Norway/Media

Norway/Media

Media in Norway outlines the current state of the press, television, radio, film and cinema, and social media in Norway.

Official narrative

Free and fair. and expressing a broad range of opinions. No spooks, no deep state networks, no hidden agendas.

Indoctrination

The Norwegian Defence University College (Forsvarets høgskole) has as primary misson to educate military officers. But it also offers a specialized Leadership Course, a 12-week course for for key military and civilian decision-makers. The last 60 years, most Norwegian editors-in-chief and leading journalists have attended this course.

Financing

Many corporate media outlets (but not Dagbladet, VG, and Aftenposten) are dependent on government support. In 2021, the Norwegian Media Authority awarded NOK 366 million in production subsidies to 148 media outlets.

As of 2019 NRK receives more than NOK 6.4 billion of support from the state budget.

History

During the Cold War, foreign minister Halvard Lange personally supervised, through weekly meetings with the country's editors, what was printed and not printed.

Per-Olav Reinton wrote in 1990 that the Police Security Service and the military intelligence agency both had "their people" in the government NRK news service, the national news agency NTB and the most important newsrooms in the country.

NRK

Full article: NRK

TV2

Full article: TV 2 (Norway)

"Fact checkers"

Full article: Faktisk

The biggest "fact checker" is closely tied to the military and spook agencies through personnel rotation.

In September 2024, several media outlets, including VG and NRK, announced the planned establishment of a national "Center for Source Criticism" to "strengthen the resistance against disinformation and fake news in the population". They estimate that it will cost between 70 and 100 million kroner a year. Helje Solberg, News Editor at NRK and chairman of the board of Faktisk.no, will take a six-month leave of absence from her job at NRK to lead the planning of the project. In a press release, she said it was "To clean up what is true and what is not in the ever-increasing flow of information and news, the Norwegian press is joining forces to fight disinformation." The Center will be part of the Norwegian total preparedness plan, and will work closely with academia, business and industry, the school system, the police, the armed forces and various organisations. The center is intended to be funded by the state, and will require a significant investment in staffing, technology and expertise. The goal is to establish more regional centres that offer expertise, technology and training resources to schools, universities, the public sector and the business sector, said Helje Solberg.

The legacy media

Dagbladet, VG, Aftenposten, Klassekampen... Schibsted.

Aftenposten

Editors at Aftenposten and its mother company Schibsted have attended many Bilderberg conferences.

Klassekampen

The "left wing" Klassekampen is especially dependent on government support.

Integrity Initiative

Integrity Initiative/Cluster/Norway

2024 independent media clampdown

In 2024, a new law was introduced to stop independent media, under the pretext of stopping foreign "disinformation". "It shall be a criminal offense to contribute on behalf of or by agreement with a foreign intelligence actor in activities aimed at influencing decisions or the formation of public opinion, when the activity may harm significant public interests," with a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment. The Norwegian Police Security Service gets the opportunity to use hidden coercive measures. These are methods that are used without the person they are used against being aware of it. Covert coercive measures include access to carry out secret searches, camera surveillance at a private location, technical tracking, forced demand to hand over "evidence", interception of communications, other control of communications facilities, and data reading. The spooks will have access to use such methods even if the penalty is less than what is usually required.

In the Prevention act, coercive measures may be applied to persons who have not yet committed an offense, if there are reasonable grounds to believe that they will do so. Coercive measures can be used against people who are unlikely to commit an offense, but where "objectively there may be indications that it will happen". "Liability for complicity may be applicable to accomplices who do not themselves act on behalf of or in agreement with a foreign intelligence actor."

Minister of Justice and Public Security Emilie Enger Mehl said this when the proposal was presented: "Norway is one of the world's most democratic countries, and people are well equipped to resist disinformation and conspiracy theories. We know that authoritarian states can try to influence us to serve their own interests. Such states may, for example, spread fake news in order to weaken people's trust in the press, public authorities, or other important social institutions."

Media players

Most Norwegian media players are listed in Wikispooks because they attended a Bilderberg meeting.

Norwegian media players
Kjetil Alstadheim
Trine Eilertsen
Torolf Elster
Hans Engen
Thor Gjermund Eriksen
Einar Førde
Rolf Gerhardsen
Per Egil Hegge
Christian Michelsen
Finn Moe
Helge Seip
Hanne Skartveit
Pål Steigan
Arne Treholt
Nils Udgaard
Hans Vatne
Dagfinn Vårvik

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