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NORDICOM’s activities are based on broad and extensive network of contacts and collaboration with members of the research community, media companies, politicians, regulators, teachers, librarians, and so forth, around the world. The activities at Nordicom are characterized by three main working areas. • Media and Communication Research Findings in the Nordic Countries Nordicom publishes a Nordic journal, Nordicom Information, and an English language journal, Nordicom Review (refereed), as well as anthologies and other reports in both Nordic and English languages. Different research databases concerning, among other things, scientific literature and ongoing research are updated continuously and are available on the Internet. Nordicom has the character of a hub of Nordic cooperation in media research. Making Nordic research in the field of mass communication and media studies known to colleagues and others outside the region, and weaving and supporting networks of collaboration between the Nordic research communities and colleagues abroad are two prime facets of the Nordicom work. The documentation services are based on work performed in national documentation centres attached to the universities in Aarhus, Denmark; Tampere, Finland; Reykjavik, Iceland; Bergen, Norway; and Göteborg, Sweden. • Trends and Developments in the Media Sectors in the Nordic Countries Nordicom compiles and collates media statistics for the whole of the Nordic region. The statistics, together with qualified analyses, are published in the series, Nordic Media Trends, and on the homepage. Besides statistics on output and consumption, the statistics provide data on media ownership and the structure of the industries as well as national regulatory legislation. Today, the Nordic region constitutes a common market in the media sector, and there is a widespread need for impartial, comparable basic data. These services are based on a Nordic network of contributing institutions. Nordicom gives the Nordic countries a common voice in European and international networks and institutions that inform media and cultural policy. At the same time, Nordicom keeps Nordic users abreast of developments in the sector outside the region, particularly developments in the European Union and the Council of Europe. • Research on Children, Youth and the Media Worldwide At the request of UNESCO, Nordicom started the International Clearinghouse on Children, Youth and Media in 1997. The work of the Clearinghouse aims at increasing our knowledge of children, youth and media and, thereby, at providing the basis for relevant decision-making, at contributing to constructive public debate and at promoting children’s and young people’s media literacy. It is also hoped that the work of the Clearinghouse will stimulate additional research on children, youth and media. The Clearinghouse’s activities have as their basis a global network of 1000 or so participants in more than 125 countries, representing not only the academia, but also, e.g., the media industries, politics and a broad spectrum of voluntary organizations. In yearbooks, newsletters and survey articles the Clearinghouse has an ambition to broaden and contextualize knowledge about children, young people and media literacy. The Clearinghouse seeks to bring together and make available insights concerning children’s and young people’s relations with mass media from a variety of perspectives. www.nordicom.gu.se Scandalous! The Mediated Construction of Political Scandals in Four Nordic Countries Sigurd Allern & Ester Pollack (eds) © Editorial matters and selections, the editors; articles, individual contributors; Nordicom 2012 ISBN 978-91-86523-27-5 Published by: Nordicom University of Gothenburg Box 713 SE 405 30 Göteborg Sweden Cover by: Daniel Zachrisson Printed by: Responstryck AB, Borås, 2012 Contents Preface 7 Chapter 1 Sigurd Allern & Ester Pollack Mediated Scandals 9 Chapter 2 Sigurd Allern, Anu Kantola, Ester Pollack & Mark Blach-Ørsten Increased Scandalization. Nordic Political Scandals 1980-2010 29 Chapter 3 Anders Todal Jenssen & Audun Fladmoe Ten Commandments for the Scandalization of Political Opponents 51 Chapter 4 Anu Kantola Warriors for Democracy. Scandal as a Strategic Ritual of Journalism 73 Chapter 5 Lars Nord, Gunn Enli & Elisabeth Stúr Pundits and Political Scandals. A Study of Political Commentators in Norway and Sweden 87 Chapter 6 Mark Blach-Ørsten & Anker Brink Lund Security Scandals in the Age of Mediated War 103 Chapter 7 Mia-Marie Hammarlin & Gunilla Jarlbro From Tiara to Toblerone. The Rise and Fall of Mona Sahlin 113 Chapter 8 Elin Strand Hornnes When Women Have to Apologize. Female Apologia and Political Scandals 133 Chapter 9 Tor Midtbø Do Mediated Political Scandals Affect Party Popularity in Norway? 151 Chapter 10 Paul Bjerke Media Victims and Media Morals 165 Chapter 11 Sigurd Allern & Ester Pollack The Marketplace of Scandals 181 Literature 191 Index 205 The Contributors 211 Preface The general public has become used to the term scandal as a common charac- terization for norm violations in different areas of society. The term itself, from the Greek skandalon, is as old as the Old Testament, but in modern capitalist societies it is journalism that has taken over the institutional role of public guardian of society’s norms. Major and minor norm violations become scandals because they are mediated, reacted to and condemned; often – but not always – resulting in the loss of positions and the ruining of careers. Scandals have many names and can be found in most areas of society. There are political scandals, financial scandals, royal scandals, academic scandals, religious scandals and sports scandals. This book is about political scandals in a part of the world – the Nordic countries – that was regarded as a relatively scandal-free zone for a long time, especially compared with the UK and countries in central and southern Europe. However, our main topic is not the norm violations themselves, but rather the process of scandalization: how scandals are facilitated, constructed and developed in the media arena through an interaction between journalists, politicians and other actors. A predecessor to this book, based on case studies from Norway and Sweden, has previously been published in Norwegian (Allern & Pollack, eds. 2009). In a few chapters, some material from this earlier book has been used in a revised form, but most of the texts presented here are new. The Norwegian Council for Applied Media Research has granted research funding, and we thank them for this. Stockholm, January 2012 Sigurd Allern and Ester Pollack 7 Chapter 1 Mediated Scandals Sigurd Allern & Ester Pollack Scandals have a long history, but political scandals in their modern form are inextricably linked with news media and new forms of digital publication. That scandals are partly constituted as mediated forms of communication is no exaggeration. News media provide a public marketplace in which scandals are presented and developed as drama before an indignant and inquisitive public. Scandals attract attention to different types of websites, help sell newspapers and increase the audiences of TV-channels. In this context, journalists do not simply perform the role of news reporters: they also interpret and – to varying degrees – direct the progress of the scandal. A scandal “is not merely something that is revealed, but something that is shown, reported, staged and kept alive day after day” (Ekström & Johansson 2008: 72). As in other cases, the news is not just made up of what is “actually happening”, but of things that are consid- ered to constitute newsworthy events to be interpreted, framed and reported. As in other types of news journalism, mediated scandals require cooperation between sources and journalists, with shifts taking place depending on which party takes the initiative. In many cases, scandal stories originate as leaks from informed sources, sometimes from whistle-blowers wanting to report trans- gressions of laws, regulations or norms. In other cases, political or economic actors try to plant information or disinformation in order to harm opponents or competitors. A new and special case is the organisation WikiLeaks, which during the past few years has published material causing world-wide attention and a series of political scandals, leading to debates about source criticism and guidelines for publication. Exposing circumstances that create political scandals also plays an important part in the professional ideology of journalism. Investigating powerful institutions and public figures is central to the ideals and professional goals for members of the press. The Watergate revelations and other less well-known examples of investigative journalism from different countries have for several decades functioned both as model for and examples of there being, despite 9 SIGURD ALLERN & ESTER POLLACK everything, some truth in the myth of the media as a critical “fourth estate”. Scandals may help news organisations strengthen their legitimacy, and sometimes result in journalistic awards. In certain contexts it is also true that journalistic investigation provides us with new knowledge about goings on in the hidden corridors of power. A persistent and active press can make us better informed, resulting in a strengthening of the democratic dialogue. A society without any revelations that voters interpret as “scandals” may, in most cases, be symptomatic of authoritarian control, a lack of press freedom and open public debate

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