Rädd för Sanningen

About the book

Book author: Janne Josefsson

Janne Josefsson is a famous Swedish investigative journalist. His fame comes from discovering some of Sweden’s most notorious scandals.

The book is a memoir. Janne is reflecting on his own past – his youth, his career, his failed marriages and the choices throughout his life. He is honest and open about his mistakes, but naturally, we see what he writes, not what he leaves out. Much easier to be humble then..

The reflection into his youth goes deep into his family’s past, which after investigation (because he cannot help himself in his constant chase for truth) is not at all what he believed. Many illusions about his childhood and the people in it shatter when he discovers the real truth.

In tandem, he reminisces about his most famous stories, and the consequences of either revealing them or dropping them after finding out. Real persons exist behind every story – sometimes peoples lives, families or careers are ruined upon the release of truth. There are nuances to the job, and they are often gray. Sometimes, domino effects cause all kinds of unforeseen problems. Sometimes there are threats and cover-ups. Sometimes he encounters people who hate him, even though he has never met them before – these are people who have had their lives hit by second-order effects from his journalism or scandals. This takes a big toll on Janne, but he has trouble stopping because he has an addiction to truth – once it enters under his nose he must follow it, even if people get furious.

Reflection and takeaways

My takeaways are rather cynical from this book.

First of all, his uncle spent most of his life in a psychiatric hospital. When Janne is investigating this, he finds several letters about how his mother wanted her brother to be able to visit them over christmas. Applications to leave the psychiatric hospital were always denied. I’m not a psychologist so I’m not questioning that decision – I’m just sad about how the denial happens.

That story is how bureaucracy always hides real people behind applications and requests. Someone without any skin in the game receive a document on their desk, maybe on a bad day, and denies it – never having met the person, after having spent a whole minute or two reading the request. Janne is reflecting on this too. It reminds me, but in a much lighter way, about Solzhenitsyn’s Gulag Archipelago and the insanity of the soviet paperwork machine. You can’t let systems go out of hand.

Another heartbreaking part of the book was about children trafficking victims. Real children are having their lives ruined, their mistake was being born at the wrong place at the wrong time. It’s vile. I’m just grateful to be healthy and to live in a good environment.

Sometimes, people denied accusations or events even though there exists video or audio proof that contradicted their lie. If they did so, they were often able to or had already warped their perception of the events and justify it so they are not the bad guy of the story. Even though there is actual proof. Shamefully, it’s how things tend to work in real life, so there is real life wisdom here.

Another part was how modern journalists didn’t want to report some particular stories in Swedish state-sponsored media (where statistically employees lean politically left) because it could theoretically favor the right-orientation of politics. I’ve heard this is a common problem. Janne argues that good journalists should focus more about telling truth and not who necessarily benefits. I tend to agree – why not report it all so people can form their own opinion instead?

Why did I pick it

I found a recommendation of it online somewhere, and then saw it in a store. I didn’t know much about Janne other than hearing occasional buzz from his stories and seeing him on TV in Sweden.

Verdict

³⁄₅. Better books exist out there. I can’t figure out who the audience is. I can’t think of anyone I could recommend it to. Nonetheless, I enjoyed it.