TV 2 celebrates 20 years of right-wing new venture: "Facebook-Right" gets its own TV program and massive media coverage from former colleagues. But is national conservative television really new? No, on the contrary, thinks TV 2 writer. And acquaintances of the TV creators point out that both the right and left sides now gather around "the national", with contempt for international perspectives.
(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
Excerpt from Ny Tids Perspektiv section on Friday 31 August 2012:
Facts Wash. "Eventually we get a right-wing debate program on television."
That's the way it was in the recess of last week's top post in the weekly newspaper Morgenbladet. The Free Word-owned newspaper uses the entire front page and several pages inside to promote TV 2's new talk show "Hard Facts", which premieres on Wednesday 29. August.
Cleverly enough, the program's self-proclaimed "national conservative" host, Jon Hustad, is also Morgenbladet's former employee and the journalist's ex-colleague. It does not prevent massive pre-publicity, without critical questions or other sources. Although Dag og Tid journalist Hustad, for example, to Asker & Bærums Budstikke a few days earlier had stated such as:
Facsimile: New Time August 31st
"Why are so many women on sick leave every day? Then I will probably be called both evil, naughty, stingy, infamous… and a reactionary bastard. "
But the question is: Is it only now that Norway "finally gets a right-wing debate program on television"?
- No, says DN journalist Gøran Skaalmo, who together with Bjørn Eckblad this week published the much talked about book See what happened. The story of TV 2 (Font Publishers).
The book reveals that Norwegian commercial television for the past 20 years has hardly had debate programs that are not generally referred to as right-wing or national-populist. Per Ståle Lønning became the most popular presenter of the 90s with «Klart Svar» (TVNorge), with the famous Trygve Bauge, and later with «Lønning og Staff» and «Lønning Direkte» (TV 2). About the same time, Nils Gunnar Lie started "Holmgang", which from 1998 for a ten-year period was led by Oddvar Stenstrøm – who both researcher Frank Aarebrot and the Liberal Party's Abid Raja accused of problematic populism.
media researcher: Jostein Gripsrud.
- Has TV2 ever had classic left-wing programs, Skaalmo?
- No, I do not want to say that.
- How would you say that "Hard facts" fit into TV 2's story?
- The fact that it is advertised that the program should be so pronounced right-wing, is a bit new. But otherwise it seems that the program fits into the tradition of creating more polarized debate programs, as found in 
USA, says Skaalmo.
There is a long history behind the much-talked about program "Hard Facts", which comes in the wake of sociologist and comedian Harald Eia's controversial and gender-critical "Brainwashing" (2010) at NRK. Both Eia, Ole Martin Ihle and Bård Tufte Johansen in Funkenhauser Productions are also behind the new "Hard Facts" program on TV 2.
Hustad says he is "ready for trouble" when gender is also to be discussed in this program. As well as trouble when the use of money in the Sami Parliament in Karasjok, or ineffective climate legislation, is to be debated. The declared enemy is the microchannel NRK P2 on radio, as well as general cultural journalists in the state channel ………… ..
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This is the introduction to the main issue in the weekly magazine Ny Tid's issue 31.08.2012. Read more in this week's issue, on sale in stores across the country. Get the edition sent for free by subscribing (Abo@nytid.no)or click here.
