NYTIMES propaganda re: Sweden. Ignores that Sweden crime dropped drastically

[IrishBubbaLiberal]

https://bsky.app/profile/chrchristensen.bsky.social
https://bsky.app/profile/chrchristensen.bsky.social/post/3llqr4ixods2a

Christian Christensen

1) Remember how media in 2024 painted "once peaceful Sweden" as collapsing in violence? Well, murder stats for 2024 came out today. Number of homicides per capita in 2024 was the lowest in 13 years, and one of the lowest in the past 50 years. Will media cover this? Not likely.

2) If you read intl press, you'd be forgiven for thinking Sweden had murder numbers never seen before. That's bullshit. The homicide rate has been steady around 1.10 per 100,000 for many decades (with some outlier years). But 2024 saw very big drop. Down by 25% in just one year.

3) Intl media love to push the "collapsing Sweden" narrative while providing zero context. Many I see on social media think murder was almost non-existent in Sweden before intake of refugees in 2015. Except homicide rate in Sweden in the 80s and 90s was higher than today.

4) So, in the same year that newspapers wrote hysterical stuff like this, gun homicides had actually decreased and overall homicides had decreased significantly. But reporting those facts would get in the way of the "collapsing multicultural Sweden" angle, so it's just ignored.

5) Does mean Sweden doesn't have a gun crime problem? No. That it doesn't have a problem with youth violence? No. doesn't have a problem with gangs? No. But painting the country as a dysfunctional dystopia is not only laughable, it's actually deliberate disinformation.

6) Another piece on Sunday (this in NYT (March 28, 2025)) addressing a declining Sweden. Admittedly w/a much more nuanced take on immigration, but it still leveraged dystopian stereotypes. Yet, it failed to address how Sweden regularly places near the top of global indices on freedom, liberty, gender equality.

8) Will sharp drop in homicides in Sweden be given the same international media coverage as was given to crimes in Sweden? That would be great, giving readers added context. But we know the likely answer is "No." And that's the problem. As I wrote last year.
https://www.thelocal.se/20240403/why-dont-journalists-mention-that-swedens-murder-rate-is-lower-now-than-in-the-1970s?

9) And, by the way...the 2024 murder rate for Sweden was 0.87 per 100,000. That's very low by any standard. The US rate in 2023 was 5.7 per 100,000. So, you're 6.5x more likely to be murdered in the US than in Sweden.

[SharonClark]

1. The New York Times is in your headline.

But you offer no link to the article. Could you share it?

[maxsolomon]

2. The NYT published a Lydia Polgreen op-ed piece about Sweden on 3/28.

"Sweden Has a Big Problem". About anti-immigrant backlash and "discontent".

This is point 6:

6) Another piece on Sunday (this in NYT (March 28, 2025)) addressing a declining Sweden. Admittedly w/a much more nuanced take on immigration, but it still leveraged dystopian stereotypes. Yet, it failed to address how Sweden regularly places near the top of global indices on freedom, liberty, gender equality.

It's DU; there always has to be some daily accusation against the NYT. Now, "leveraging dystopian stereotypes" is PROPAGANDA!

Funny no one gets upset about the WSJ on here.

[SharonClark]

3. Thanks. I found the article you referenced.

It was an interesting article, personal and anecdotal about people that she met in Sweden and their experiences as immigrants or second generation.

It didn’t go into the “global indices of freedom, liberty, and gender equality” because that wasn’t the subject of the article.