It was on Wednesday evening that the deputy mayor of Sandnes, Pål Morten Borgli, posted a seven-minute long video on his own Facebook page. Here he criticizes Aftenbladet and two named journalists for allegedly stalking him and surveying his private movements. The case will be about possible ties to local business people. – I feel it is a personal persecution against me as a politician which also affects my family. Then I had to give notice. – But isn’t this perfectly good journalism? They check your qualifications and your ties to a local businessman? – Yes, they must be able to see us in the cards every day and will be allowed to follow me all day if they want. But lawyers in the municipality have denied that there are any financial ties between me and a business operator. Then I feel it is politically motivated and a personal persecution, he says. Pål Morten Borgli (Frp) is deputy mayor in Sandnes municipality. Photo: Eirik Gjesdal / news He denies that he fears what will appear in the eventual article. – I don’t need any sympathy. But I also have a family and health to take care of. I have to protect them, he says. Difficult to deal with Project editor in Stavanger Aftenblad, Carl Gunnar Gundersen, tells news that it is very difficult to deal with the claims from Borgli. – We do not recognize ourselves in what he says in the video, and cannot comment on unpublished material. I understand that it is a difficult matter for Borgli. But we work according to journalistic methods, and follow the rules, laws and ethical regulations that exist, he says. Borgli has also chosen to post the e-mail correspondence he has had with Aftenbladet on his Facebook page. – It surprised us and is not very common. We don’t like it, but it has to be at his expense, says Gundersen. He also reacts to Borgli hanging out two journalists in the newspaper. – It is uncomfortable for them. The editor-in-chief is responsible for this, says Gundersen. Einar Tho, head of the editors’ association in Rogaland and editor of Haugesund’s Avis, believes it can be problematic for a recognized politician to come out against a newspaper in this way. – Part of what he comes up with is fine and sensible. Other things are more rumors and accusations that journalists are not allowed to answer. He lays down a different set of ethical regulations than what journalists have to do. I don’t know what dialogue he has had with Aftenbladet, but I had hoped that he would take this in a different way, says Tho. He also points out that the media must withstand criticism. Editor in Haugesund’s Avis, Einar Tho, believes the video of Pål Morten Borgli could be problematic. Photo: Thomas Halleland / news – An echo chamber Media expert Gunnar Bodahl-Johansen says we see a powerful politician take this step more often than before. – Social media allows you to go out and attack a case that has not been published. The moment you feel that you are being asked critical questions about a case with a negative sign, you try to take the sting out of the case. They want to get ahead of the newspaper and come up with their version, says the media expert. – The aim is to dampen the criticism that is assumed to be in the article, says Bodahl-Johansen. Media expert Gunnar Bodahl-Johansen. Photo: Department of Journalism Thinks it’s a democratic problem He believes this is a challenge for both the media and society. – You can’t refuse people to do it. There is freedom of speech in this country, and social media is here to stay. We cannot say that those who are approached by the press cannot speak before the case is published. He believes that limits the case and the debate to an echo chamber on social media. This means that the information becomes stagnant, and the debate has little value, he believes. – It is clear that this will be a democratic problem, he says. Professor at the University of Kristiania, Audun Beyer, is involved in a research project that has looked at politicians in social media who try to take control of agendas and angles. – Engagement is probably the main goal. He believes that Borgli’s video is a little on the side of the rules of the game, but that it is certainly not the first time that politicians have tried to influence the press. – I would like to believe that politicians have for years tried to use the means of power they have to try to stop issues in the press, he says, and cites sports journalism as an example. Audun Beyer, professor at the University of Kristiania. Photo: Jonatan A. Quintero / Høyskolen Kristiania – Here we see examples where individual journalists are boycotted. It is not as important or serious as matters concerning elected officials, but it is something of the same. A form of force is used, he says. Hadia Tajik is an example of a politician who took to social media when she was the victim of investigative journalism from Aftenposten about travel bills. Beyer says Borgli may have many strategic communication goals with the post. – How wise it is depends on what the aim of this is. He may want the case to stop, even if that is unrealistic. This is probably not something journalists are very happy about, he says. – In any case, he succeeds in creating commitment among his own. That is probably the main goal, he says.
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Democratic problem that deputy mayor Pål Morten Borgli hangs out journalists on Facebook – news Rogaland – Local news, TV and radio
