Jonas Magnus Faxén (21 November 1930 – 29 March 2018) was a Swedish journalist, diplomat and TV executive. He was

Sveriges Television Sveriges Television AB ("Sweden's Television aktiebolag, Stock Company"), shortened to SVT (), is the Sweden, Swedish national public broadcasting, public television broadcaster, funded by a public service tax on personal income set by the Riksd ...

's (SVT) first CEO from 1978 to 1981 and served as Swedish consul general to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

from 1988 to 1992. Faxén was Swedish ambassador in

Tunis Tunis (, ') is the capital city, capital and largest city of Tunisia. The greater metropolitan area of Tunis, often referred to as "Grand Tunis", has about 2,700,000 inhabitants. , it is the third-largest city in the Maghreb region (after Casabl ...

and a number of West African countries during the 1990s.

Early life

Faxén was born on 21 November 1930 in

Uppsala Uppsala ( ; ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the capital of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Loc ...

, Sweden, the son of Lars Faxén, a lector, and his wife Nina (née Stjernfelt). He had his very first journalism job in the 1940s when, for a few summers, he had a temporary work at the ''Dalpilen'' newspaper in

Falun Falun () is a city and the seat of Falun Municipality in Dalarna County, Sweden, with 37,291 inhabitants in 2010. It is also the capital of Dalarna County. Falun forms, together with Borlänge, a metropolitan area with just over 100,000 inhabit ...

. He passed ''

studentexamen Studentexamen (Swedish for "students' examination" or "students' degree"), earlier also ''mogenhetsexamen'' ("maturity examination") was the name of the university entrance examination in Sweden from the 17th century to 1968. From 1862 to 1968, ...

'' in 1949 and studied in Uppsala and

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

Career

Faxén was employed by ''

Svenska Dagbladet (, "The Swedish Daily News"), abbreviated SvD, is a daily List of Swedish newspapers, newspaper published in Stockholm, Sweden. History and profile The first issue of appeared on 18 December 1884. During the beginning of the 1900s the pap ...

'' from 1951 to 1953 and by ''Norrlandsposten'' in

Gävle Gävle ( ; ) is a Urban areas in Sweden, city in Sweden, the seat of Gävle Municipality and the capital of Gävleborg County. It had 79,004 inhabitants in 2020, which makes it the List of cities in Sweden, 13th-most-populated city in Sweden. I ...

in 1953 and in 1955. He was employed by AB Radiotjänst in 1956 (which became

Sveriges Radio Sveriges Radio Aktiebolag, AB (; "Sweden's Radio") is Sweden's national publicly funded radio programming, radio broadcaster. Sveriges Radio is a public limited company, owned by an independent foundation, previously funded through a television ...

in 1957) and worked as a program producer from 1959. Faxén made a large number of reporting trips to

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

for Sveriges Radio. Around 1960, Faxén came to '' Dagens Eko'' and its foreign editorial staff. He reported from Congo, where he met, among others, Congo's first president,

Patrice Lumumba Patrice Émery Lumumba ( ; born Isaïe Tasumbu Tawosa; 2 July 192517 January 1961) was a Congolese politician and independence leader who served as the first prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (then known as the Republic o ...

. While delivering his phone reports from Congo's capital

Léopoldville Kinshasa (; ; ), formerly named Léopoldville from 1881–1966 (), is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Kinshasa is one of the world's fastest-growing megacities, with an estimated population of 17 million ...

, his wife Marianne gave birth to the couple's first child back in Sweden. The chief of ''Dagens Eko'', Per Persson, thought it was crazy that he would have to stay in Congo when he had just become a father and was therefore sent home to Sweden. He was back in Congo at the end of 1961 and witnessed from his hotel room how Swedish fighter aircraft under UN flags attacked the post office in Élisabethville. Faxén also reported on the liberation of Algeria, including the

Algiers putsch The Algiers putsch (; or ), also known as the putsch of the generals (), was a failed coup d'état intended to force French President Charles de Gaulle not to abandon French Algeria, the resident European community and pro-French Algerians. Orga ...

in which French generals tried to take power over what was then a large French province in

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

. He was Sveriges Radio's

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

correspondent from 1963 to 1966 and foreign affairs commentator from 1966. He went from radio to television in 1969. Sweden's second TV channel, TV2, was to be started and so was a new news program, ''Rapport'', which was broadcast for the first time on 5 December 1969. Even during his time at ''Rapport'', Faxén traveled extensively. Among other things, he covered the civil war in

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

, the

Black September Black September (), also known as the Jordanian Civil War, was an armed conflict between Jordan, led by Hussein of Jordan, King Hussein, and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), led by chairman Yasser Arafat. The main phase of the fight ...

in 1970. Faxén was then correspondent in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

from 1971 to 1973 where, in addition to covering the 1972 presidential election, he also had to report on the first incidents in the

Watergate scandal The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the Presidency of Richard Nixon, administration of President Richard Nixon. The scandal began in 1972 and ultimately led to Resignation of Richard Nixon, Nix ...

, which later led to the resignation of

President Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 36th vice president under P ...

. Back in Sweden, he was then managing editor of TV2's factual television editorial office from 1973 to 1974. Faxén was then radio program manager from 1974. On 1 July 1978, Sveriges Radio was reorganized into four broadcasting companies under one parent company. Faxén reluctantly accepted the position of CEO of

(SVT) from the radio chief Otto Nordenskiöld. During its first three years as an independent company, SVT had a slightly reluctant CEO who struggled with willful TV channel management and a sometimes partially unsympathetic board of directors. All at a time when new challenges such as competition from satellite TV, cable TV, home video devices and other things started to emerge. In the spring of 1981, Faxén had had enough and in connection with a conference in

Ronneby Ronneby is a locality and the seat of Ronneby Municipality in Blekinge County, Sweden with 12,029 inhabitants in 2010. Ronneby is regarded as the heart of "the Garden of Sweden", and in 2005 the park "Brunnsparken" in Ronneby was voted Sweden's m ...

, he announced to SVT's first chairman Lennart Sandgren that he did not want to extend his three-year contract as CEO. Shortly afterwards he received a call from the then Foreign Minister

Ola Ullsten Stig Kjell Olof "Ola" Ullsten (23 June 1931 – 28 May 2018) was a Swedish politician and diplomat who was Prime Minister of Sweden from 1978 to 1979 and leader of the Liberal People's Party from 1978 to 1983. He also served as Deputy Prime ...

, who wondered if Faxén wanted to become a press officer at the

Ministry for Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral rela ...

. He accepted and became deputy director-general (''departementsråd'') and was head of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs' press and information unit from 1981 to 1983. In 1984, he was appointed consul general to

. Faxén was then ambassador in

from 1988 to 1992 where he several times met with

PLO The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ) is a Palestinian nationalist coalition that is internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinian people in both the occupied Palestinian territories and the diaspora. ...

leader

Yasser Arafat Yasser Arafat (4 or 24 August 1929 – 11 November 2004), also popularly known by his Kunya (Arabic), kunya Abu Ammar, was a Palestinian political leader. He was chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from 1969 to 2004, Presid ...

. Faxén then had special assignments at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs with a position as ambassador from 1992, including

West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...

(

Niamey Niamey () is the capital and largest city of Niger. As the Niamey Urban Community (, CUN), it is a Regions of Niger, first-level division of Niger, surrounded by the Tillabéri Region, in the western part of the country. Niamey lies on the Nige ...

and

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Senegal, largest city of Senegal. The Departments of Senegal, department of Dakar has a population of 1,278,469, and the population of the Dakar metropolitan area was at 4.0 mill ...

from 1992,

Conakry Conakry ( , ; ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guinea. A port city, it serves as the economic, financial and cultural centre of Guinea. Its population as of the 2014 Guinea census was 1,660,973. The current population of C ...

and

Nouakchott Nouakchott ( ) is the capital and largest city of Mauritania. Located in the southwestern part of the country, it is one of the largest cities in the Sahara. The city also serves as the administrative and economic center of Mauritania. Once a ...

from 1993 and

Bamako Bamako is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Mali, with a 2022 population of 4,227,569. It is located on the Niger River, near the rapids that divide the upper and middle Niger valleys in the southwestern part of the country. Bamak ...

from 1994). He retired in 1995.

Personal life

In 1957, he married Marianne Ek (1933–2011), the daughter of Gunnar Ek and Margareta (née Eriksson). They one child: Karin (born 1960).

Death

Faxén died on 29 March 2018 and the funeral was held in

Lidingö Lidingö (), also known in its definite form Lidingön and as Lidingölandet, is an island in the inner Stockholm archipelago, northeast of Stockholm, Sweden. In 2023, the population of the Lidingö urban area on the island was 48,162. It is the ...

Church on 24 April 2018. He was buried in

Lidingö Cemetery Lidingö Cemetery () is a cemetery located adjacent to Lidingö Church in Stockholm County, Sweden. It is centrally located on the island of Lidingö at an elevation adjacent to Kyrkviken's southern shore. South-west of the church is Hersbyholm ...

on 11 July 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Faxen, Magnus 1930 births 2018 deaths Consuls-general for Sweden in New York City Ambassadors of Sweden to Tunisia Ambassadors of Sweden to Niger Ambassadors of Sweden to Senegal Ambassadors of Sweden to Guinea Ambassadors of Sweden to Mauritania Ambassadors of Sweden to Mali Swedish television executives Swedish journalists Diplomats from Uppsala Sveriges Television people