In March, Meierigården in Porsgrunn was completely damaged after a major fire. The cause of the fire is still unknown, but the police have previously told news that they cannot rule out that the fire was arson. As part of the investigation, the police wanted to collect video material that could help shed light on the case and find the cause of the fire. Newspaper Varden was asked to share their video material of the coverage of the fire, says editor Tom Erik Thorsen. – We did not want to do that, because it would be an unfortunate practice if the police received material from the media. Especially unpublished material. It was the Journalist who first mentioned this. Said no to the request It was thoroughly justified for the police, according to the local newspaper’s editor. The police then made a formal decision to seize all of Varden’s video material from the coverage of the fire, says Thorsen. Tom Erik Thorsen is editor of the local newspaper Varden. Photo: Kari Løberg Skår / news He questioned whether they really wanted to do it. The police then reassessed the seizure decision and made a new decision to seize Varden’s video material, according to Thorsen. This time published video material. – I believe that this content is freely available to the police and the rest of Norway’s population on Varden, so it is really a completely unnecessary decision. He believes it is very unfortunate that the police decide to seize content from Norwegian media. The media must be completely independent of the authorities and have a free role. – We must be able to protect and protect our sources, and therefore the police will not be sent material from us in this case. Withdraws the decision Police inspector Ole Bjørn Sakrisvold writes in an e-mail to news that the intention was to gain access to videos Varden had published and that Varden himself could assess which, if any, videos they wanted to share with the police. Ole Bjørn Sakrisvold, police inspector and head of the Prosecution Section South. Photo: Philip Hofgaard / news He further writes that in that context a decision was sent to the court to gain access to this video material. – In retrospect, we see that both the decision and the wording in it were imprecise and did not take care of the original intention. The police accept that point 3.6 of the Be Careful poster about unpublished material is of great importance for the independence of the press and that there is not enough weight in this case to ask the court for such disclosure, says Sakrisvold. – We are therefore going to withdraw the decision to hand over all video material from the newspaper. The police say they are keen to have good relations with the newsrooms in the district. They feel that they have good cooperation and mutual trust both with Varden and other news media. – We will therefore engage in dialogue with Varden in the near future where we can clear up this misunderstanding.
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The police demanded video material from Varden after a major fire in Porsgrunn – now they are turning around – news Vestfold and Telemark – Local news, TV and radio
