Has the price of being a politician become too high? It’s not good to say. But what can be said is that more than half of those who sit in the Storting cannot recommend friends and family to enter politics. This is revealed in a survey conducted by news before the summer, when we asked the representatives of the Storting about their relationship with the media. The aim was to give the people elected an opportunity to answer as honestly and freely as possible. Therefore, the survey was anonymous and consisted of a series of questions and claims that they had to decide on. Of the 169 members of parliament who sit in the Storting, 102 responded. These are the answers the graphs refer to. This is the first survey news has conducted on the topic. We do not know how the Storting politicians would have responded to the same claims in the past (see fact box). About the survey The survey has been sent out to the 169 representatives of the Storting who met at the Storting at the end of May 2024. The survey has been sent out by e-mail via Questback in the period 28 May–28. June 2024. 102 out of 169 representatives of the Storting responded. This gives a response rate of 60. All parties have a response rate of over 50 percent, with the exception of the FRP, which has a response rate of 48. The response rate between the sexes is 48 percent women and 52 percent men, compared to the Storting, which today has 45 percent women and 55 percent men. The geographical distribution is also roughly the same as in the Storting. The survey is anonymous. Source: news Research center Nine out of ten have no regrets Even though the majority of those who sit in the Storting would not recommend friends and family to become politicians, they themselves do not regret entering politics. In the survey, nine out of ten answer that they do not regret entering politics. And seven out of ten say they would become politicians again if they had the election. But as news has previously written, the politicians are concerned that the media pressure is causing new and important voices to refuse to enter politics. You can read about several discoveries further down in the case. High price One of those who feel that the price of being a politician is starting to get high is parliamentary representative Margret Hagerup (H) from Jæren in Rogaland. Storting representative Margret Hagerup (H) Photo: Anders Eidesvik / news She received a lot of media attention during the plagiarism cases when VG had a double-page story in the newspaper about the fact that text similarities had been found in her master’s thesis from 2011. The headline was “Senior politicians take text from another master’s thesis: – I want to apologize”. VG chose to set aside two pages in the paper newspaper for the issue of the assignment. Photo: VG In the cases of the former ministers Sandra Borch (Sp) and Ingvild Kjerkol (Ap) large parts of the assignment were textual, while in Hagerup’s case there were 93 words that were identical to another text. Only the day after VG published the case, they published a notice about why they mentioned the case. There they wrote that Hagerup’s task was not comparable to Kjerkol and Borch. – When it happened, it was terribly unpleasant. I thought now I have made a mistake, something that I have been afraid of for quite a few years in politics that someone would do. Hagerup believes her experience is an example of a larger problem. Calls for self-examination by the media She calls for a larger debate about how the media write about the politicians. – I think the responsibility of the media must be to catch this ball. Photo: Anders Eidesvik / news Specifically, she thinks the media must become better at: Differentiating between big and small: She thinks the press has too low a threshold for reporting things as worthy of criticism. Breathe calmly with your stomach: She is worried about the media trying to beat each other in the news battle to be first out. She hopes that they take enough time to investigate a case thoroughly before publishing it. Be open to criticism: In the same way that politicians should be open to criticism, the press should also listen when they receive criticism. Showing everyday life as a politician: Hagerup lacks several issues in which to write about the everyday challenges politicians face, for example what it’s like to commute every week or the balance between work and private life. As of today, she thinks the press is not good enough about it. – Criticism is quickly dismissed with the fact that we are privileged and that we have to tolerate these things. – Yes, we must tolerate transparency and there must be high demands on us. But we also have to talk about what is relevant to public affairs and what is not. news has asked VG editor Gard Steiro if it was right to make a case about her text similarity. – I think two pages in the newspaper was too much. I have said that before. The impression it created was that the case was bigger than it was, he replies. Nevertheless, he believes it was right to publish the case. This is what the press says that seven out of ten Storting politicians have had their trust in the media weakened over the past five years: Thomas Brun / NTB Trine Eilertsen, editor-in-chief of Aftenposten Storting politicians have been the subject of critical journalism over the past five years, and it has looked more closely at their integrity . This is uncomfortable and unfamiliar to many of them. It is easy to praise the role of an independent and critical media industry in party speeches, but much more difficult to live with what it means in practice. Berit Roald / NTB scanpix Gard Steiro, editor-in-chief of E24 It is an experience that we must take seriously and meet with curiosity and openness. It is not the case that the media are infallible. In large case complexes such as commuters, metoo and share cases, important cases are published, but also cases that are not as important. It is not necessarily only the cases that are published, but also the experience of being looked at in the cards. It can be perceived as burdensome. TV 2 Eivind Senneset / TV 2 / NTB Karianne Solbrække, news editor at TV 2 That there should be 100 percent trust between politicians and the media is not healthy in a well-functioning democracy. The media must always be critical of those with the most power, and then you cannot expect applause in return. I am curious as to why trust is weakened. Whether it is about scope and angles, or choice of subject matter. Unbalanced coverage of the commuter cases news has also asked the representatives to assess how balanced or unbalanced they think the coverage of the various scandals has been. And here, seven out of ten believe that the media coverage of the commuter housing cases has been somewhat or completely unbalanced. In the survey, they had the opportunity to write in more detail about what they thought about the media, and then several expressed frustration with commuter matters in particular. They believe, among other things, that the media did not reveal the disagreement between the Tax Agency and the Storting administration regarding the regulations surrounding the commuter housing. However, when it comes to the coverage of #metoo, a majority believe that the coverage has been balanced. The same applies to share trading cases. When it comes to travel bills, plagiarism and habilit, the Storting is roughly split in two on whether they think the coverage was balanced or not (you can swipe right for more results). The next generation So how does the next generation of politicians see the future? At the AUF summer camp this year, news met Even Dalaker Grønner (16) and Maia Eline Lunde (17), who are both politically active. They are surprised when news tells them that half of the Storting will not recommend friends and family to become politicians. – I think it’s quite strange. I had recommended my friends and family. But one might think that being a politician who works and sits in the Storting is a little different from just being involved in a youth organisation, says Lund. Photo: Anders Eidesvik / news – There are probably a lot of different expectations and you probably get a lot more anger from people who disagree with you. People can be very direct and say exactly what they mean without any filter or self-control, says Grønner and adds: – But I now think that it has almost always been like that in politics. Hello! Do you have any tips for what I should write about? I have previously written about how parliamentary politicians have lost trust in the media and about Equinor’s plans for net zero in 2050. I am generally interested in artificial intelligence, politics, economics and energy. Feel free to send me an e-mail or a message on Signal +47 917 44 070. Published 15.08.2024, at 07.16
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Over half of the Storting would not recommend friends and family to become politicians – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
