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FREEDOM OF SPEECH

Opinion: Proposed law change threatens to erode Sweden’s press freedom

Sweden's press freedom rests on very thin ice, and a proposed espionage law may make it even thinner, writes Ole von Uexkull, executive director of the Right Livelihood Award Foundation.

Published: 13 March 2018 06:59 CET
Opinion: Proposed law change threatens to erode Sweden's press freedom
Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep in 'The Post'. Photo: 20th Century Fox

I watched 'The Post' the other day. The movie tells the story of the publication of the Pentagon Papers. This classified study documenting the lies of several US administrations about the Vietnam war had been leaked to the press by Right Livelihood Award Laureate Daniel Ellsberg in 1971.

The Nixon administration got an injunction against the New York Times to stop publication of the papers. But in its landmark 'New York Times Co. v. United States' decision, the US Supreme Court upheld the freedom of the press, guaranteed by the First Amendment. Since then, no US administration has tried to get an injunction against a publisher. The closest was Donald Trump threatening last month to take legal steps against the publication of 'Fire and Fury', the book revealing the chaos prevailing in the Trump White House and election campaign.

The press is more acutely threatened in Sweden than in the US

'The Post' evokes one of the greatest challenges to press freedom in US history and has widely been interpreted as a comment about the situation of the press under President Trump. Director Steven Spielberg says that “this wasn't something that could wait three years or two years – this was a story I felt we needed to tell today”.

Here in Sweden, the movie is even more chillingy topical. Twenty years after the US Supreme Court upheld the constitutional guarantee of press freedom in the above-mentioned decision, in 1991, Sweden introduced a new fundamental law, Yttrandefrihetsgrundlagen (The Fundamental Law on Freedom of Expression) to complement its Tryckfrihetsförordning (The Freedom of the Press Act) from 1765, which Swedish politician and diplomats like to brag about as the oldest law for press freedom in the world.

But in June 2016, the Swedish government commissioned an official investigation to analyse whether “information about Swedish international cooperation for peace and security” needed “improved protection”. The choice of investigator, a former chairman of a military intelligence court, made it clear which answer the government was expecting… and he delivered:

Published in September 2017, the investigation proposes to weaken both Yttrandefrihetsgrundlagen and the Tryckfrihetsförordning and to introduce a new criminal offence called “utlandsspioneri” (foreign espionage), defined as acquiring or disclosing classfied information that could damage Sweden's relationship with another country or international organisation. With this vague kind of language, a reporter investigating Swedish wrongdoing in the context of say UN operations or a source disclosing information about flaws in Swedish development or secuirty policies would risk four years' imprisonment, if the government and its investigator get their way.


Daniel Ellsberg outside the federal courthouse in Boston on June 28th, 1971. Photo: AP

Shoot the messenger

So a picture like the one above – Daniel Ellsberg having to turn himself in to court for being a source to journalists – might become commonplace in Sweden in the future. Both he and another Right Livelihood Award Laureate, Edward Snowden, have witnessed the US Espionage Act being used to prosecute courageous acts of whistleblowing which have nothing to do with espionage. Their cases, and many others from a variety of countries, show that these kinds of legal powers are, more often than not, misused by governments to suppress information that is not a threat to national security, but embarrassing to those in power, and thus vital for the public to know.

To shoot the messenger if the message is embarrassing is not worthy of any democracy. And least so, one might think, of Sweden, a country that prides itself on its high standards of transparency and civil rights. But upon closer look, these standards rest on very thin ice in our country. Nixon's blatant abuse of state power in the case of the Pentagon Papers was stopped just a few days later by the US Supreme Court. But Sweden has no Supreme Court and no codified set of civil rights that new laws would have to comply with. It is therefore even more important in our country for the public and the press to scrutinise the implications of new proposed laws on our freedom and basic rights.

Unfortunately, in this case, this has hardly happened. The protest, so far, has been sporadic at best. And there might be a risk that the government will try to rush the decisions through parliament before the next election in September. The hope now is for the Swedish media and civil society to wake up and make sure that, rather than sneaking through in silence, this assault on our civil liberties and press freedom will be and defeated during the election campaign.

This opinion piece was written by Ole von Uexkull, executive director at Right Livelihood Award Foundation, and first published here.


Ole von Uexkull. Photo: Right Livelihood Award Foundation
 

FOOD AND DRINK

OPINION: Are tips in Sweden becoming the norm?

Should you tip in Sweden? Habits are changing fast thanks to new technology and a hard-pressed restaurant trade, writes James Savage.

Published: 5 April 2024 13:59 CEST
OPINION: Are tips in Sweden becoming the norm?

The Local’s guide to tipping in Sweden is clear: tip for good service if you want to, but don’t feel the pressure: where servers in the US, for instance, rely on tips to live, waiters in Sweden have collectively bargained salaries with long vacations and generous benefits. 

But there are signs that this is changing, and the change is being accelerated by card machines. Now, many machines offer three preset gratuity percentages, usually starting with five percent and going up to fifteen or twenty. Previously they just asked the customer to fill in the total amount they wanted to pay.

This subtle change to a user interface sends a not-so-subtle message to customers: that tipping is expected and that most people are probably doing it. The button for not tipping is either a large-lettered ‘No Tip’ or a more subtle ‘Fortsätt’ or ‘Continue’ (it turns out you can continue without selecting a tip amount, but it’s not immediately clear to the user). 

I’ll confess, when I was first presented with this I was mildly irked: I usually tip if I’ve had table service, but waiting staff are treated as professionals and paid properly, guaranteed by deals with unions; menu prices are correspondingly high. The tip was a genuine token of appreciation.

But when I tweeted something to this effect (a tweet that went strangely viral), the responses I got made me think. Many people pointed out that the restaurant trade in Sweden is under enormous pressure, with rising costs, the after-effects of Covid and difficulties recruiting. And as Sweden has become more cosmopolitain, adding ten percent to the bill comes naturally to many.

Boulebar, a restaurant and bar chain with branches around Sweden and Denmark, had a longstanding policy of not accepting tips at all, reasoning that they were outdated and put diners in an uncomfortable position. But in 2021 CEO Henrik Kruse decided to change tack:

“It was a purely financial decision. We were under pressure due to Covid, and we had to keep wages down, so bringing back tips was the solution,” he said, adding that he has a collective agreement and staff also get a union bargained salary, before tips.

Yet for Kruse the new machines, with their pre-set tipping percentages, take things too far:

“We don’t use it, because it makes it even clearer that you’re asking for money. The guest should feel free not to tip. It’s more important for us that the guest feels free to tell people they’re satisfied.”

But for those restaurants that have adopted the new interfaces, the effect has been dramatic. Card processing company Kassacentralen, which was one of the first to launch this feature in Sweden, told Svenska Dagbladet this week that the feature had led to tips for the average establishment doubling, with some places seeing them rise six-fold.

Even unions are relaxed about tipping these days, perhaps understanding that they’re a significant extra income for their members. Union representatives have often in the past spoken out against tipping, arguing that the practice is demeaning to staff and that tips were spread unevenly, with staff in cafés or fast food joints getting nothing at all. But when I called the Swedish Hotel and Restaurant Union (HRF), a spokesman said that the union had no view on the practice, and it was a matter for staff, business owners and customers to decide.

So is tipping now expected in Sweden? The old advice probably still stands; waiters are still not as reliant on tips as staff in many other countries, so a lavish tip is not necessary. But as Swedes start to tip more generously, you might stick out if you leave nothing at all.

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