This year Marja Grill returns to the investigative journalism conference in Sweden as a lecturer, but also as a published author. Last year the investigative journalist released her first book, about a 5-year-old boy who died while staying at a home of care or residence.
“It was hard, but that’s what’s great about this job, that you get to do something about it,”she says with a soft smile.
The investigative reporter Marja Grill has changed her scenery this afternoon to accompany her son to his guitar lesson. She makes sure he finds his way to the teacher and sits down on a red sofa at the cultural school. This setting might be different from the newsroom Marja Grill tends to work in at SVT Nyheters investigative desk in Stockholm, but working with children is common for her in her investigations.
“I want to highlight those who are not heard otherwise. You don’t have this job because it’s well paid or makes you sleep good at night, it should be worth it,” she says and leans back on the sofa.
At this year’s investigative journalism conference, Gräv, she will give a lecture about investigating social services. Most of her work over the years has covered this, and last year she released her first book. It is about a boy named John Walter, whom social services placed in a home of care or residence. In the middle of summer in 2021 he managed to escape and was later found dead in a river nearby.
“Me and my colleague investigated these homes and this one stood out even before he drowned. They had small children and received harsh criticism several years in a row from the Health and Social Care Inspectorate and it didn’t seem like much was done. It wasn’t a good home and when he drowned and it was that one, it was hard,” she says and looks out into the room.
Her interest in stories with a focus on the vulnerable began years prior to her current achievements. Born in the seventies, she grew up in Biskopsgården in Gothenburg with her single mother and remembers not feeling represented in journalism at the time.
“Back then it wasn’t quite as much of an area of exclusion, but you didn’t feel like it was about us when you watched or read the news. I think that was important to me and made me want to highlight more people, stories or realities.”
In her twenties she studied journalism at the University of Gothenburg. A year after graduation she got a job at SVT Örebro and met other new ambitious reporters who wanted to find their own stories. She remembers an idea where she faxed a survey to municipalities and later had to compile the answers by hand. It took time, but made her realise that her ideas were doable.
“When you’re new you think editors know everything and that it’ll be great if you take their paper in your hand because your ideas aren’t as good as theirs, but it wasn’t like that. Once you find what you want to do and work on it, it’ll be much better,” she says and smiles.
Since then, she has told several stories and received various nominations and awards. One of her investigations nominated for the Guldspaden award covered girls exposed to honor-based violence – and this is a topic she continues to investigate in her second book, which she currently works on. “It’s very close to my heart and I think it’s a really important issue,” she says as her focus shifts to her son who runs into the room, ready to go home as his lesson is over.
She puts on her jacket and adds: “These are strong and cool girls, who can be like that in school, but face abuse for protesting against being married off. It’s terrible,” she says as she and her son head out onto the snowy streets of Stockholm.
Right before she has to leave, she reveals one last thing about her upcoming project: “It’ll be released next spring.”
MARJA GRILL
Age: 49
Lives: Stockholm
Family: Husband, two children and cat Melker
Awards (a selection): Guldspaden in 2020
Book: Varför dog John Walter?: En granskning av de nya barnhemmen
Elin Nilsson