Norway

[NO] Proposed Basic Principles for Public Broadcaster

IRIS 2007-6:1/25

Thomas Rieber-Mohn

University of Oslo

Technological developments are changing methods of production, distribution and reception of media programmes. This factor together with the regulatory framework has created a totally new market situation within the broadcasting sector. According to the Norwegian Government, the new situation requires a revision of the general obligations of the public broadcaster. As part of such a revision, the Government proposed, in a recent Green Paper the introduction of a new set of basic principles to apply to the operations of the Norwegian public broadcaster (NRK). The basic principles are intended as superior guidelines upon which to base, for example, the regulations of the enterprise. The proposal inter alia abandons the traditional separation between NRK’ s core activity and other editorial activities. The proposed basic principles are as follows:

- NRK shall support and strengthen democracy;

- NRK shall be universally available;

- NRK shall strengthen the Norwegian language, identity and culture;

- NRK shall aspire to high quality, diversity and innovation;

- NRK’ s activities as a public broadcaster shall be non-commercial.

The deadline for comments on the proposal is 1 September 2007.