“What’s behind this boycott?”
“That’s one of the things that Millennium will be examining closely. But I’ll make it
clear now that Millennium will not be sunk with the first salvo.”
“Is this why you bought into the magazine?”
“It would be deplorable if the special interests had the power to silence those
voices in the media that they find uncomfortable.”
Vanger acted as though he had been a cultural radical espousing freedom of
speech all his life. Blomkvist burst out laughing as he spent his first evening in the
TV room at Rullåker Prison. His fellow inmates glanced at him uneasily.
Later that evening, when he was lying on the bunk in his cell—which reminded
him of a cramped motel room with its tiny table, its one chair, and one shelf on the
wall, he admitted that Vanger and Berger had been right about how the news
would be marketed. He just knew that something had changed in people’s attitude
towards Millennium.
Vanger’s support was no more or less than a declaration of war against
Wennerström. The message was clear: in the future you will not be fighting with a
magazine with a staff of six and an annual budget corresponding to the cost of a
luncheon meeting of the Wennerström Group. You will now be up against the
Vanger Corporation, which may be a shadow of its former greatness but still
presents a considerably tougher challenge.
The message that Vanger had delivered on TV was that he was prepared to fight,
and for Wennerström, that war would be costly.
Berger had chosen her words with care. She had not said much, but her saying that
the magazine had not told its version created the impression that there was
something to tell. Despite the fact that Blomkvist had been indicted, convicted, and
was now imprisoned, she had come out and said—if not in so many words—that
he was innocent of libel and that another truth existed. Precisely because she had
not used the word “innocent,” his innocence seemed more apparent than ever. The
fact that he was going to be reinstated as publisher emphasised
that Millennium felt it had nothing to be ashamed of. In the eyes of the public,
credibility was no problem—everyone loves a conspiracy theory, and in the choice
between a filthy rich businessman and an outspoken and charming editor in chief,
it was not hard to guess where the public’s sympathies would lie. The media,