Yesterday, Bonnier's announcement of its full-year results for 2007, earnings had improved by roughly £7,6m (9bn SEK) to roughly £24,5m (29bn SEK), was so brief that journalists complained about the lack of more numbers. But the full-year results were soon forgotten when one of the media company's editors died unexpectedly.

Shortly after Jonas Bonnier, the family-owned media group's CEO, commended Dagens Nyheter's and Sydsvenskan's solid financial results, Peter Melin, the editor-in-chief of the latter, a regional newspaper for the south of Sweden, suffered a fatal heart attack while at work.

Colleagues of the highly regarded editor, aged 59, were in a state of shock, and other Swedish journalists and editors were quick publish their condolences and praise for Melin.

First and foremostly, he was a listening editor, wrote Martin Jönsson, business editor of Svenska Dagbladet; "I have rarely felt as safe and looked after as a writer as with him," wrote Andreas Ekström, a journalist with Sydsvenskan, describing Melin as an editor who married sound knowledge of the law with courage, good judgement and experience. Jonas Bonnier told Kvällsposten "it felt terribly unreal" and offerd his condolences to the Melin's family, others praised Melin as a champion of press ethics.