Atle Antonsen has filed a complaint with NRK to the Press Professionals Committee (PFU). The organizers confirmed this to Dagbladet.

– We received a complaint last week, and it will be handled in the normal way, explains Trude Hansen, advisor and department head at PFU.

Hansen stressed that the handling is “at an early stage”, and the complaint may not be addressed at the PFU meeting in March. The next opportunity is April 26th.

“Arena” and “Morning news”

The complaint concerns the P2 program “Arena’s” broadcast on November 22, entitled “Are we going to learn anything from the Atle Antonsen case?”; as well as features in “Morning news” January 23with the title “What can we learn from the Antonsen case / The Aftermath of Racism”.

Antonsen’s complaint was formally submitted by his lawyer Marianne Klausen, who considered that NRK had violated six points in the rules of press ethics, Careful poster.

– On behalf of Atle Antonsen, I have chosen to file a complaint against two features from Radio NRK that I believe are clear violations of the press’s own regulations, poster Vær Varsom, said the lawyer, who declined to comment further now .

– Misleading

Six points focus on the use of critical resources (3.2); factuality (4.1); respect one’s uniqueness, identity, privacy, ethnicity, nationality, and outlook on life (4.3.); prejudice (4.5); concurrent countermeasures (4.14); and equivalent to (4.15).

In his complaint, Klausen claimed that the program’s relevant content was “misleading to listeners/viewers”.

“These programs lack factuality in content, factuality in presentation and lack of extensive sources. Antonsen was also not given the opportunity to take countermeasures concurrently, or the opportunity to respond,” it read.

According to the complaint, guests at the event, among other things, assumed that Antonsen’s statement to Sumaya Jirde Ali at the Oslo bar Boca on October 23 was racist.

– Great interest

The case was investigated by the police, but was dropped by the State Prosecutor’s Office on November 18 – before the broadcast of the program in question. The attorney general eventually dropped the case on January 6.

– There is enormous interest from the media in this case. Critical journalism is important and necessary, at the same time we must expect the press to treat this case in a balanced way and within current guidelines, said lawyer Klausen.

Knut Magnus Berge, editor of NRK’s ​​news division, confirmed that Antonsen’s complaint had been received.

New method

– We have contacted Atle Antonsen and their representatives, and have proposed a meeting – a request to which we hope to receive a response. We will treat this in a very casual way, in line with how the PFU works, Berge told Dagbladet.

– Everyone’s privilege

The NRK editor went on to say that he had “no comment on the substance of the case at this time”.

– How uncomfortable for NRK is Antonsen complaining to you?

– I think it is everyone’s privilege to try their case before the PFU. This is something we deal with on a regular basis.

In the PFU proceedings, the committee first encouraged the editor concerned to try to resolve the conflict with the complainant “peacefully”. If this doesn’t work, a round of responses follows, before the issue is decided at one of the committee meetings.