(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
This past week has shown what pressure freedom of expression is under in what is called the age of terror and violence.
Last Friday, Frettabladid, Iceland's largest daily newspaper, was raided by the Reykjavik County Governor. The reason was that the newspaper had been banned from publishing emails and documents about an ongoing scandal surrounding the retailer Baugur and the Independence Party, one of two government parties in Iceland. The charges regarding the firm's falsification of documents will now be processed by the Supreme Court. To make the case even more spicy and complicated, it turns out that the editor of the newspaper competitor Morgunbladid, with close ties to the Independence Party, has also been active in the case.
That does not make the authorities raiding Frettabladid less problematic.
"The Icelandic authorities are playing a dangerous game when they intervene in newsrooms," Secretary-General Aidan White of the International Federation of Journalists said on Tuesday.
The protests against the Icelandic authorities have been strong.
They should also be against Norwegian courts, which on Tuesday stopped the broadcast of NRK
Focal point program on police methods in search of the robbers of the Nokas building in Stavanger.
The focal point documentary should have been sent that night. The right of ownership had to be noticed
did not see the program as it stopped. Both the ruling and the complainant are kept secret.
Such an intervention in the free word does not belong in a modern democracy. In a country like
Sweden would also not have such power over the media. The Swedish author
Jan Guillou is also rightly criticized for the state channel NRK allowing the courts to review it
editorial review.
Broadcasting Manager John G. Bernander reacts strongly to the district court's decision, but adheres to it. Only twice before has anyone tried to stop a television program in Norway. Both times the trial was stopped by the court. But not now. For the first time, Norwegian law has stopped a television program. It should hopefully also be the last.
In practice, the past week has experienced and accepted advance censorship both in Iceland and in Norway.
The differences are of course enormous, but at the same time there is a parallel between these events in the Nordic countries and last week's reports from China. On Monday, it became known that the Beijing-based and popular bulletin board Yannan was closed by the authorities. The reason is said to have been controversial descriptions of riots in Guandong province. The Chinese authorities use the consideration of "the security of the kingdom and individuals" as an argument in their frequent actions against free-spirited Internet sites.
Both Norwegian authorities, organizations and commercial companies have a great potential for improvement to better safeguard human rights and freedom of expression in China. This is a country that Norway depends on, among other things, the economic area.
It is even more important that the Norwegian side take up freedom of expression with countries such as China. Tuesday's NRK censorship of the naming rights just weakens Norway's weight and credibility on such issues, something undemocratic countries know how to use.
That is why the Brennpunkt program on the Nokia case is so important. This applies not only to NRK journalists, but to all of us. Including the Chinese.
DH
