Elisabeth Eide

The Tainted Hero: Frames of Domestication in Norwegian Press Representation of the Bali Climate Summit

This article presents an analysis of two major Norwegian newspapers’ coverage of a major transnational media event—the Bali Climate Summit in December 2007. Climate Summits are seen as ample opportunities to study journalism at the global level and simultaneously the relation between global and local perspectives. It demonstrates how main national actors within the political field exercise their hegemony toward the press and that the Norwegian leaders in Bali are partly framed as global heroes. But it furthermore reveals how a critical scrutiny of Norway’s role as a major oil polluter emerges in the press in opposition to the hero framing. Thus, a distinction between different modes of journalistic domestication is made, which invites more critical scrutiny of Climate Change actors both within the confines of the nation-state and more globally. The investigation is based on textual analysis as well as framing theory—and on perspectives of hegemony and “good sense” within the journalistic field.

Assessing the effects of an intervention by a pharmacist on prescribing and administration of hypnotics in nursing homes.

Introduction: We have previously reported sub optimal use of hypnotics in geriatric institutions. In the present study we examined the intervention by a pharmacist on the prescribing and administration of hypnotics in nursing homes. Thus a follow up study was performed in 5 nursing homes included in the previous study.Method: In the period between the two surveys the pharmacist provided drug information on the rational use of hypnotics, both written and verbal, to the staff of the institutions. Data on the administration of hypnotics was obtained from the Cardex system in the institutions. Data were compared to a control group in other nursing homes, where no intervention was carried out.Results: Although the population was older in 2000 than in 1995, the proportion of patients using hypnotics (24%) was similar. Use of benzodiazepines was reduced from 81% to 40%, use of long acting benzodiazepines was reduced from 62% to 22%, and use of short‐acting hypnotics (zopiclone, zolpidem) increased from 9% to 53%. Furthermore, hypnotics administered before 9 p.m. were reduced from 40% to 14%, and the time of administration showed less variation than before. In the control population we also observed the use of short acting hypnotics in favour of benzodiazepines, similar to the results in the 5 institutions. However, in this population a significantly higher proportion of patients used hypnotics, used more than 1 hypnotic and the hypnotics were administered earlier in the evening.Conclusion: The results demonstrate an important effect of written and verbal drug information provided by a pharmacist to improve the prescribing and administration on the use of hypnotics in nursing homes.

Strategic Essentialism and Ethnification

Abstract The present article sets out to explore certain aspects of how individuals with an ethnic minority background experience the journalistic media. It is derived from a project based on in-depth interviews aimed at mapping the media experiences and strategies of individuals with a minority background. Many tell of their experiences of being ethnified or subject to culturalization by the reporters – and thereby ascribed a lesser Norwegian identity even if they happen to be born and raised in Norway. In several cases, the interviewees demonstrate how they have had to emphasize their ethnicity in order to gain better access to media with regard to issues and causes that have nothing to do with their minority background. These continuing intersecting processes may inspire (strategic) essentialism among minority groups as a necessary albeit disputed way of obtaining media attention and recognition. Anthropologists’ approaches to essentialism, ethnification and culturalization are discussed, and by way of conclusion, the article discusses Gayatri Spivak’s “strategic essentialism”, its advantages, pitfalls and limitations.1

AFTER THE 22 JULY TERROR IN NORWAY

Abstract This article analyses the mainstream press coverage of the terror in Norway post 22.07.2011 and discusses how and in what context the concepts of freedom of expression and multiculturalism occur. The aim has been to map important discursive trends in the aftermath of the terror. A clear division between different victim positions is identified. One blames majority society for not granting enough space to extreme right wing views on Islam and diversity/ multiculturalism; another one sees the terror connected to a majority society that already has demonstrated a high degree of hostility towards migrants and Muslims. Thus, two different understandings of the status for freedom of expression in Norway occur, linked to differing positions on the diversity society.

Use of hypnotics among patients in geriatric institutions

A survey of hypnotic use in geriatric institutions outside hospitals was performed in the county of Hordaland, Norway. The data were obtained from the cardex system in 67 institutions and represented administration of hypnotics to the patients on 3 separate days within a week. About 24% of 2802 patients in the institutions used hypnotics. The number of patients treated with hypnotics, the doses administrated and the time of administration were similar for weekends and workdays. About 98% of the hypnotics were used as scheduled, and 41% of the doses administrated were higher than the recommended lowest dose for elderly patients. Long‐acting benzodiazepines constituted about 62% of the hypnotics. A significantly higher proportion of patients in old age homes used hypnotics compared to patients in nursing homes (30.7% versus 22.9%, respectively, p<0.01). Furthermore, higher doses, administration later in the evening and use of additional hypnotics were more common in old age homes compared to nursing homes. The results indicate a need for frequent reevaluation of prescribing of hypnotics in geriatric institutions. Copyright

The Terror in Norway and the Multiculturalist Scapegoat

Against the background of the trial of Anders Behring Breivik for the terrorist mass murder of seventy-seven people in Norway in July 2011, this article examines the perpetrators rhetoric in relation to ‘multiculturalism’. The material is gathered from a right-wing, Islam-critical website document.no, to which he was a frequent contributor. In addition, the article addresses material from the post-22 July media debate about multiculturalism in the Norwegian national press during the first 100 days. The analysis is thus linked closely to Norways recent experiences with extremist terror. The theoretical foundation leans on recent discussions of ‘multiculturalism’ and other minority perspectives, but also on Sartres work on the Jewish experience in France and his exploration of French diversity during with the Second World War.

‘Being the Other’—or Tourist in her Reality? Reporters’ and Writers’ Attempts at Cross-Identification

This article analyses the particular positions and experiences of role reporters, that is, journalists or writers who have taken on another identity to better reveal the life conditions of people in the margins of society. Their writings are analysed from the perspective of ‘unlearning privileges as ones loss’ and also within the ethical perspective of an individuals responsibility for the Other. The question is also raised of whether role reporting may contribute to highlighting and easing the plight of the marginalized, or whether this particular ‘representation by proxy’—due to the prevailing press conventions—primarily contributes to the highlighting of the role reporter and his/her experiences.

Key Journalists and the IPCC AR5: Toward Reflexive Professionalism?

This chapter uses the framework of journalistic professionalism to explore how the specific challenges of climate journalism are affecting the profession. In particular, we consider how some key journalists from around the world reflected on the task of reporting climate change in general and on the IPCC AR5 in particular. 16 prominent professional journalists were interviewed to gather the data analysed in this chapter. The main findings were that while covering the field of climate, journalists adhere to professional journalistic norms, but as science journalists on one hand and environmental journalists on the other, also allow themselves to adopt more of an activist frame.

Scientists, Communication and the Space of Global Media Attention

This chapter focuses on the IPCC, its structure and its efforts to communicate the AR5 reports. It discusses challenges to IPCC science communication such as the balance between being policy relevant and policy prescriptive, and how to communicate to a larger public. It draws on science communication theories as well as interviews with several IPCC scientists mainly conducted during the UNESCO scientific conference “Our Common Future” in Paris, July 2015.

Good Practices in Climate Science Journalism

This chapter analyzes print media articles considered as good practices in climate (science) journalism. It does so by, firstly, sketching various criteria that are able to bridge gaps between science communication and lay people’s livelihoods and everyday experiences. It also takes into account the evolution from a traditional, top-down model of science communication to a non-traditional, bottom-up one which may have a wider popular outreach. Second, against the backdrop of these criteria, the chapter discusses a sample of newspaper items from the IPCC AR5 coverage, selected from across different genres and a variety of countries. Third, the chapter provides findings drawn from qualitative interviews with a group of IPCC authors on their assessments of good climate (science) journalism. The chapter concludes with some recommendations on how climate change reporting can be more optimized in the future.