– Presse-Norge must poke a little at the bad in the Baneheia case
This comment was originally published by Espen Skoland on his own Facebook page and is reproduced with the permission of the article author.
While the rest of Presse-Norge reflects on their own shame and guilt in connection with the acquittal of Viggo Kristiansen, life in the NRK Sørlandet editorial office goes on as usual. On Saturday, Jan Helge Andersen will have more time to question the attorney general’s decision. Several erroneous claims about the evidence were allowed to stand almost completely unchallenged for a long time. Only after the editors received criticism from Dagsavisens Hege Ulstein – and certainly many others – NRK submitted the attorney general’s reasons in the case.
Unfortunately, it is not the first time that plain journalism has been practiced in the Baneheia case in connection with relatives from the front. Because while the rest of the Norwegian press has slowly but surely awakened to life in the Baneheia case, the NRK editorial team in the harmonious southern village has been most concerned with paying attention to the next of kin.
When Discovery launched the documentary series about “Baneheia”, the relatives were given seven minutes of open microphone on “Dagsrevyen.” There they were allowed to accuse the media of perpetrating lies. What lies no one found out. NRK Sørlandet did not ask any questions either. We were not offered a response either. We had to deal with that ourselves.
Getting into a discussion with the next of kin was our greatest fear when we assessed the “Baneheia” documentary. How would we manage to defend ourselves against one of Norway’s most famous offers, Ada Sofie Austegard? This was a topic of discussion at the time. I am sure that many newsrooms in Norway have thought the same thing.
Therefore, NRK should have asked the questions: “Which lies do you think the media are serving up, and what truths do you think they are withholding?” They didn’t. Nor did we do that in the reply. I, like everyone else, was a coward!
I know I’m touching on a touchy subject now. The relatives deserve peace. It would certainly have been the easiest. But Norwegian newsrooms need to poke a little fun at the press’s own handling of the next of kin. Especially NRK Sørlandet.
To what extent has the fear of arousing bad feelings been allowed to govern the press coverage of the Baneheia case? And to what extent do the next of kin and the legal aid lawyers exert intense pressure on everyone who has asked questions about the blame in order to prevent critical journalism?
When Discovery announced that a documentary would be made about the case, Stine Sofie’s Foundation and Håkon Brækhus sent out a press release on behalf of the next of kin. There they accused Discovery of making an unbalanced documentary series. They even claimed that we ourselves announced that it would be unbalanced, because we failed to get the voices of the actors behind the investigation and the two verdicts against Viggo Kristiansen.
It was these accusations that dominated the headlines. No one took the trouble to reflect a little on the fact that several of the actors who were behind the investigation at the time had themselves joined the board of Stine Sofies Stiftelse. The central Kripos investigator Asbjørn Hansen eventually became a good friend of Ada Sofie Austegard and has sat on the board of the foundation. Former head of investigations Magne Storaker has worked at Stine Sofies Stiftelse. Former member of the readmission commission, Ann-Kristin Olsen, sits on the board now. It’s a blissful stir. It doesn’t smell good either. Not then, and not today.
Considerable work was put in by the next of kin in influencing the editor at the time Tine Austvoll Jensen to postpone the publication of the series until after the resumption. They didn’t manage to do that, but a question that is forced to the fore is how many other newsrooms have been faced with similar pressure? And what consequences has it had?
I don’t quite know what the NRK editorial staff in Sørlandet are thinking, but perhaps the editorial approach has been somewhat in line with that which former and current Kristiansand mayors, Bjørg Wallevik and Jan Oddvar Skisland, had when the case was decided to be reopened:
“I’m not a lawyer, but I still believe that the conclusion [altså dommen] was right,” said former Kristiansand mayor Bjørg Wallevik to Fædrelandsvennen at the time. Sitting mayor, Jan Oddvar Skisland, was worried that the resumption would open up sore wounds among the city’s residents, and told VG that he hoped that the case “can be kept at as sober a level as possible, and with the least possible media focus”.
Let’s hope not.
A central question that Norwegian newsrooms should ask themselves in any case is how much they have allowed themselves to be controlled by relatives, aid lawyers and certain organizations in this case. It’s going to hurt. But the time is ripe to poke a little at what hurts. For Presse-Norge in general, and for NRK Sørlandet in particular.
It is absolutely necessary for some wounds to heal.