Ulf Strömberg
Born4 November 1959
Died26 November 2001 (2001-11-27) (aged 42)
Taloqan, Afghanistan
Cause of deathRifle shots
NationalitySwedish
OccupationCameraman
TelevisionTV4
SpouseAngela G. Strömberg
ChildrenIsabelle, Christoffer & Jennifer Strömberg

Ulf Strömberg, sometimes anglicised as Stroemberg, (4 November 1959 – 26 November 2001) was a Swedish cameraman for Sweden's TV4, who was shot and killed by robbers in Taloqan, Takhar Province, Afghanistan while covering the War in Afghanistan in 2001.[1]

Personal

Ulf Strömberg was married and the father of three children, two daughters and a son.[1][2]

Career

Strömberg was initially employed for a TV4 affiliate in Uppsala, Sweden and then joined the national network in 1998. Strömberg's last position was as a photojournalist in Paris with correspondent Elisabet Frerot for TV4.[1][2]

Death

While covering the War in Afghanistan, Strömberg was staying in a house in Taloqan with other Swedish journalists. At around 2 a.m. on 26 November 2001, Aftonbladet's reporters Martin Adler and Bo Lidén were robbed by armed men (moore boys at the age 14,15 ) in uniform who had invaded the house. The men stole medicine, money, computers, as well as other equipment like phones, from them. From the next room, Strömberg open the door for the men, and they opened fire with Kalashnikov rifles and shot him while his colleague, Rolf Porseryd, approached the door. Ulf Stromberg was hit in the chest just above the left nipple. There were no doctors in site. "Aftonbladet's" journalist Bo Lidén received by his wife, in contact with the thorax clinic in Helsingborg (Sweden), who gave instructions to the three Swedish journalists. But they did not manage to save him. Strömberg died twenty minutes later as a result of the shooting.[1][3][4][5][6] At the time, Strömberg was covering the war with TV4 journalist Rolf Porseryd.[1][3] In 2006, Adler, a colleague and witness to the murder of Strömberg, was killed in Mogadishu, Somalia.[7]

Context

The Fall of Kabul on 12 November had taken place two weeks before Strömberg's murder and there was confusion and disorder as the Taliban fled. Four journalists had been killed on 19 November 2001.[8]

Strömberg was an early press casualty, the eighth, in the War in Afghanistan, and one in a series against Western reporters in that region.[1][9] Journalists were concerned about their safety as the fleeing Taliban left a lawlessness in the north in their wake that was an additional concern in covering warfare.[9]

Impact

Ulf Strömberg was one of only few Swedish journalists killed abroad since 2000. Nils Horner was the last Swedish journalist killed and he was also killed while reporting in Afghanistan in 2014.[7][10] In 1979, Swedish journalists Arne Lemberg and Karl Bergman were killed in Uganda.[1][11]

Reactions

At the time, Sweden's Prime Minister Göran Persson responded to Strömberg's murder.[3] Former TV4 coworkers Johan Fredriksson and Martin Gustafsson displayed a handwritten sign on the glass doors of the Inter-Continental Hotel in Kabul reading "Bad News" shortly after Strömberg's death.[9] The TV4 staff were gathered for an emergency meeting to hear the announcements of Strömberg's murder.[1]

In 2002, UNESCO named Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi a laureate, and it also named honorable mentions, including Ulf Strömberg and other journalists who had been killed in Afghanistan while reporting.[12]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "TV4:s fotograf sköts till döds". Aftonbladet.
  2. 1 2 "Minnesord över Ulf Strömberg". journalisten.se. December 18, 2001. Retrieved 2014-12-12.
  3. 1 2 3 "Swedish Journalist Ulf Strömberg Killed". PBS.org. November 27, 2001. Retrieved December 4, 2014.
  4. ↑ "Afghanistan, Pakistan, Foreign Correspondents, Media Journalists, Ulf Stromberg". Newsweek. February 1, 2002. Retrieved December 4, 2014.
  5. ↑ "Ulf Strömberg". Committee to Protect Journalists. November 26, 2001. Retrieved December 4, 2014.
  6. ↑ "Ulf Strömberg, Swedish TV4". Day to End Impunity. November 26, 2001. Archived from the original on October 30, 2014.
  7. 1 2 "Han kände till farorna". Expressen. June 24, 2006. Retrieved December 4, 2014.
  8. ↑ Weiner, Tim (November 20, 2001). "A Nation Challenged: News Media; 4 Foreign Journalists Are Shot And Possibly Killed in Ambush". New York Times. Retrieved 2014-12-11.
  9. 1 2 3 "A NATION CHALLENGED: NEWS MEDIA; Swedish Journalist Slain as Fears Rise for Safety of Reporters". New York Times. November 28, 2001. Retrieved December 10, 2014.
  10. ↑ "En radioröst att sakna". DN.se. March 11, 2014. Retrieved 2014-12-12.
  11. ↑ Henricson, Emelie (March 11, 2014). "Har blivit svårare att arbeta i krigszoner". expressen.se. Retrieved 2014-12-12.
  12. ↑ "UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize for Suu Kyi". The Hindu. October 6, 2002. Retrieved 2014-12-12.


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