Boy convicted of rape reports TV show
A 15-year-old boy convicted of two rapes in the village of Bjästa has reported SVT's investigative programme Uppdrag Granskning to the broadcasting watchdog, claiming the show had made it too easy to identify him and had ruined his brother's life.
The boy was joined by his family in filing the report with the Swedish Broadcasting Commission (Granskningsnämnden - SBC) following a heated national debate over an emotive case in the village of Bjästa, near Örnskjöldsvik in northern Sweden, media magazine Resumé reports in its online edition.
A girl raped by the 15-year-old was forced to leave the village and her school after many villagers took the boy's side in a campaign that spilled over onto the internet. The boy later raped a second girl.
In his appeal to BSC, the boy writes that the programme made it too easy to identify him. His brother too has suffered as a consequence of the show, he writes, with a screenshot from his blog serving to reveal his identity.
As his brother's blog included full adress, email and telephone details, the 15-year-old writes, it soon led to an avalanche of some 3,000 emails. A number of the e-mails directed death threats at the boy, his brother and his mother, the 15-year-old writes.
But Uppdrag Granskning editor Lars-Göran Svensson rejected the criticism.
"There is nothing in the report that could identify either the boy who was convicted of rape or his brother," he told Resumé. "We sat for days before broadcasting and made sure everything was blurred out."
"Their personal data have however been spread all over the internet. It's hardly even possible to Google Bjästa without getting personal identification numbers," he added.
Svensson said such details had seeped on to the internet long before the show aired on March 26th.
The boy and his family moved to a secret address after the programme was broadcast.
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The boy was joined by his family in filing the report with the Swedish Broadcasting Commission (Granskningsnämnden - SBC) following a heated national debate over an emotive case in the village of Bjästa, near Örnskjöldsvik in northern Sweden, media magazine Resumé reports in its online edition.
A girl raped by the 15-year-old was forced to leave the village and her school after many villagers took the boy's side in a campaign that spilled over onto the internet. The boy later raped a second girl.
In his appeal to BSC, the boy writes that the programme made it too easy to identify him. His brother too has suffered as a consequence of the show, he writes, with a screenshot from his blog serving to reveal his identity.
As his brother's blog included full adress, email and telephone details, the 15-year-old writes, it soon led to an avalanche of some 3,000 emails. A number of the e-mails directed death threats at the boy, his brother and his mother, the 15-year-old writes.
But Uppdrag Granskning editor Lars-Göran Svensson rejected the criticism.
"There is nothing in the report that could identify either the boy who was convicted of rape or his brother," he told Resumé. "We sat for days before broadcasting and made sure everything was blurred out."
"Their personal data have however been spread all over the internet. It's hardly even possible to Google Bjästa without getting personal identification numbers," he added.
Svensson said such details had seeped on to the internet long before the show aired on March 26th.
The boy and his family moved to a secret address after the programme was broadcast.
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