Through New Colleague, journalists who have settled in Sweden can gain professional contacts in the Swedish media industry. The editorial offices that choose to take on a new colleague are enriched with fresh perspectives and angles. For the Russian journalist Liubov Nenasheva, the Fojo programme became an opportunity to continue working in her profession in Sweden.
Liubov Nenasheva had previously worked in local TV news in St. Petersburg. When she applied to New Colleague, she had been living in Sweden for eight years. Fojo’s programme for journalists settled in Sweden but trained abroadm New Colleague, gave her the opportunity to continue working as a journalist in Sweden. She first interned at the local news desk SVT News West, where she was offered a temporary position as editorial staff after completing the internship.
“Without New Colleague, I would not have been able to intern at the editorial office; there were no jobs to apply for. I had another temporary position at SVT before, but it’s not so easy to move between different editorial offices at SVT; they’re a bit like separate employers, and just because you’ve gotten a foot in one place, doesn’t mean you can progress within the organisation. So New Colleague has truly been a great help for me to continue working as a journalist here in Sweden.”
From her work as a journalist in Russia, she brings both contacts and experiences that have proven valuable to the newsroom.
“I believe I have insights at a slightly deeper level in certain areas. We recently met a Ukrainian woman to report on the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. I am always clear about that I am completely against the war when I meet someone like her. I could speak Russian with her, and she dared to tell me a bit more than she probably would have otherwise. There are several of us in the editorial office who have foreign backgrounds, and we all have a lot to contribute. SVT doesn’t work towards the ‘average Swede’ but towards the entire population of Sweden. Those of us with other language skills and a different cultural understanding can enrich the news coverage and sometimes even verify sources and contexts and reach the audience even better. “
According to Anton Svendsen, the Editor in Chief at SVT News West, having a journalist from a completely different media climate on the editorial team has provided the opportunity to gain new perspectives.
“Liubov has covered the Ukraine issue in a way that we couldn’t have done without her, including having natural insights into the daily lives of Ukrainians in Sweden. When the Russian consulate in Gothenburg closed, she had contact with Russian authorities and could provide a unique insight into Russia’s relationship with the Western world. At the same time, she has also contributed to many interesting discussions about the role of journalism in society that we would not have had the chance to have without her,” he says.
