The Jeremiad Over Journalism

that Danish journalists would appreciate the assistance and write in a balanced manner about the
United States as evidenced by Goodman‘s evaluation below.
―Although Information has leftist leaning, Osvald to date has been one of its more objective
[my emphasis] writers. The PAO [Public Affairs Officer] and IO [Information Officer] plan to
continue their discussions with Osvald in a attempt to have him write more objectively [my
emphasis] about America. It is felt that although Osvald is critical of the U.S. at this time, he
may reflect upon his experiences there as time goes on, and eventually view the country in a
different light.‖ 351
Clearly trips to the United States were seen as a way to change Danish journalists‘ perception of
America. The exchange between Goodman and Osvald, as described by Goodman, reveals an
interesting difference in opinion on balance and objectivity. The most obvious interpretation is that
Goodman simply wanted Osvald to write more positively about the United States, but there may
also have been a real difference in perception of what constituted objectivity and balance in
journalism between Osvald and Goodman.
As has been shown in Chapter 2, the United States in the 1920‘s had developed an stylistic
―objective‖ norm in journalism espousing description and detachment over interpretation and
emotion, while Danish newspapers in the late 1960‘s were still closely tied to political parties and
therefore wrote about the world around them through the prism of party politics. 352 These national
media differences based on political, social, and cultural differences may well have led to
differences in the perception of balance or objectivity as well. 353
Yet despite these differences, American officials by no means stopped trying to influence the view
that Danish readers, listeners, and viewers got of the United States through the media. The attempts
to influence were expressed in different ways however. When Danish journalists reported unfairly
351 Ibid.
352 Stig Hjarvard, "Den Politiske Presse - En Analyse Af Danske Avisers Politiske Orientering [The Political Press: An
Analysis of Political Parallelism in Danish Newspapers]," Journalistica, no. 5 (2007). Page 32 and 51.
353 Karl Jack, "Skærpet Konkurrence Kræver Flere Journalister [Enhanced Competition Requires More Journalists],"
Journalisten, December, 1979. Page 22-25. Based on a study tour to the United States, Jack noted that ―there are great
differences in the media situation between the United States and Denmark – in terms of geography, competition, labor
union politics and economy.‖ See Also Hallin and Mancini, Comparing Media Systems. Three Models of Media and
Politics. Page 46.
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