After receiveing my degree in journalism at JMG, University of Gothenburg, in 2012, I worked as a researcher with Laika Film & Television, conducting investigative journalism for the SVT program "Dokument inifrån". Then I started working as a reporter at the Swedish Broadcasting Company (SR), with both local and national news programs.
In recent years I've been focusing on longer stories and documentaries for the radio. For a few years as a freelancer, mostly for SR, and now as a full-time employee at Third Ear Studio.
Since 2016 I run the non-profit association Min Mic together with freelance journalist Lasse Edfast. Through the association we teach youth from the Gothenburg area Hisingen about radio, journalism and democracy to give them the means to tell their stories. Read more about the project (in Swedish) on: Min Mic.
For inquiries about lectures on journalism and dramaturgy, see contact info below.
I have also been taking on assignments as a fixer in Sweden for international media.
Story for the newspaper Göteborgs-Posten about Mahfouz Ould al-Walid, former mufti in al Qaeda and personal spiritual advisor of Osama bin Laden, who was once chased by the US but now lives freely in the open in Mauritania.
Published in 2020. Full story, in Swedish, here: Här lever Usama bin Ladins rådgivare Mahfouz Ould al-Walid i frihet
Story for Svenska Dagbladet about heart transplanted William, whose family is used to live close to death and to whom social distancing has been part of life since before the pandemic.
Published in 2020. Full story, in Swedish, here: Pandemins oväntade följder för hjärtsjuke William
I mainly work with the longer documentary format but also with shorter stories for the radio. Most of the work I do is for the Swedish Broadcasting Corporation, Sveriges Radio.
2023
A knife fight. A dead person on a bed. A witness saying he saw it all. But why does the witness place the entire event at a balcony where there's snow but no blood or any other sign of a fight? And how come the courts sentence two brothers to 18 years in prison for murder, based on his testimony? https://open.spotify.com/episode/2nm1elB8zVH0UYFdEd1OwC?si=5f76c71ccb524c0b Series is in Swedish. Subscribe here to listen: https://thirdear.studio
2023
A series looking into the murders which Sture Bergwall, formerly known as Thomas Quick, were convicted of and later acquitted from. Where did the investigations go wrong? And what happened after, when suddenly the police investigation was back on square one but with a lot of years lost? https://open.spotify.com/episode/70IeYF8MbTmCf8Vu67Gpzd?si=1c7ee8a71ce940c9 Series is in Swedish. Subscribe here to be able to listen: https://thirdear.studio
2023
Borrby, called the heart of Österlen, is as picturesque as you'd imagine. But in 1995 and 1996 the peace and quiet is disrupted when a man, a drug addict who some villagers already fear, moves to the village. https://open.spotify.com/episode/5jIuWjGmbCwpWiKJqECo6Y?si=752c0c7979ac45ed Series is in Swedish. Subscribe here to be able to listen: https://thirdear.studio
2022
About the two brothers, 5 and 7 years old, accused of killing their best friend, 4-year old Kevin, in 1998. It took almost twenty years before someone questioned the police investigation. https://sverigesradio.se/avsnitt/kevinfallet-och-de-utpekade-broderna
2022
About the police investigation of the 1984 unsolved murder of Catrine da Costa. https://open.spotify.com/episode/4zrYe1t4yH9TGY8zj1zPNS?si=d4c18805db0849dc Series is in Swedish. Subscribe here to be able to listen: https://thirdear.studio
2021
In 1991 a 16-year-old poet travels almost 8000 miles to Afghanistan and swears loyalty to Osama bin Laden. He becomes his spiritual adviser. In an era when the Western world is relieved after the end of the cold war, a group of men becomes more and more radicalized. How do you start hating so much that you're willing to murder 3000 innocent civilians? Also – how is it possible that someone who was so close to all of this is now living freely in the open in Mauritania? https://open.spotify.com/episode/2dJE9QWzzPNSGzVpW0XhzY?si=c5caa7ab88024161 Series is in Swedish. Subscribe here to be able to listen: https://thirdear.studio
2021
For over a year the 52 14-year-olds have been excited about the ski trip. But they never arrive in Klövsjö. Early in the morning on the 2nd of April in 2017, the double-decker bus ran off a narrow road in Härjedalen. A story about bottomless grief, the challenges faced by emergency medical responders in rural Sweden and the safety of our roads. https://sverigesradio.se/avsnitt/1679006
2020
About the effects of the pandemic on a rural community in Sweden. A conspiracy theorist who doesn't believe the virus to be dangerous but still delivers groceries to those who have self-isolated. A man who fears the loneliness and a priest and his wife who hopes the pandemic will make people realize the benefits of living in the countryside. https://sverigesradio.se/sida/avsnitt/1568716?programid=909
2020
https://sverigesradio.se/sida/avsnitt/1460350?programid=2519
2018
About one of Europes most notorious refugee smugglers. https://sverigesradio.se/avsnitt/1185129
2017
About one of the most disastrous fires in Swedish modern history in 1978. When students celebrating graduation gets caught in a fire at a club. https://sverigesradio.se/avsnitt/938141
2017
About the accident in 1987 when two passenger trains collide at full speed. https://sverigesradio.se/avsnitt/881595
2016
About what happens in a tiny rural village when one of the "bad boys" kills a young girl when he hits her with his cross bike. https://sverigesradio.se/avsnitt/790931
2016
About a murder mystery that will take unusual turns in the Swedish judicial system and become the the break through for the organization Missing People. https://sverigesradio.se/avsnitt/721186
2016
About an amfetamin addict and dealer trying to go clean and become a better father to his kids. https://sverigesradio.se/avsnitt/682932
2019-05
2018-08
2018-07
2018-01
+4670– three nine six eight three one nine
maria.hansson.botin@thirdear.studio
maria.hansson.botin@gmail.com
Find my public encryption key at: pgp.mit.edu. Email address for encrypted email: maria.hansson.botin@gmail.com