Despite this unfortunate affair, DN remains one of Norway’s finest newspapers and Mr.Wiedswang one of our sharpest journalists. The only mistake Mr.Wiedswang made was to believe the information provided to him by his colleagues. In the climate offered by the Norwegian debate on the Middle East, this is not advisable.
Below; letter from Manfred Gerstenfeld of the JCPA to Dagens Næringsliv, Norway’s leading business daily (and the finest newspaper in Norway), printed in the paper edition on November 5th:
False Quote on Anti-Semitism
Manfred Gerstenfeld
Kjetil Wiedswang states wrongly that I consider Norway “the most anti-Semitic nation in Europe.”[1] To be fair: not he, but TV2 invented this fake quotation and NTB spread it widely. This bogus passage was even mentioned in a parliamentary question to Foreign Minister Stoere.
It is absurd to define a country as the most anti-semitic in Europe as no accurate measurements for this exist. The history of this false citation, attributed to me, is a small illustration of how some key actors in the Norwegian media world distort information and lack professionalism. My book Behind the Humanitarian Mask, the Nordic Countries Israel and the Jews, mentions many examples of recent pioneering acts of Jew hatred in Norway (and Sweden).[2] In an interview broadcast by TV2 on 1 March 2009 I said: “Norway has been a pioneer in anti-Israeli actions which have clear anti-Semitic characteristics.” The interview’s video and the text placed under it can still be seen on the TV2 website.[3]
In this text my remark was falsified into something radically different: “Norway is the most anti-Semitic nation in Europe.” NTB’s press release included this and other fake quotations. They did not contact me to verify anything, nor did they apparently check the video which would have taken two minutes.[4] This release was picked up by many Norwegian and Swedish newspapers. TV2 refused to correct the false quotes. After my complaint to NTB it took them three weeks to send out a new release. It did not refer to their false citation about “the most anti-Semitic nation in Europe.” This release contained a number of additional manipulations of the truth.[5]
[1] Kjetil Wiedswang, “Uten Filter DN: Masserte Fordommer.” 24 October 2009.[2] Manfred Gerstenfeld (ed) Behind the Humanitarian Mask, the Nordic Countries, Israel and the Jews 2008, ( Jerusalem, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies, 2008) pp. 23-24
[3] http://www.tv2nyhetene.no/utenriks/israelsk-statsviter-kritiserer-norges-israelsyn-2599956.html
[4]http://www.vg.no/pub/skrivervennlig.hbs?artid=537269, This Verdens Gang article of 1 March 2009 “Hevder Norge er den mest antisemmitiske nasjonen i Europa,” gives NTB as source
[5] http://aftenbladet.no/innenriks/1031928/Klaget_TV_2_til_PFU_for_slurv_og_unoeyaktigheter.html, Aftenbladet, 20 May 2009, gives NTB as source.
