Sweden's broadcasting watchdog censuring Oprah

[donsu]

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2663281a1860,00.html

The censure means Swedish television network TV4, which broadcast the show in February, must publish the decision but there are no legal or financial penalties, Annelie Ulfhielm, an official of Sweden's Broadcasting Commission, said.

"Different views were expressed, but all longer remarks gave voice to the opinion that Saddam Hussein was a threat to the United States and should be the target of attack," Sweden's Broadcasting Commission said today.

US forces attacked Iraq in March and toppled Saddam's government after a three-week war. Before the war, Washington said Iraq's arsenal of weapons of mass destruction posed a threat but no such arms have yet been found.

The Swedish government strongly opposed the US invasion of Iraq, saying it lacked a UN Security Council mandate.

A TV4 spokesman said the Oprah Winfrey show usually drew an audience of about 100,000-140,000 Swedes, making it one of Sweden's more popular day-time television programmes.
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[Brucey]

1. That is fantastic, Oprah is an embarrassment!

[RobertSeattle]

2. The Swede's watch Oprah?

That's news to me. There must not be much else to do there in the long nights of winter except the obvious...

[ps1074]

4. you'll be amazed...

Several years ago when I got my cable TV there were several scandinavian channels. Later on I filtered all the channels to fit my needs as I don't need 100 channels. I only watch 20 or so now and pay much less :)

Anyway... there were about 10 or 12 scandinavian channels - swedish, danish, norwegian. 80% of them had Oprah in the afternoon. Scandinavians must like her :)

[Pillowbiter]

3. Well, at least one country supports truth in newscasting

or whatever you would call oprah.
PB

[Mixxster]

5. As much as I'm upset with Oprah...

for her recent Arnold fest, I disagree with these findings.

I saw those shows and yes there were "pro-war" views but there were also anti-war arguments and I didn't get the impression that Oprah was promoting one side over the other. Another point to remember is that Oprah also ran a show about why America is hated around the world, providing a lot of information that Joe and Jane American don't hear from the mainstream media. You could see from the reaction of the audience that it was very eye opening for people.

[Pastiche423]

6. Oprah ran the anti-war show

because she was flooded w/outrage about her multiple pro-war shows.