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On 14 March 2008, the Norwegian Media Authority granted a license to an association named Foreningen Frikanalen for transmission of a non-commercial public access TV channel (also called “open channel”) in the digital terrestrial network in Norway. The channel has a must carry status and is expected to start broadcasting in September this year. Foreningen Frikanalen is open to all non-commercial and non-governmental organisations, which base their activities on voluntary work. As of today, Foreningen Frikanalen has 50 direct members and 130 associated members. However, according to the license...

The Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers’ (CM) latest batch of country-specific Resolutions adopted in the context of the Second Monitoring Cycle of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM) concern: the Russian Federation; Romania; Ireland and Norway. The Resolutions contain a number of provisions concerning the (audiovisual) media (for similar provisions in earlier country-specific Resolutions, see IRIS 2007-3: 6 and IRIS 2006-2: 4). The CM recommends that the Russian authorities “further improve access to the media of persons belonging to national minorities”...

In recent months, the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers (CM) adopted five country-specific Recommendations concerning the application of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages: Slovakia (first monitoring cycle); Slovenia and the United Kingdom (second monitoring cycle) and Hungary and Norway (third monitoring cycle). The Charter contains a number of provisions of relevance for the (audiovisual) media, the most detailed of which are to be found in Article 11. The latest Recommendations on the application of the Charter highlight a number of pertinent issues. In respect...

In a recent White Paper, the Norwegian Government upheld its proposal for a new Culture Act (see IRIS 2007-1:14). During the extensive round of hearings, the Green Paper proposal received massive support and with regard to all essential points has been upheld in the White Paper. Some structural amendments are introduced in order to make clear that obligations to establish predictable conditions for cultural development, promote professionalism and quality, and ensure availability of relevant information rest equally upon the State, the County Municipality and the Municipality. The Green Paper proposal...

In a recent Green Paper, the Norwegian Government proposed to establish, by law, the principle of editorial independence. The proposed Act includes two basic provisions; one obliging media enterprises to have an editor and one confirming the principle of editorial independence. Given the sweeping nature of such provisions, a central question concerns to which media enterprises the Act shall apply. According to the proposal, the Act will firstly apply to the traditional mass media such as newspapers, radio and television. With respect to radio and television, the proposal relies on the traditional...