The Election: Media Mobilizes – Sob Stories Become More Frequent

The closer the election gets, the more frequent the sob stories in the media become. Since last fall alone, public service – Swedish Television and Swedish Radio – have pumped out at least 20 such reports and features.

On Monday, Samnytt reported on Jimmie Åkesson’s reaction to the media’s increasingly obvious campaigning against the Tidö government ahead of this fall’s election. The Sweden Democrats leader notes that the debate on migration hasn’t come very far, and that this year’s election will once again focus on immigration.

An investigation of articles and features about deportations on SVT and SR since October 2025, conducted by Kvartal, reveals at least 20 such pieces. They often focus on individuals and almost always with a clear emotional angle—where a young person is said to be fully integrated and successful, with sad classmates and friends.

Other frequently recurring elements include protest petitions and demonstrations, while the fact that the individuals lack grounds for asylum or residence permits is, at best, treated as a minor footnote.

On Swedish Television, they have gone so far as to create a dedicated topic page titled “Teen Deportations,” a concept not supported by the Aliens Act but commonly used by the red-green opposition.

Impartial and Factual?

During the same period, reporting on the many downsides of immigration has been almost entirely absent. Aftonbladet, Expressen, and Dagens Nyheter engage in the same kind of sob-story journalism.

According to radio and TV legislation, public service must be conducted “impartially and factually”—something the review shows is not being adhered to.