It may become more expensive to be an electricity customer in Norway from the New Year. That might perhaps be newsworthy. But not for the Norwegian media. They had more important things to tell us about on Sunday.
Today, we could read an NTB report on Document stating that Statkraft and analysts are warning that electricity prices could rise significantly in the coming months. The government will therefore not guarantee that the current Norway Price (Norgespris) of 50 øre will remain unchanged from the New Year.
It is infuriating to read the comments section. You can feel the frustration of our readers. This is an issue and a change which, if the Norway Price is increased, will affect ordinary people’s lives.
I suddenly began to wonder how the Norwegian media had covered this story. Of course I had to check, as I am critical of how the media cover Trump’s America day in and day out, while often ignoring crises at home.
They give people stories here and there, but never enough to provide a full and complete picture. At least when it comes to issues that actually matter to the ordinary woman and man in the street, whether it is healthcare, immigration or, in this case, the Norway Price.
I checked NRK, TV 2, VG and Dagbladet. None of them had covered this particular NTB story today. It was even absent from NRK’s Latest News, which I assume consists largely of NTB reports.
They have written about the Norway Price before. NRK, for example, published this story on 19 August.
Screenshot from Norway’s state broadcaster NRK.
The headline and introduction tell us what we need to know. The Norway Price is presented as the smart choice. Sign up and save money.
But that is not what today’s NTB story is about. Today’s story tells us something far more important. The government will not guarantee that the current price of 50 øre will be continued from January.
What the media did cover, however, was Støre’s trip to Ukraine to give them another NOK 85 billion. That is also one of the topics being discussed in the comments section. Is it any wonder people are angry?
Screenshot from Norway’s largest newspaper, politically correct tabloid Verdens Gang (VG).
The Prime Minister is a miser at home and hands out money abroad as though there were no tomorrow.
But why did they not cover the possible increase in the Norway Price?
Obviously because they are doing the government’s bidding, in my opinion.
And as Voksen writes in the comments section:
The population is to be softened up in advance so that they tacitly accept that electricity is going to become even more expensive. Because there is no election to be won this year.
Next year there are local elections, so it will probably become slightly less expensive.
The manipulation is going on all the time.
The population is to be softened up, yes. In addition, they are to be fed story after story about Trump’s America.
As you can see in the main image, the newspapers had several stories about Trump on their front pages today. TV 2 had, among others, this one by Roy Kvatningen.
I rarely praise the Norwegian press, but they deserve a little credit for always managing to find the most left-wing voices in America’s liberal world. Well done, Kvatningen.
TV 2’s story begins like a dark and sinister novel.
In a meeting room at Transformator Scene in Oslo, Nicholas Kristof is sitting at a dark-painted conference table.
TV 2 asks what the legendary New York Times journalist thinks about America’s future.
– I am terrified, Kristof says.
Nothing more is really needed. We have been told what we need to know.
Personally, I do not know anyone here in the United States who goes around saying that they are terrified of Trump and the Republican Party. But in Norway, the Trump show simply has to go on.
Imagine if the media wrote a story like that about Norwegian leaders. Of course they would not.
Imagine if they produced a truly devastating story about how the state milks people for all they are worth, in this case through electricity prices.
While the Prime Minister travels abroad, shines on the world stage and hands out the Norwegian people’s money.
But they are never going to do that.
– We live in a cold country where we have to heat our homes with electricity because firewood is frowned upon and oil is a complete no-no. But what does that matter to overpaid talking heads? Harry writes in the comments section.
It is not only cold outside, Harry. It is pretty cold in the corridors of the Storting and in media organisations across the country as well.
And I do not mean ice-cold.
I mean cold and calculating.
