Magnus Faxén

Jonas Magnus Faxén (21 November 1930 – 29 March 2018) was a Swedish journalist, diplomat and TV executive. He was Sveriges Television's (SVT) first CEO from 1978 to 1981 and served as Swedish consul general to New York City from 1988 to 1992. Faxén was Swedish ambassador in Tunis and a number of West African countries during the 1990s.

Early life Faxén was born on 21 November 1930 in Uppsala, 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. He passed studentexamen in 1949 and studied in Uppsala and Stockholm. He was employed by AB Radiotjänst in 1956 (which became Sveriges Radio in 1957) and worked as a program producer from 1959. Faxén made a large number of reporting trips to Africa for Sveriges Radio.

On 1 July 1978, Sveriges Radio was reorganized into four broadcasting companies under one parent company. Faxén reluctantly accepted the position of CEO of Sveriges Television (SVT) from the radio chief Otto Nordenskiöld. where he several times met with PLO leader Yasser Arafat. He retired in 1995. He was buried in Lidingö Cemetery on 11 July 2018.