Television without commercials, newspapers where the owners do not interfere with the editors’ job, an auditorium with its own editor – Or what the daily life of the Danish media looks like

Do you remember Borgen, the Danish political drama series? For those who haven’t watched it, the main plot revolves around Birgitte Nyborg, the first female Danish Prime Minister (fictional, although Denmark soon got its first female prime minister in reality). One of the main characters in this political drama is Kasper Juul, Nyborg’s media advisor and a very skilled spin doctor. Juul was often known to use these skills to try to persuade one of the main political reporters, the ambitious journalist Katrine Fonsmark, to give up on asking probing questions at press conferences and stories that would not be useful to Brigitte Nyborg’s government.

It is not without reason that such elements were inserted into the Borgen script, because spin and this kind of influence on editors and journalists also exist in the daily life of journalists in Denmark. There is something like that in the state of Denmark, but that’s about where it ends when it comes to attempts by spin doctors and politicians, whether from the ranks of the government or the opposition, to put pressure on Danish journalists and editors. It seems incredible, doesn’t it? But it’s true. Danish journalists have not experienced open threats for years and even decades (with the exception of the case of the Muhammad caricatures) because of their work, they do not need police protection, politicians, even if they wanted to, cannot act as editors and set the daily agenda with topics to be reported on, and their dissatisfaction with the work of the main media in the country, primarily the public service DR, which is celebrating a century of operation this year, can only be expressed at the level of personal, subjective criticism. But nothing more than that.

It seems especially unreal that, when you ask Danish editors and journalists how they rate media freedoms in this country on a scale of 1 to 10, they answer – “Maybe not a clear ten, but certainly a strong nine.” Because their focus is on those for whom their work is primarily intended - the citizens of Denmark and how they evaluate the media and media reporting, not politicians. After all, within DR there is also an “audience editor” who considers complaints and criticisms from citizens regarding the work and reporting of this media outlet.

If a topic is of public interest and deserves to be thoroughly examined and researched, the main news channel in Danish DR will deal with it, regardless of who the actors of the story are. While respecting journalistic standards and norms in approaching and covering the topic, of course.

– The role of a public service is to be an anchor, to be a place where people know that they will hear and see substantiated stories, documented. When I say that, I also mean physical documentation regarding the topics we cover. Because it is important to us that the focus is on what is true. It is also important that when people have opinions about things that are happening in society, they should be allowed to express those opinions, and that includes everyone. So, we have to be very representative. These are the basic rules of journalism. You have to listen to different sides – pointed out one of the DR editors with whom journalists from Serbia had the opportunity to speak recently during a media visit to Denmark as part of the Pulse of Europe project funded by the European Union.

DR, whose news program is produced and broadcast from the DR Byen (DR City) building complex, emphasizes that whenever they do big stories, big debates are opened, people have opinions.

– That is a sign of a healthy democracy. But we do not have people behind the scenes pulling strings trying to force us to do this or that. We try to bring all discussions to light – DR, which employs around 2,500 people, states.

DR’s content is followed weekly by an average of nine out of ten Danes (including television, radio and the online platform). When, as they say, they realize that the interest of listeners, viewers and readers is declining, it is a clear sign that they need to listen more carefully, to reconsider whether there is anything they should do differently in the future.

– You have to be able to listen and you have to show people that you really hear them, that they really feel it – notes one of the editors at DR.

As one of the latest major challenges that directly affected the work, this media house cites the era of the corona pandemic, because it entailed a lot of big changes in a short period of time. On the one hand, they had to be very clear about what the population should do, to provide the information that was needed to cope with the new circumstances. But on the other hand, they had to continue, as before, having a critical discussion about the political initiatives that were underway.

Unlike many other countries that are flooded with commercial television, Denmark has only two main TV channels. In addition to DR, there has also been TV2 since the mid-1980s. DR people point out with a smile that they are better at news, and TV2 at sports and regional reporting. As they say at DR, many Danes still think that DR reports too much about the capital and the most populated areas, without covering the rural areas enough. What is interesting is that there is no advertising. On the one hand, because Danish law does not allow advertising during broadcasts, and on the other hand, because the public service is financed from the budget (previously, as in our country, it was part of the subscription fee).



The amount of allocations from the state budget is decided periodically, and these are negotiations of sorts between state representatives and DR, during which various details are determined, such as which content needs more money, whether more should be allocated for online content, and the like. The details of the distribution also depend to a large extent on who is in charge of the Danish government at the time the agreement on financial allocation is concluded - the left-wing or the right-wing. A large part of the fight, when it comes to allocations for the coming period, as DR points out, is currently getting more funds for digitalization and creating products more similar to streaming. The reason for this may be the fact that young people hardly even know about DR, as they are not interested because television does not provide what they need, but they find everything on streaming services.

There are also private channels in Denmark, but very few of them, and most of these channels are not Danish, but are broadcast from, for example, London, which means that they do not have to comply with Danish advertising and commercial laws.

Even owners don’t interfere with editors’ work

In Denmark, you can be a media owner, you can even suggest to the editorial board of your media that something is not to the liking of a certain person or company, but it is the editor who decides whether a story will ultimately be printed in the newspaper or not, not the owner.

The Danish Journalists’ Union, a trade union organization of journalists in Denmark that brings together 18,000 members (journalists, photographers, authors, cartoonists, journalism students, and now influencers who have also created ethical standards), also explains that financial support for private media (newspapers) in Denmark is not intended as project financing, but as an allocation of funds according to pre-established criteria that apply equally to everybody. It looks at how many journalists a certain medium has, but also how much news content is in a certain newspaper and how diverse it is, that is, how much it satisfies the different interests of readers - to be a kind of informative omnibus. This distribution is not decided by the state, but by a specially formed council, independent of the state. When funds are allocated to certain newspapers, they can count on that money for the next three years.



Both copyright and moral rights of journalists in Denmark also go hand in hand. Moral rights specifically mean that journalists, having copyright, know that for example another media outlet or politician cannot simply use the articles in the way they want to use them and post them on their website or whatever comes to their mind. By the way, journalists and photojournalists receive regular financial compensation for the use of their copyrighted works.

The Journalists’ Union also confirms the words of their colleagues from DR that media freedoms exist and that, when the situation in the media and the attitude towards the media is compared with other countries, this Scandinavian country really has a high standard in this regard. However, they warn that this high level of freedom cannot be taken for granted because Danish politicians are no different from any other politician and occasionally there are tendencies to work against these journalistic freedoms. But the Danish journalistic profession relies on the strength of a society built on trust, on trust between the media and the government and trust between the state and citizens.

Hammeken: Educating people to think critically

Morten Hammeken, a journalist we spoke to in Aarhus, also gives nine or ten out of a possible ten for media freedoms in this country. If, as he says, one were to look at an abstract scale where one represents a totalitarian regime and ten is the best the world currently has to offer, he would give that rating. Hammeken and his Finnish colleague Pekka Kallioniemi are the authors of the book Vatnik Soup – The Ultimate Guide to Russian Disinformation, which deals with disinformation and online narratives, false narratives that are spread on Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, or who the global actors of disinformation are.

As he says, he is not a fan of censorship, whatever the motive or reason for it. He believes that in everything, people should be shown both images and left to analyze and determine for themselves what is the real image and the truth, and what is propaganda. He believes that mainstream media should also act in this way, especially since in the era of the Internet and social networks, a wide variety of information is present everywhere. He cites the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as an example, emphasizing that it is not beneficial for viewers if mainstream media reports on this conflict from only one angle, since footage and information concerning both warring parties are readily available on the Internet.

– What you should be doing is educating people to think critically. We should start with children aged 10, 12, to learn what happens when they log on to Twitter and Facebook and TikTok and so on. So, that is what we need to somehow make them aware of. I mean, because if you teach them critical thinking skills, they will also, you know, be able to evaluate the mainstream media more critically – he emphasizes.

He adds that most Danes certainly don’t fall for disinformation narratives, because they have a relatively high level of education and a relatively high level of trust in public institutions and journalists.



Striving for constructive reporting – Is it equally applicable everywhere?

When it comes to the manner of reporting and choosing headlines, the journalistic approach in Denmark is not much different from that in most other countries. For decades, the focus has been on news about wars, accidents, crises, the work of politicians, and even more so a very critical approach to their work. When you ask citizens in this country whether they need more of that kind of news, whether they want more platforms on which they can get news shaped in the manner of traditional journalism, like citizens in most other countries, they will tell you no. They are interested in news, but they want something different. In addition to all this, a significant number of Danish journalists increasingly believe that the approach to covering topics needs to change.

One of the more concrete steps on this path was taken by former DR editor Ulrik Haagerup, who, together with colleagues and like-minded people in Aarhus, launched the Constructive Institute in 2017, which has so far had around 100 fellows.

– The main difference is in the approach. Constructive journalism tries to answer questions that we don’t learn when we train for journalism. The questions are usually what, when, how and perhaps how much, but constructive journalism tries to add to that the questions of what now and in what way. The tendency is to insist that journalism should also look to the future and ask questions about how society can be improved, but not for us as journalists to tell how something should be improved, because that is the job of politicians or activists, but to point out good examples and good practices in covering a problem – he emphasizes.

As he points out, the main misconception of journalists who do not believe in the applicability of this approach and other critics of constructive journalism is that it is confused with spin and positive, uncritical news in which everything is nice and without problems. Haagerup emphasizes that a constructive approach in journalism has nothing to do with spin and uncritical reporting, but quite the opposite. Within the framework of constructive journalism, problems also come under scrutiny, including a critical approach in the treatment of topics.

– One of the problems that has been addressed in this way is, for example, the lack of doctors, which is a problem in many countries, including our country. And the people who are responsible for it, the government, municipalities, regions or unions, all play the game of shifting the blame from one to the other, saying “it’s not my fault that people cannot get treatment in rural areas because there are no more doctors.” So, good journalistic questions on behalf of citizens are how this can be solved, how can we bring doctors to those smaller communities. A good question is whether anyone in the world had the same challenge and solved it and how they did it, and one journalistic investigation, a constructive approach to the topic, showed that Norway also had this huge problem and that they solved it by providing better conditions in smaller communities for doctors and their families, making sure that spouses got jobs, providing a kindergarten for children, making videos about the advantages of living in those areas. And? That produced results, the problem began to be solved. Initially, it served as an example of good practice in a media report in Denmark, which showed our government and other responsible people how the problem could be solved in our country as well – Haagerup cites one example of constructive reporting.

He adds that, in the meantime, it has turned out that the Danish audience likes this approach very much.

– The audience is actually saying that we are fed up with all these negative stories about things that don’t work. So, it turns out that there is a “market” for it, there is a need for stories that do not only deal with problems but also focus on potential solutions – he emphasizes.

Haagerup is also the author of the book Constructive News, which has also been published in English. In this book, Haagerup, in addition to his journalistic journey from traditional to constructive, points to several examples, both from Denmark and from around the world, of good practice when it comes to introducing constructive reporting into journalistic everyday life. Equally, in this book, he points to the obstacles he has encountered and continues to encounter with this journalistic approach, but also to the opposite - to a kind of "enlightenment" of journalists with decades of experience, who ultimately decided to apply the principles of constructive reporting. Because, as Haagerup emphasizes in several places, the audience, be they readers, viewers or listeners, is always more and more willing to accept this approach.

– People do not need more news, they are not interested in news as such, but more quality processed news - is one of the messages of his book.

Dejan Aleksic

DR

DR Byen

TV 2

Danish Journalists Union

Constructive Institute

Morten Hammeken

Pekka Kallioniemi

Ulrik Haagerup

Pulse of Europe

Danish public service