why do our major sportsmen have such a poor opinion of the Swedish press?
________
Hardly any newspaper in the world is monitoring Zlatan Ibrahimovic as intensely as Aftonbladet. Their sports supplement, the main and editorially largest in the country, printed on pink paper just like Italian publication Gazetta dello Sport, can find reasons - sometimes on a daily basis - to publish something about the star. Their inventiveness is admirable.
Particularly as Zlatan has not spoken with the Sports paper's journalists in six years.
"He even refuses to answer questions at general press conferences," sighs acting Sports Manager Håkan Andreasson. "The reason is that when he was single, we published a personal ad for him. It was a stupid joke. We probably hurt his masculinity. We have apologised, but it hasn't helped."
Fredrik Ljungberg recently followed Zlatan's lead. He has not, at the time of printing, given an explanation yet, but we suspect that Aftonbladet's Peter Wennman's column about him being 'overpaid' might have something to do with it.
World Champion high jumper, Patrik Sjöberg from Gothenburg, is responsible for another historic sports boycott which lasted ten years. He was extremely outspoken with the whole world's media, except the Göteborgs-Posten. His home town morning paper followed him constantly, his business, his tax evasion attempts, and his everyday life. Small town mentality and jealousy, said the critics; what he does outside of the sports arena is up to him.
"Wrong. A world class star should expect to be scrutinized," says Janne Hansson, now Chief Sports Editor of Borås Tidning. "I would of course never apologize to Sjöberg. But yes, it did feel strange not being able to talk to him after he set the world record and the whole of Gothenburg was celebrating."
Are Swedish sports journalists different from their European counterparts? Well, after talking with columnists and editors in chief for some of the biggest newspapers, the following is clear:
Swedish sports journalists strive for objectivity. They have more talk-less journalism than others. They feel that it is wrong to befriend a sports star. They do not show favouritism for their home football team. They never say 'we' with the team if it's the national team. They always keep a critical eye open, particularly towards their 'own' sportsmen.
Other countries' sports journalists have another attitude, according to most Swedes.
Spain and Italy "pursue mostly cheerleader journalism when it comes to football". "In Madrid, everyone hates Barcelona and vice versa. Journalism is as objective as the supporters."
And we don't even need to mention the differences between English and Swedish sports coverage. "A woman has sex with a football star and then tells the papers what he was like in bed. That's the kind of thing English papers publish. We would never do that." "English papers angle everything to the extreme. And the witch hunt on Sven-Göran Eriksson was awful."
But Mats Härd, columnist for Göteborgs-Posten, sees similarities in the European sports press.
"We angle things a little too much and highlight match heroes and scapegoats. And we are definitely copying England and prying into the private lives of our sportsmen. It's not really that strange that the stars are avoiding us these days. We used to be able to have a beer with a sportsman after a competition, now they turn on their heel at the door when they see me," he says.
Janne Hansson:
"There is probably even more tension between football players and journalists in Italy and England than there is here."
Concurrently with the ever-increasing sums of money within major sports, sportsmen are being kept on a much shorter leash by their employers. Sports journalists are complaining that it is the employers that are deciding who gets the interview. The stars are becoming more and more unreachable. "Plus the fact, most of them are sulky little divas."
Which stars boycott the local press? That depends on their sport. At least when you look at the famous cases. Athletics, football (Tomas Brolin felt followed and mocked by several papers, including the British press) and tennis (Björn Borg was scrutinized to the hilt mainly by Expressen, and threatened to leave the country; for world no. 6, Kent Carlsson from Eskilstuna, just the Eskilstuna-Kuriren publishing a picture of him and an unknown woman with the heading, Kent's new girlfriend? was enough for a boycott).
Ice-hockey players are the complete opposite. "You can walk right into their changing rooms after a match and ask them anything you like. Even the major NHL players in the US, where there are a lot of Swedish players, are more open and laidback than any other sport. It's almost part of the game, being open with the press."
To conclude, we can confirm that the relationship between European sports journalists is nevertheless considered fairly good. Zlatan is constantly expressing himself in Aftonbladet, despite the boycott, he just does it via the Gazetta dello Sport.
And Swedish readers will probably be able to find out what Fredrik Ljungberg thinks and feels before long.
By Jonas Wallmark