Swedish Fox News cops hit out at filmmaker: 'He is a madman'
Two Swedish police officers interviewed in a news report referenced by US president Donald Trump about crime and immigration say their quotes were taken out of context.
The controversial segment from a film by filmmaker Ami Horowitz, which was shown on Fox News on Friday and claimed immigration had led to a rise in crime in Sweden, made headlines after Trump (much to the surprise of Swedes) used the Nordic country as a cautionary tale in a speech on Saturday.
But two Stockholm-based police officers featured in the clip, talking about crime and the accessibility of weapons, have sharply criticized how they were portrayed and how their quotes were used in the interview.
"I don't understand why we are part of the segment. The interview was about something completely different to what Fox News and Horowitz were talking about," one of the police officers, Anders Göranzon, told the Dagens Nyheter newspaper on Monday. "It was supposed to be about crime in high risk areas. Areas with high crime rates. There wasn't any focus on migration or immigration."
He said neither he nor his colleague Jacob Ekström recognized the image painted of Sweden in the report, which has been criticized in Sweden for being riddled with inaccuracies and false claims.
"We don't stand behind it. It shocked us. He has edited the answers. We were answering completely different questions in the interview. This is bad journalism," Göranzon told Dagens Nyheter, which said it had attempted to contact Horowitz for a comment.
"It feels like hell. The real questions should be shown along with our answers. We don't own the rights to the film, but the end result is that we don't want to talk to journalists after this. We can't trust each other."
Asked if he had done anything to stop the film, he said: "We just saw it. What can we do? One thing is talking to you. The excerpt they showed doesn't say anything, we answered a different question. We don't stand behind what he says. He is a madman."
Horowitz defended his film in another interview on Fox News on Monday:
"I've never had a subject claim, and certainly not prove, that I ever misled them or ever doctored the footage. It's never happened before. So, my record stands for itself, and what you saw on that video clear as day stands for itself."
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The controversial segment from a film by filmmaker Ami Horowitz, which was shown on Fox News on Friday and claimed immigration had led to a rise in crime in Sweden, made headlines after Trump (much to the surprise of Swedes) used the Nordic country as a cautionary tale in a speech on Saturday.
But two Stockholm-based police officers featured in the clip, talking about crime and the accessibility of weapons, have sharply criticized how they were portrayed and how their quotes were used in the interview.
"I don't understand why we are part of the segment. The interview was about something completely different to what Fox News and Horowitz were talking about," one of the police officers, Anders Göranzon, told the Dagens Nyheter newspaper on Monday. "It was supposed to be about crime in high risk areas. Areas with high crime rates. There wasn't any focus on migration or immigration."
He said neither he nor his colleague Jacob Ekström recognized the image painted of Sweden in the report, which has been criticized in Sweden for being riddled with inaccuracies and false claims.
"We don't stand behind it. It shocked us. He has edited the answers. We were answering completely different questions in the interview. This is bad journalism," Göranzon told Dagens Nyheter, which said it had attempted to contact Horowitz for a comment.
"It feels like hell. The real questions should be shown along with our answers. We don't own the rights to the film, but the end result is that we don't want to talk to journalists after this. We can't trust each other."
Asked if he had done anything to stop the film, he said: "We just saw it. What can we do? One thing is talking to you. The excerpt they showed doesn't say anything, we answered a different question. We don't stand behind what he says. He is a madman."
Horowitz defended his film in another interview on Fox News on Monday:
"I've never had a subject claim, and certainly not prove, that I ever misled them or ever doctored the footage. It's never happened before. So, my record stands for itself, and what you saw on that video clear as day stands for itself."
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