We have interviewed Jessica Linnmann, Head of TV News, about her job at Aftonbladet TV Sweden.
Why do you work in Aftonbladet and what is it like?
I work at Aftonbladet TV because it is where everything happens and we are always trying to push the limits. It’s hard to get in to Aftonbladet as a journalist, everybody want’s to work here, but when you’re in you are a part of a big family and we have a lot of fun – and we always want to win!
People often ask how a day looks like and it is almost impossible to describe. Or even to know how the day will turn out. One day we start a new TV show, the next we have a live feed for 27 hours from the Boston bombing and now we are starting a new TV channel!
With my colleagues when we inaugurated Aftonbladet TV’s new studio.
Which part of your job do you enjoy the most?
The adrenaline when something big has happened and we go live. It’s a great feeling knowing that almost a third of the Swedish population is watching our live feed. And of course I love the people I work with, without them it wouldn’t be as much fun.
My colleague Magnus Zaar, Head of web-TV Aftonbladet, and I on the inauguration of our program ‘Partiprogrammet’.
Tell us about a challenge (positive or negative) you have overcome either in your job or private life and how you did it.
As a journalist you always live with a kind of mixed emotions, you want something to happen but at the same time you don’t want anyone to get hurt.
Once there was a bus going of the road in the middle of Sweden. At that time I worked at the Swedish news channel TV4. When we got the alarm the adrenaline rush came, we hurried out in the car and drove to the scene of the accident. I was the first journalist on site and saw how they carried out dead people.
Soon there was a lot more journalists, police, ambulance, firefighters there and it became national news. I stood there in the cold for 10-12 hours before I went back to my news desk.
The feeling when you come back is really weird. You have an adrenaline rush; on one hand you are happy because you’ve done your job and on the other hand so sad because of all the people who lost their lives. And nobody outside work knows what it feels like. And they don’t really want to know or talk about the accident, what you’ve seen and how you feel. That was the first time and after a while you just learn to cope with it.
Until the day a young man drowned in the Swedish holiday resort Visby. In our news tip service we got the film of the man drowning. I wasn’t prepared of what I just saw and it was horrible.
When things like this happen you kind of wonder why you are a journalist at all. And at the same time you just love the adrenaline rush.
What do you do when you’re not working?
Traveling, diving, skiing and I spend a lot of time at the gym. I read a lot and of course I like hanging with my family, my friends and my cat.
To the left: Here I am at a rifle competition.
To the right: Out in the field, working as a photographer, during the final of the Swedish top series in football. Just had to raise the trophy!
Do you have any hidden talents?
I’m a Nordic champion in rifle shooting and I’ve got a Swedish record in air rifle shooting. My friends do know this but maybe not my colleagues.
Tips for others who would like to work at Aftonbladet?
Get ready for a lot of action, and it sure helps if you like competing.