NRK fined for violations of electoral law – NRK

Under election broadcast on BBC1 on 14 September, it was announced forecasts for Labour’s election outcome eleven minutes before blocking the deadline.

Media Authority believed this was in violation of election law clause 9.9, and announced that it was considering imposing NRK sanctions in the form of an administrative fine.

Tuesday it became clear that this fee is 600,000 kroner.

The reason for this sum is in a range of factors. Media Authority came partly until NRK ‘has had or could have obtained “a market advantage through publication and that the company’s finances alone suggested that the fee should not be set low.

Prepared reaction

New Director of NRK, Per Arne Kalbakk, saying that they were prepared for a reaction from the Media Authority in the form of a fee, and that they need to spend some time reading through the grounds.

– Firstly, we are in complete agreement with the Norwegian Media Authority’s assessment that there was a clear violation of the electoral law, and we are pleased that they agree with us that it happened due to negligence and not intentionally or through poor routines, says Kalbakk.

– When it comes to the amount of the fee, we will spend some time reading the rationale and look into past cases. Therefore, we will wait to comment on whether the size is correct, he said.

– Human error

NRK justified the break with that there had been a human error, and not because of bad routines or intentionally. Media Authority is in its grounds agree with this, but writes that they still expect that disclosure of such information should not happen.

“- As NRK is well aware of the prohibition of electoral law, it must be expected that the broadcaster has sufficient procedures to prevent information being made public before the permitted time. “, writes Media Authority in its grounds of fault requirement.

NRK now has three weeks to deliver an appeal, but Kalbakk says any appeal only will deal with the size of the fee, and not the Media Authority’s decision on violation of election law. It is they agree.