– Being selected as the purpose of the TV campaign is to draw the winning lottery ticket, says public debater Anki Gerhardsen. Twice previously, one of the cancer associations has received the money from the fundraising campaign. On Sunday, the TV action will take place on news. This time the money goes to the Children’s Cancer Association. Gerhardsen believes that the TV campaign favors certain organisations, when they choose who they give money to. Last year, NOK 310 million was collected through the TV campaign. That’s a lot of money, Gerhardsen points out. – news has a hand in the game when some organizations grow, while others lose, she writes in her column in Aftenposten. – The diagnosis determines who gets help Gerhardsen thinks it is sad that it is the diagnosis that determines which of the sickest children will get a break from suffering, and who won’t. She believes that there are other organizations that could also need money. Gerhardsen says that she has spoken to a nurse at a children’s ward, how many people react to what can be perceived as unfair discrimination. Anki Gerhardsen says that she has received a lot of positive feedback from both health personnel and relatives after today’s chronicle. Photo: news TV – There are other very seriously ill children. Perhaps with a death certificate and life-long, painful diagnoses. They come completely in the shadows. They are nowhere near the offer that children with cancer get. They get free trips by plane and helicopter. They get to travel to Dyreparken and ride the Adventure train. While others are excluded from that offer. Gerhardsen emphasizes that she naturally wishes children with cancer everything possible. – It’s just that if you have another serious illness that affects the whole family, you don’t have access to the same. The Norwegian Cancer Society does not agree with the criticism. – Funds from the TV campaign make extraordinary ventures possible. Therefore, it is not the case that this has contributed to strengthening the Cancer Association’s finances. Photo: Bård Nafstad – We do not think that the cancer cause is more important than other purposes. Therefore, we have confidence that the TV action and news make a thorough and objective assessment of which purpose they think is the most important to prioritize, says assistant general secretary of the Cancer Association, Ole Alexander Opdalshei. This is the question we asked the Cancer Association. It is the third time the Cancer Association has received money from the TV campaign. How much has the TV campaign had in the past for your finances? Why do you think it is fair that the Cancer Association, which is the largest patient association in Norway, also financially, should get the TV campaign? Last year, the Children’s Cancer Association’s equity ended at NOK 92 million after you received approximately NOK 80 million in the same year – Why do you also need the financial support from the TV campaign? Cancer patients have the strongest patient association for children, according to Gerhardsen. Why shouldn’t hospitalized children who are multi-functional disabled receive the same offer as children with cancer? Or children with serious metabolic diseases, for example? The four family houses that will be built with the money collected during this year’s TV campaign will become the property of the Children’s Cancer Association. What do you think about it? Should it rather become the property of the hospitals since it is the population that has collected money for this? Gerhardsen believes that there is a hierarchy of diseases in society where childhood cancer is at the top, because there is a good chance that the children will recover. She says the reason the Cancer Society is chosen again and again is that the money is put into something that gives clear results. Do you agree with this? If not, what do you think about this? Assistant Secretary General of the Norwegian Cancer Society, Ole Alexander Opdalshei, has only answered the first two questions. 1. This autumn it is 27 years since the Norwegian Cancer Society had its TV campaign. This year the money goes to the Children’s Cancer Association, and it is an independent organization that is independent from us. We at Kreftforeningen are incredibly grateful that we were lucky enough to be awarded the TV campaign in both 1980 and 1997. Through the two TV campaigns, committed gun-carriers all over the country collected around NOK 250 million, and we used this money for specific projects within cancer research and cancer care for patients, relatives and survivors. The funds from the TV campaign make extraordinary investments possible. Therefore, it is not the case that this has helped to strengthen the Cancer Association’s finances. 2. As I said, the Norwegian Cancer Society has not had the TV campaign for 27 years and will not have it this year either, but we have applied for it almost every year for the last 20 years. The reason for this is that we want more extraordinary boosts for the cancer cause so that fewer people will avoid cancer, more people will survive cancer and get better after cancer. Although twice as many people survive cancer today than 50 years ago, there are still many forms of cancer that few survive. Many also live with tendon injuries and drop out of working life after cancer treatment. Almost 40,000 Norwegians get cancer every year, so it affects many people, and we know there will be more in the future. In a pressured public health service, extraordinary investments have great significance for those affected, but also for society. We do not believe that the cancer cause is more important than other purposes. We therefore have confidence that the TV action and news make a thorough and objective assessment of which purposes they believe are the most important priorities. Gerhardsen emphasizes that she thinks it is good that children with cancer have a strong patient association. The Cancer Association is the largest patient association in Norway, also financially. The Norwegian Cancer Society also has solid finances. – The accounts for 2023 show that the Norwegian Cancer Society received around NOK 80 million last year. They spent far from everything, and when the year was over, the equity had grown to almost NOK 92 million, says Gerhardsen. – I’m trying to point out a queerness that I think has gone completely under the radar, says public debater Anki Gerhardsen. Photo: Vilde Bratland Erikstad/news Ole Alexander Opdalshei The cancer association says that the two relationships are not connected. – Funds from the TV campaign make extraordinary investments possible. Therefore, it is not the case that this has helped to strengthen the Cancer Association’s finances. The Children’s Cancer Association does not agree with Gerhardsen’s criticism either. – The money collected through the TV campaign will go towards establishing a family home for families with seriously ill children, regardless of diagnosis. We would not have been able to do this without the funds collected, writes Trine Nicolaysen, head of the Norwegian Cancer Society. – The money will go to establish the family houses, not to strengthen our economy or go to research or other activities under the auspices of the Children’s Cancer Association, says Trine Nicolaysen, head of the Children’s Cancer Association. Photo: The Children’s Cancer Society Nicolaysen underlines that, although the Children’s Cancer Society has received money in the past, this is the first time the Children’s Cancer Society has received the money from the TV campaign. The Children’s Cancer Association answers this – Last year the equity capital of the Children’s Cancer Association was NOK 92 million after they received approximately NOK 80 million in the same year – Why do they also need the financial support from the TV campaign? – The money collected through the TV campaign will go towards establishing a family home for families with seriously ill children, regardless of diagnosis. The Children’s Cancer Association would not have been able to undertake this extraordinary initiative for children with all diagnoses without the funds collected through the TV campaign. The money will go to establish the family houses, not to strengthen the association’s finances, and also not to research or other activities under the auspices of the Children’s Cancer Association. Part of the Children’s Cancer Association’s equity has already been allocated to multi-year research projects, and will be paid out annually depending on the progress of each individual research project. In recent years, we have distributed approx. 25 million for research into childhood cancer annually, and the usual period for a project is 3 years. This means that we have commitments to the research project of approx. NOK 50–60 million. In the autumn of 2024, the Norwegian Children’s Cancer Association has also announced up to NOK 25 million for research into childhood cancer. – Cancer has the strongest patient association for children, according to Gerhardsen. Why shouldn’t hospitalized children who are multi-functional disabled receive the same offer as children with cancer? Or children with serious metabolic diseases? – The family house, which will be established with the funds collected through the TV campaign, will be an offer for families with seriously ill children, regardless of diagnosis. The Children’s Cancer Association believes that all children deserve the same offer, and has long wanted to establish such family homes. We are very grateful that the TV campaign will now give us the opportunity. – The four family houses that will be built with the money collected during the TV campaign this year will become the property of the Children’s Cancer Association. What do they think about it? Should it rather become the property of the hospital since it is the population that has collected money for this? – The Children’s Cancer Association wants to establish an offer for families with seriously ill children, regardless of diagnosis. This is an offer that will not be provided by the public sector, but will be a supplement. There are employees at the hospital who will prioritize who will be offered to live in the family home, and the assessment will be based on the health and unique needs of the families, perhaps based on the family situation and the distance between the hometown and the hospital. – Gerhardsen believes that there is a hierarchy of diseases in society where childhood cancer is at the top, because there is a good chance that the children will get well. She says the reason why the Cancer Association is elected again and again is that the money is put into something that gives clear results. Are they united in this? If not, what do they think about this? – The Norwegian Cancer Society is not a recipient of the TV campaign this year. This year, the Children’s Cancer Association is the recipient of the TV campaign for the first time, and the funds collected will benefit families with seriously ill children, regardless of the child’s diagnosis. It is the Fundraising Council for the TV campaign in news that decides each year what purpose the TV campaign will be given. – Hope to start a debate Gerhardsen believes that news has a lot of power and responsibility when they decide who will get the TV campaign. – One does not investigate properly enough to see whether the structures we support create a class divide or not. I think that there is a mix of roles here that a media house should not have. Journalists must point out differences and uncover injustice, not be charity workers. She receives support from media expert Gunnar Bodahl-Johansen. He believes that the TV campaign is in a gray area of what news or other media houses should be doing. – They operate on the side of what is journalistic. Normally, one would never accept it, but because it is for a good purpose, one looks at it through the fingers. The reason is that there is a long tradition of this in Norway and that there is a common understanding that it is a good initiative. – The problem is not that they contribute to good causes, but that editorial resources are linked to giving the cause good publicity. Media expert Gunnar Bodahl-Johansen has no doubt that the selection process for charitable purposes in the TV campaign is good: – Over all the years we have been involved in fundraising campaigns, we have looked at a wide range of purposes. Photo: Archive He also agrees with Gerhardsen that such collections promote purposes at the expense of others. – The question is whether one is then able to be critical enough in journalism. It is a dual role that traditional press ethical thinking rejects. Erik Skarrud is special legal adviser at news. He believes that the TV action does not go beyond critical journalism. Photo: Mikkel Strøm / news TV campaign Thorough process – TV campaign created by region West in news. They are responsible for several large productions. At the same time, the news journalists work both there and in the rest of news according to normal criteria for news journalism. In recent days, several news editors have contacted with critical questions about the TV action, he writes in an e-mail. Skarrud says that the decision about who gets the TV campaign is a long and thorough process. – The most important criteria for being awarded the TV campaign is that there must be a clear need for the purpose. The purpose must also provide long-term results and the purpose must create donor satisfaction and commitment in the population, writes Skarrud. And that is precisely why the Children’s Cancer Association receives the money from the TV campaign today. – According to the council’s assessment, they had the application with the purpose that best met the criteria. Through their application, they have shown that there is a great need for a place where families with seriously ill children can live together and have a kind of normal everyday life. Skarre underlines that the family house will be for the families of all seriously ill children who have to be admitted to hospital for longer periods, regardless of diagnosis. Published 18.10.2024, at 22.56
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Anki Gerhardsen thinks the TV campaign should go to something other than childhood cancer – news Nordland
