 The report was published in full on 20 July 1988 in the newspaper "Bladet Tromsø", even though the Norwegian Ministry of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs had kept it from the public.The "Lindberg case" questioned the freedom of speech in Norway, and particularly its position regarding privacy, in this case the privacy of the seal hunters who had participated in what at the time was internationally largely regarded as inhumane and brutal slaughtering of seal pups (whitecoats) with hakapik.In his 1988 report, Lindberg claimed that seals were skinned alive and that sealers knowingly inflicted suffering on the seal.