It was the first working day after the holiday. It was almost half past one in the morning. It takes some time to go through e-mail and get a certain overview of the news picture. But now I was ready to slowly start journalism again. I opened the Washington Post on the Mac and took it and a cup of coffee over to the sofa. Then the mobile phone rang. On the air in 13 minutes – Yes!, said a colleague at Marienlyst on the other end in an eager voice. – Then it has arrived! We take you to the top of Dagsrevyen. It is now 18.47 here, so you have 13 minutes. I felt the heat spread from my neck, out into my cheeks and up into my hairline. – Er… what’s going on… I haven’t…, I stammered. Fortunately, my colleague was far better up to date. – The indictment against Trump is out on the website of the court in Georgia. Reuters has it, he explained. where are my pants Then began the exercise we might call the 400-meter steeplechase for correspondents. I frantically scanned the website of the Washington Post, which I had just opened, but saw no news of any indictment. But if this was true, I had no time to lose. So I threw my computer on the sofa and rushed up the stairs to the office. There was a camera, fortunately with a charged battery, lamp, stands, earplugs, and the transmission equipment that we use to transfer video images to Norway. Camera stand with transmission equipment, quickly set up in front of the door at home. I turned on the transmitter and hooked it to the flipped-up camera stand before carrying everything up the stairs, setting it down and running back upstairs to find some clothes. A practical serk When I almost plunged into the wardrobe, I luckily saw the navy blue dress I bought at a slightly too expensive sale at home in Norway during the summer holidays. It hung there without ironing and with deep pockets you can put powder and a mobile phone in. A dress that came in handy on the first day of work and in the days that followed. Practical clothing is important for a correspondent. Photo: Tove Bjørgaas / news Now the dress was worth its weight in gold. Or more precisely in seconds. It only takes about eight seconds to put on such a baggy but formal looking garment. I threw on some flat sandals that would have made Barbie throw up and spent about a minute putting some make-up on my face. On the way down the stairs again, the speed was so high that I almost tripped over the camera tripod. But I managed to shove it all out the door and onto the hot pavement. Three minutes before the Dagsrevy celebrity went on at home in Oslo, I was ready to connect the camera equipment and get the picture through. There was only one thing I hadn’t managed: to find out what it was I was really supposed to talk about. A quick update before shipping. What exactly am I supposed to talk about? Photo: Anja Strønen / news False alarm When the presenters read the headlines for today’s Dagsrevy, I had found a news report that I could quickly skim through. A document with indictments against Trump was posted on the website of a court in the Georgia capital, Atlanta. None of the major American newspapers had published the report. But news, VG and Aftenposten had it. It turned out that the document had ended up on the website by mistake and had been removed. And that we could actually have waited a few hours for the report. First flight to Atlanta But the tone for the job harvest 2023 had been set. At 10 pm local time, Donald Trump was formally indicted in his fourth criminal case. I had just landed in Georgia then. Protesters outside the courthouse in downtown Atlanta on August 14. Photo: Reuters Despite the fact that Hartsfield-Jackson airport in Atlanta is supposedly the world’s largest in terms of the number of passengers, there was not a single rental car to collect. The photographer and I went from counter to counter and finally ended up in the garage on the ground floor where small rental car companies I’ve never heard of were based. But no cars there either. It was a huge sell-out concert with Beyoncé that was the reason for the lack of cars this evening. Not an indictment of Donald Trump But his traveling media circus had definitely pitched its tents in Atlanta. Reporters like me are just little extras in this circus. But we are still part of it. In the first week or so at work after the holiday, I traveled to Atlanta twice. Because of Donald Trump With Beyoncé fans on their way from a concert, I report on the Trump impeachment in downtown Atlanta on the night of August 15th. Photo: Rolf Petter Olaisen Takes all the attention What is the point of this long self-centered narrative? It is perhaps precisely to bring out the feeling of working in a circus. The news surrounding the ex-president and everything he stands for is so spectacular that it becomes impossible not to cover it. Although Trump is still a presidential candidate. And even though he calls the legal proceedings against him precisely a politically motivated circus. Outside the courthouse in Atlanta on August 15. Photo: Rolf Petter Olaisen / news But if his political project is to run the USA like a reality show, we have now arrived at a long and tough season which, among other things, may include a several-month-long televised trial in Georgia. Such an event would probably be able to steal most of the media attention Republican challengers to Trump trying to break through could need. The season has also already produced the first arrest picture of a former US president. The official arrest photo taken of Donald Trump in Atlanta, August 24 Photo: AP A sweaty day On my second trip to Atlanta, I was supposed to accompany Trump to jail. He was supposed to report to be registered, photographed and fingerprinted in Fulton district jail. The infamous prison complex on the outskirts of Atlanta sits down in a dump with a steep hill on either side. A Trump supporter interviews another as they wait for the protagonist outside the prison on August 24. Photo: Tove Bjørgaas / news The circus was complete down there in the dump. In 33 degree heat, and 90 percent humidity, media people and Trump supporters huddled together on a narrow grassy bowel between the barricades the police had set up. The mobile network was completely blown up, and it was impossible for some of us to get on the air. A crafty photographer I met had climbed a tree and hung his transmitter there to get a signal. Hundreds of journalists, mosquitoes, Trump fans and 33 degrees in the shade Photo: Tpve Bjørgaas / news Empty motorway In the middle of the afternoon rush, Trump’s plane landed at the large airport 15 kilometers away. The police blocked all traffic so that his motorcade could arrive. Helicopters with cameras followed seven black cars on an empty highway. The queues were huge when it reopened. The freeways into Atlanta are among America’s busiest. On August 24, they were cleared of Trump and his entourage. Photo: Alex Brandon / AP Trump was led into the back of the prison building well away from the media enclosure. After just under 20 minutes he came out again and was driven straight back to the airport. We media people stood with the Trump fans in the sweaty dump on the other side of the building until it got dark. By then the mosquitoes had really started to bite, and the last report had been sent home. Spectators in Georgia take photos as Trump and his entourage drive by on their way to Fulton Country County Jail on August 24. Photo: AFP Never surrender Now we wait to see what the season of the reality show will offer next. This week there have been hearings in Georgia about how the trial against 19 defendants will proceed. The prosecution says they have 150 witnesses on the block. The logistics are not ready, and it is not at all certain that the matter will begin at the end of October as they wish. The Trump campaign is using the waiting time to create souvenirs. A couple of days ago I received the following email from them: Let me know before 2359 tonight if you want to order your “mugshot” cup before they sell out. A black coffee mug with the picture that was taken of Trump inside the prison. And the slogan: Never Surrender. Never surrender. This mug with Trump’s official arrest photo from Georgia is selling his election campaign online. Photo: Official Trump Store
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Ruined out of the holiday by Trump – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
