Jon Helgheim (Progress Party – FrP), chair of the Standing Committee on Justice, accuses the press of failing to defend its own freedom. – This is where things fall apart for most journalists when it is Labour that needs to be corrected and the Progress Party that has to defend the press, he writes.
This week, Helgheim went for Conservative Party deputy leader Ola Svenneby in NRK’s Politisk kvarter. He has now followed up with a post on Facebook in which he takes aim at both Svenneby and Norwegian newsrooms.
‘As usual, an almost united press corps is busy condemning me while praising Ola Svenneby’s irrelevant attack, and completely ignoring the fact that Gaute Skjervø is attacking press freedom in the most egregious manner,’ Helgheim writes.
The Progress Party politician believes it was easier to discuss freedom of expression with Labour Party youth wing (AUF) leader Gaute Børstad Skjervø himself than with Svenneby, whom he describes as ‘offended on Gaute’s behalf’.
‘When individual politicians are shielded from political disagreement because they have been subjected to abuse, we have a serious problem,’ he writes.
‘Totalitarian tendencies’
At the heart of Helgheim’s criticism are Skjervø’s statements about the press. During Arendalsuka on Tuesday, 11 August, the AUF leader launched a frontal attack on Document during a live NRK debate from Pollen. He claimed that Document engages in ‘harassment and abuse of Norwegian Muslims and also politicians’, and that the publication is not journalism but part of an ‘American-inspired milieu’.
‘They are members of the Norwegian Editors’ Association alongside NRK and VG. It is a scandal for the Norwegian media,’ Skjervø said.
The AUF leader also argued that Document should not receive press subsidies and has additionally demanded that Norwegian media close their comment sections.
This is what Helgheim objects to:
‘On every occasion, I have emphatically and thoroughly distanced myself from the gross abuse, but I have also felt a need to add nuance to parts of the presentation and, most importantly of all, to speak up when Gaute displays totalitarian tendencies by attempting to control the press.’
He believes this is actually a task for editors themselves:
‘The latter is something the press should have done itself, but this is where things fall apart for most journalists when it is Labour that needs to be corrected and the Progress Party that has to defend the press.’
Compared to a Muslim preacher
The clash between the two came on state broadcaster NRK’s weekday show ‘Politisk kvarter’ on Tuesday. Svenneby accused Helgheim of downplaying the abuse directed at Skjervø and said that the Progress Party politician ‘comes across like a conservative Muslim preacher after a terrorist attack’. The Conservative Party deputy leader urged Helgheim to contact Skjervø’s wife in order to understand the consequences.
Helgheim rejected the criticism. He pointed out that he has repeatedly distanced himself from the abuse, and that the debate is in reality about open comment sections and press subsidies. At the same time, he warned that a one-sided focus on abuse frightens people away from participating in public debate.
The day before, Svenneby had published an opinion piece in VG defending the AUF leader.
‘The treatment Skjervø is being subjected to is simply unacceptable,’ he wrote, referring to threats against Skjervø’s wife and one-year-old daughter.
‘Gaute’s style is well within the bounds of what should be a lively debate, and in my view even something we ought to have more of,’ the Conservative Party deputy leader wrote.
Gaute Skjervø (left) attacked Document from NRK’s studio. Ola Svenneby subsequently came to the AUF leader’s defence and called the treatment of him ‘simply unacceptable’. Photo: Private / via Ola Svenneby’s Facebook page
‘Honourable exceptions to the flock of sheep’
Helgheim believes that the fear of stepping on the toes of a politician who has been subjected to abuse has paralysed the debate.
‘It is frightening when anti-democratic ideas are allowed to go unchallenged because no one dares to speak up for fear of stepping on the toes of a politician who has recently been subjected to abuse. Svenneby has contributed greatly to this with his utterly unserious intervention this week,’ he writes.
He nevertheless points to a few exceptions: the Norwegian Editors’ Association, Nettavisen political editor Skjalg Fjellheim and Dagen editor Vebjørn Selbekk.
Selbekk spoke out against Skjervø’s demand for exclusion as early as 15 August:
‘Politicians should actually have absolutely nothing to do with such matters. Because then they are interfering with press freedom itself,’ he said.
Helgheim concludes his post as follows:
‘Yes to freedom of expression, freedom of the press and free debate!’
Norway school fire: Girls refuse to testify in front of Document
AUF leader Gaute Skjervø immediately counter-attacked in Helgheim’s comment section.
There he writes:
It is completely absurd how you phrase this, Jon. You say I have ‘totalitarian’(!) tendencies because during Arendalsuka I did two things: 1. Asked Norwegian editors to account for the democratic function of their open comment sections 2. Asked Norwegian editors to answer whether they believe Document operates according to the same standards as the other members of the Norwegian Editors’ Association.
I also said that I find it strange that the website leading the personal campaigns against me receives state support.
In the same debate, you said that AUF and I must learn to endure discomfort, and in practice dismissed our warnings about the quite intense hatred of Labour. That is terribly disappointing from a man holding such an important position as chair of the Storting’s Standing Committee on Justice.
Perhaps it is too much to ask that you show the same principled attitude as Svenneby when it comes to completely distancing yourself from the hatred directed at the Labour Party. But it would at least be a welcome contribution to Norwegian public life if you refrained from declaring me totalitarian because I want to discuss the framework for state subsidies in Norway.
Background
The Labour Party has stated that Skjervø has received around 30,000 messages that can be categorised as abuse, and the AUF leader has been issued with a personal safety alarm. Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre has said that Skjervø ‘is receiving death threats of a kind we have never seen in Norway before’.
On Tuesday, 18 August, it emerged that the Norwegian Police Security Service (PST) had closed two reports concerning threats and abuse directed at the AUF leader. A third report filed last week will not be investigated either. Nina Bakken, acting head of investigation and prosecution at PST, stated that no investigation was initiated because the statements were not considered criminal.
