Role of journalists in elections

This year’s parliamentary elections in Norway were unusually tense. According to Berit Lindemann of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, who spoke to 35 observers from CIS countries, this was caused by a new, albeit rare, challenge – change of power after the eight-year rule by a center left coalition with Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg at the head.

In her words, there are usually no OBSE observers in Norwegian elections because Norway is a democracy. “People here believe that the result of their voting will fully reflect the real mood in society and that their votes will be fairly counted. Everything is based here on belief in honesty,” Lindemann noted.

Helge Ogrim, chief editor of the magazine Journalisten (journalisten.no) published by the Association of Norwegian Journalists since 1917, says the current campaign has been No.1 news item in the media since August. Only one piece of news beat the elections – the murder of a girl – only because murders are rare in Norway. In his words, context should be taken into account to analyze the situation. Norway is a country of stable diplomacy, a harmonious society, and a high level of wellbeing.

STANDARDS

There are no formal regulations in Norway about media coverage of elections. The only exception is state-run television and radio channels, for which there is a set of rules that are the result of the efforts of journalists themselves. In other words, the state has nothing to do with the media.

The first rule, Ogrim says, is that a journalist cannot be a politician and a journalist at the same time. Events should receive extensive and profound media coverage. The second rule is that coverage should avoid using anonymous sources. Even if this happens, it should be explained. Journalists should precisely convey the opinion of the person being quoted. A quotation must not be torn out of the context. If there are complaints from people who were misquoted or had their opinion distorted, they will be examined in a special body that deals with ethical behavior. In this case the newspaper must publish a disclaimer or a correction, and the guilty journalist must pay the ethics commission’s expenses.

The state-run NRK television channel, which has existed since 1930, receives a license from the state and, according to instructions, it must provide well-balanced coverage for political parties and must not ignore the parties it considers bad.

The commercial TV2 channel has no instructions but it still complies with the same campaign coverage standards as NRK does because viewers are accustomed to this form.

As for newspapers’ party preferences, such links existed 30 years ago but now they do not, Ogrim says. Centrist newspapers hold sway in the whole range of the print media.

As Norway is a harmonious society, there was no feeling of a desire for radical changes in society on the eve of the elections, Ogrim noted. In his words, Norwegian politicians are in general incorrupt, so ordinary people have access to politicians and the state does not want drastic changes in society.

On the other hand, there is some criticism of the way the media cover these elections and, particularly, show favor to left-wing priorities. In other words, there is no complete neutrality. Ogrim says this can be explained by the fact that most journalists usually associate themselves with the left wing or the center. Right-wing conservatives criticize the media for this. In particular, they call the NRK channel as ARK, where A stands for the Labor Party.

Ogrim’s another criticism is that newspapers usually write about who said what, instead of analyzing where this can take the country to. Political journalists only see the world in a narrow tunnel, Ogrim believes.

There still are people who are trying to buck this trend in the existing conditions – they are bloggers. The Norwegian journalist points out that this new phenomenon is bringing about changes in the media. For example, some hitherto rarely-discussed problems are now the object of a heated debate. It is bloggers who raised a question that the media were reluctant to touch upon. It is about the economic side of immigration – how this will change the budget and whether or not this will affect wages. This resulted in a debate on whether the state should continue to spend money on this. In principle, journalists can influence elections, albeit to a small extent. This will be clear if you see which of the parties they support and which political forces receive more or less coverage. In particular, the media are more and more focusing on the Green Party and the Communist Party.

TWO TYPES OF POLITICAL JOURNALISTS

Ogrim says there are two types of political journalists in Norway. One type is political editors whom you can see on TV screens for 5-7 days during the elections as political commentators. The other type is smart journalists who can “turn the tables,” i.e., change the situation in your favor by finding the truth in the flow of information.

Another downside of the Norwegian media is that they do not follow much the promises of politicians. It is usually the opposition that takes an active attitude to this – it prompts the media to write articles on this. We must give bloggers their due, Ogrim says, for they treat this more attentively and sensitively.

The content of the online versions of Norwegian newspapers is almost always available free except for some exclusive materials for which a small fee is charged, says Eiliv Frich Flydal, a Dagbladet journalist. The goal is to place as many advertisements as possible on the website. The more people visit the site, the easier it is to attract advertisers. One can usually become a journalist in Norway by studying at a university’s journalism department. But you can also become a journalist without this education, as was the case with Dagblatet’s journalist Einar Hagvaag who has been writing editorials, commentaries, and analytical articles for 10-15 years. A historian by education, he once happened to write a few articles, and he decided to become a journalist. In his words, Dagbladet employs 140 journalists, with the minimal salary of a novice journalist being 60,000 dollars a year plus all kinds of fringe benefits. An experienced journalist earns more than 100,000 dollars a year, and the annual income of some very well-known journalists may reach 135,000 dollars. But Hagvaag notes that taxes in Norway are 46 percent.

WORKING CONDITIONS

The working day of Norwegian journalists is 7 hours 30 minutes. They usually work by shifts, with the first shift beginning at 5 a.m., when one journalist comes to the office. Two more join him or her at 7 a.m., and other journalists join them later. Most of the media people come to their shift after lunchtime. As a rule, one journalist remains on duty from midnight until 5 a.m.

As Hagvaag points out, the newspaper does not much encourage overtime work because it has to pay for this. Weekend work entails an additional 50- to 100-percent pay. It is usually young people who try to work overtime, while experienced journalists prefer to value free time.

Hagvaag says that journalists are well protected by the National Union of Journalists which sets the basic level of remuneration. At the local level, journalist trade unions can also negotiate a salary rise, albeit a small one, with newspaper owners. It is practically impossible to dismiss a journalist without consent of the local trade union, except for the instances when dismissal is caused by theft, embezzlement, or failure to report for duty. Besides, Norwegian journalists enjoy good health care. For example, Dagbladet employees are treated free of charge at a downtown Oslo in-patient hospital, with the newspaper covering all the expenses, Hagvaag says.

Naturally, many Ukrainian journalists would like to earn this much, but let us not forget that Ukraine is not Norway, a highly affluent country with a per capita GDP of 60,000 dollars.

The standards of journalism should not depend on where a journalist lives. He or she must keep the bar in Ukraine as high as it is in Norway and other countries, where journalism is a prestigious and highly-paid job.