Well, have been very busy lately, but here I am! So let's go to work and talk about Ari Mikael Behn (in my usual over-explained way of course).
Two tweets (written on Wednesday, the 25th) from the Norwegian Royal commentator, historian, author & lecturer, Oskar Aanmoen (born 1995), which I will respond to. He is ''Senior Europe Correspondent for Royal Central,'' and all his tweets are therefore in English (see his twitter-account here -
link).
And while I appreciate Oscar's huge efforts in providing information about the NRF to English-speaking royal watchers, it must be said that I often take him in errors/mistakes when it comes to facts and his translations. Another thing to mention about him is that he is VERY pro-monarchy, perhaps even a bit too much at times, if that is even possible. LOL. - Which means he can exaggerate a bit when praising the royals or writing about royal events.
Oskar Aanmoen @OAanmoen
''Ari Behn's death comes as a shock to the Norwegian people.
All TV channels broadcast extra news broadcast and the newspapers have this as the main article.''
(See the tweet here -
link).
My response: Yes, sat with family and friends when the news alerts from NRK, TV2 and VG started ticking in on our phones at around 21:00 PM. Completely shocked, we then turned the TV on and watched the special-news coverage, which I will go more in detail about a bit down in the post. Although it should be mentioned that it was the two TV-channels that often broadcast breaking news that went on air, not ''all'' of them!
Oskar Aanmoen @OAanmoen
''Most Norwegian newspapers have now closed the opportunity to comment below articles about Ari Behn's death.
This is done after hundreds of negative messages are published about Princess Martha's current controversial boyfriend, the American Shaman Durek Verett.''
(See the tweet here -
link).
My response: Yes, VG (I give more information about that newspaper a bit down in the post) closed the opportunity to make comments in the first articles after it turned into an ugly war zone. - And they have continued to do so with most of the newer ones as well.
But whether one is a fan of the self-proclaimed shaman or not (and believe me, along with what I think is a large majority of Norwegians, I am not), be aware that this particular comment section is the Norwegian version of those in the Danish tabloid Ekstra Bladet and the Daily Mail, which means that most of the people commenting there are trolls/bullies that hate everyone and must, therefore, be taken with a LARGE pinch of salt.
Anyway, back to Oskar, because most national news-outlets here had already closed or restricted the opportunity to make comments years/months before Ari's death, so it's, therefore, wrong of him to write the stuff I bolded.
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Media-coverage of Ari's death:
The state-owned Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK).
NRK1 (Norway's largest TV-channel):
On Wednesday, the 25th: Devoted the whole regular 15-min evening news to it, which airs at 23:00 PM or later. They had NRK's Royal correspondent/commentator/expert, Kristi Marie Skrede (in her late 40s/early 50s I think; used to be quite balanced, but has in the last two years turned into what I would describe as pretty pro-monarchy in her style) and their highly respected culture-commentator, the 65-year-old Agnes Moxnes in the studio.
One can watch it here if one understands Norwegian (
link).
On Thursday, the 26th: Devoted the first 12-min of the 30-min 19:00 news ''Dagsrevyen'' to it (Norway's largest news-programme, which has aired since 1958 and which was shortened from 45-min due to the holiday period). Also the main story on the 21:00 news and second story on the 23:15 news.
One can watch them here:
1 -
2 -
3
On Friday, the 27th: Still a large part of the news broadcasts, and main story on Dagsrevyen.
NRK2 (Norway's fourth-largest TV channel, which in addition to normal programming is used by NRK for breaking news):
On Wednesday, the 25th: Had two special-news broadcasts from 21:10 to 21:30 and from 22:30 to 22:45 - with Kristi Marie Skrede (mentioned above) in the studio. And one from 14:15 to 14:25 on Thursday, the 26th, also with Skrede in the studio.
One can watch them here:
1 -
2 -
3
NRK has also been dominated by it online, and has since the 25th, written around 28 articles about it.
The commercial TV 2 Group.
TV2 (Norway's second-largest TV-channel):
Full coverage on the 18:30 and 21:00 news on Thursday, the 26th (almost the entire broadcasts were devoted to it).
Also the main story on Friday, the 27th.
TV2 News Channel (Norway's only News Channel and sixth-largest TV-channel, which is considered very good for that type of channel BTW, and it has continued to grow since its launching in 2007):
On Wednesday, the 25th: Provided broad coverage with a special-news broadcast, which lasted from 21:30 to 23:30.
And despite the holiday period, they had managed to get the always knowable royal historian and author, Trond Norén Isaksen (born 1981, not a constitutional monarchist by principle, but believes the monarchy is the best solution for Norway) into the studio, who has now very much replaced their late Royal expert/commentator, Kjell Arne Totland, which one can read about in this post (
link). - Plus that they spoke (by phone) to their former Royal correspondent, Anne Fredrikstad (born 1969); and the rag-mag, Se og Hør's Royal correspondent/expert, Caroline Vagle (in her early 30s I think), who despite the bad reputation of the magazine, seems pretty reliable.
The channel was also overwhelmingly dominated by it on Thursday, the 26th, when they spoke to Norén Isaksen again, several others (including a culture-commentator, a friend of Ari and a psychologist) and had reporters at the Palace Square and in Moss (Ari's hometown).
Must be a subscriber to watch it online, so no point for me posting links here.
TV2 has also been completely dominated by it online, and have since the 25th, written around 38 articles about it.
The tabloid VG. Norway's by far largest news-website with over two million daily readers and the second-largest print-newspaper.
And very pro-monarchy: Was overwhelmingly and completely dominated by it in the first two days, 10-articles in a row as the main stories during the first evening.
And since the news came in on the 25th, they have now written around 73 articles about it (yes, 73).
Aftenposten. Norway's largest print-newspaper.
Pro-monarchy, although much more balanced than VG: Was completely dominated by it in the first two days, and have since the news came in on the 25th, written around 37 articles about it.
Dominated several other national outlets as well, including the republican tabloid, Dagbladet.
And the first national print-front pages after his death (including those in the three newspapers mentioned above) were, of course, full of it.
Two other things to mention are:
1. That both the TV-channels and a lot of the articles have shown the two helplines-numbers (i.e. the Mental Health-helpline and the Church SOS crisis-line) and encouraged those struggling to call in, which has resulted in a huge increase of such calls, leading many of them to not being answered. The government has therefore now decided to give an extra 10 million NOK to it.
2. That psychologist, Atle Dyregrov (live on TV2 News Channel and to NRK) has advised parents (due to the massive media coverage) to talk to their children about Ari's suicide and suicide in general.