Free French and Moland!

VG had an article today that the Foreign Ministry has used over 1 million NOK on the Congo- case. Salary was not included. No, but the diplomats would have gotten paid anyway. I don’t think this amount was very high compared to other expenses in the government. It was compared to the case in Bolivia among others (where three young Norwegian women are arrested on drug charges), where there were used considerably less money.

To compare cases like this is not right. VG didn’t write about their own spendings. It would be very interesting to know how much they paid for Tjostolvs telephone. Græsvik from TV2 also suggests that they broke into the phone and stole its contents. The crime Nilas Johnsen committed in Uganda when he bought the stolen videotape would also be interesting to know how much he had to pay for. Not to forget, it would be interesting to know how much money they have made in extra sales on their “revelations”.

VG’s behavior in the Congo-case is a story for itself. The other Norwegian press, radio and TV networks have been reasonable. Some of VGs journalists have also been nice; I don’t judge all of them. But Nilas Johnsen has used methods that are a shame for the Norwegian press. It is also a shame for the committee who gave him an award for this. This committee should really think about this again. Is this really the way we want Norwegian press to be like!?

Knut Moland, April 13^th 2010