The prominent NRK veteran Christian Borch is now directing scathing criticism at his former workplace. He believes that commercial considerations have completely taken over from the journalistic values that once formed the foundation of the channel.
Borch is not the only one reacting to the direction the state broadcaster has taken in recent years, and he speaks of widespread frustration among his former colleagues.
A reckoning with tabloid NRK
Borch spent almost forty years at the state broadcaster and has been one of the most recognisable faces on both Dagsrevyen and Urix. In a conversation with Dagbladet, he describes how the channel has changed from being an institution where journalistic criteria were sacrosanct, to becoming an actor now competing in a tabloid market. He believes that the fundamental values are being overridden because new generations of journalists have grown up with a commercial language.
The veteran points in particular to NRK’s investment in reality television as a sign that the mandate is in the process of eroding. He mentions programmes such as Ville Fristelser as examples of content which, in his view, does not belong with a public service broadcaster. Borch believes that the willingness to cater to the market comes at the expense of the genuine values that the public should be able to trust.
Sharp reactions to the Mette-Marit interview
The recent interview with Crown Princess Mette-Marit concerning the Jeffrey Epstein case has provoked strong reactions within the journalistic community. Borch describes the execution as sheer madness (“det glade vanvidd”) and believes that it violates all journalistic principles when questions are shared with the Royal Household in advance. He reports that several of his former colleagues at NRK have expressed deep frustration over how this interview was handled.
Borch claims that he himself would never have agreed to such an assignment, as he believes it removes the authenticity of an interview. He points out that when the questions are known in advance, media advisers can steer the answers in such a way that the necessary critical distance is lost.
He sees this as evidence that NRK is willing to compromise its principles in order to achieve the effects it itself desires.
The community that is disappearing
NRK’s Director of News, Marius Tetlie, defends the channel’s choices and argues that they must be relevant to the entire population in order to secure a shared Norwegian reality. He maintains that having many viewers and listeners has always been an objective for the channel. Tetlie explains that NRK must evolve in order to fulfil its public mandate in a time when global media occupy more of people’s time and echo chambers are growing.
This response, however, does not appear to reassure the veterans, who believe that the state broadcaster is in the process of losing its soul. The criticism from those who themselves built up the channel is unusually direct and suggests that the conflict between the old journalistic ideals and the new tabloid reality is escalating.
Neither employees nor former staff members appear to be satisfied with the explanations from the management, and they are calling for a return to the original values of objectivity and neutrality.
Borch is merely the latest in a line of former employees of the state broadcaster who are now directing criticism at their former workplace. Hans-Wilhelm Steinfeld, Magnus Takvam and Jon Gelius are among others who have spoken out publicly.