(Online newspaper): With such a heavy focus on migrant workers’ rights ahead of the championships, there was a lot of excitement about how the World Cup hosts wanted to show off their best side when the eyes of the whole world were on them.

Seven of the eight arenas at the World Cup were built from scratch, and the rights of the workers who built the arenas, among other things, received massive attention.

The human rights violations also mean that NRK, which together with TV 2 is the licensee in Norway, is taking steps that will affect TV viewers in the coming weeks.

Whereas as a TV viewer you’re used to seeing clips of WC hosts almost “advertising posters” consisting of video shots of the city as well as arena overview shots, this will be minimal in NRK this winter.

– We cut it hard. As licensees, this is one of the things we can do to prevent sports laundering. We’ve hit the trail here, and said we would, says Anders Sårheim, editor-in-chief at NRK Sport.

– The image we will avoid

The pictures she refers to are from signals generated by the organizers themselves, and are often called “beauty shots”. NRK is now taking drastic measures to minimize this.

– There are images that we will avoid sending. We’ll switch to international broadcasts on the way in, and back out again as soon as it blows up, says Sårheim.

– Will it be visible to the audience during the championship?

– For those who are aware of it, it will show.

Sårheim said those at NRK had spent a great deal of time planning how to deliver what is perhaps the most controversial championship of all time.

– Fortunately, we have a group of very skilled people, who are among the best in the country in sports communication, and who have taken balance very seriously, said Sårheim, who called everything a “new country”.

He realized that they would not be able to satisfy all the spectators during the championship.

– We’ve never done anything like this before, and I’m excited to see if what we believe is the right balance holds true for most people. However, we are ready to accept criticism. Some believe it’s wrong to show one kick, while others believe you should be able to tell the difference, he says, and show it.

– There are two extremes, and we are ready that there will be some criticism.

TV 2 also took action

NRK is sharing the rights to WC this year with TV 2, and they will also be making adjustments in regards to what they normally broadcast during major championships.

– We want to avoid showing images that could be tourist information in Qatar, unless we put them in context, Eyvind Thue, who is the channel’s football manager, emphasized to VG.

Vegard sports editor Jansen Hagen also made it clear they would be making an appearance whole story from the WC.

– We must have a critical approach to what is presented from FIFA and Qatar, not least to the production of beautiful pictures and paintings of the host country that we know is coming, he wrote in his own comments website.