The Jeremiad Over Journalism

eport more positively on the United States. In the Americans‘ own estimation, their different
initiatives to influence the Danish press from the end of World War II until 1975 were successful
even if the United States was not always covered in as ―balanced‖ a way as the American officials
would have liked. Installing a USIA-printer in the newsroom of five leading Danish papers was an
American attempt to remedy the ―unbalanced‖ coverage and caused the editor of Journalisten to
raise the issue as the top story in the periodical‘s 1988 April issue. 384
The above section has also shown, that journalists played a central role in SFK and CCF, which
later turned out to be sponsored by the CIA. Additionally, the CIA actively tried to recruit at least
one Scandinavian journalist,Arthur Opot, to work for them.
4.2 Transnationalization
―In the long run the exchange of persons would be our most effective approach to the Danes,‖ wrote
Public Affairs Officer Roll in a confidential report to the Department of State on May 2, 1950. Roll
added that unfortunately there was no Fulbright Program in Denmark, and the money available
under PL 402, the US Information and Exchange Act of 1948, only permitted the ―exchange of 10
persons.‖ Working closely together with private organizations such as ―The American-
Scandinavian Foundation, The Danish-American Society, and the Danish International Student
Committee,‖ the American Embassy in Copenhagen had nevertheless succeeded in assisting ―some
500 Danish students in going to the United States during 1949.‖ 385
Since these educational exchange programs developed in the greater context of the Cold War, and
therefore in competition with the Soviet Union‘s programs, the American Embassy kept a an eye on
number of Danish students that every year visited countries east of the iron curtain. Early on it
became clear, however, that exchange to the United States held greater appeal than an exchange to a
communist country. While the United States exchanged approximately 500 students a year with
Denmark before the Fulbright exchange program was established in 1951 or before Danish
journalists could apply for a World Press Institute Fellowship, the picture was somewhat different
with the countries from the Eastern bloc in the 1960‘s.
384 Documents revealing USIS‘ own evaluation of propaganda efforts in Denmark have only been declassified up until
1975 and the Department of State has not yet responded to a Freedom of Information Act request covering the years
from 1976 to 2010.
385 Roll, "USIE Country Papers." Page 5-7.
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