" A HISTORICAL WAKE-UP CALL " in the field of television journalism and production should have been the title of the last book written by Bjørn Nilsen. The title of his book in Norwegian is : " Journalist og aktivist. Mediestreif ".The Norwegian television journalist and producer, the poet and the writer and the former politician
has done it again: Written a provocative book or a personal report about his life as
a television journalist while working for The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK). The main issue dealt with in the book is the conflict between the daily
work making programmes for the company and being an active political citizen. Bjørn
Nilsen is not a young man. Age: 76. He has not asked for a national admiration or
a personal attention that might be the issue for men passing the age of 70.No.He is still young in mind and spirit. In year 1964 the former high school teacher and poet
began to work for The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation(NRK).Fiction,poems, literature were among his main interests. No radical political man at all. To let him work for NRK should not make any problem for the management who was dominated by
the Royal Norwegian Labour Party for years. A change in his personal attitude to the society took place gradually.I met him for the first time in 1977 after having started to work as the Head of the Television Archive. The Union was a strong body at that time and we all joined to fight for better working conditions.Bjørn Nilsen
was also active. He tells about his different programmes made for television in his book. No personal reports about private life. Only facts about the problems in making good products for the television. At the end of his career he wanted to make programmes about the secret service of Norway including activities initiated by
The Labour Party. The former and late Director of NRK, Einar Førde, supported him in
his work to do so. But no programme was made. It was to dangerous to investigate in
the business where even the director himself could have been accused for taking part
in political support for the official enemy- U.S.S.R -The Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics - a game not made for emotional journalists or politicians.
I assisted Bjørn Nilsen while he was working to make a controversial programme about the secret services of Norway and the connections between the Labour Party and the secret bodies.Bjørn Nilsen left Oslo in anger (not the first one who left NRK in anger) and settled on an island close to the city of Trondheim.The book should be read by all who want to challenge those who are in charge of ruling the country.
The question is: Do we talk about censorship or selection of information in making
a realistic documentary about issues not on the agenda of the government? Read the book and think for yourself.
