The Jeremiad Over Journalism

―French journalism, for instance, has a quite different tradition, and our own Danish tradition
luckily never quite let the old behemoths‘ penchant for lyrical journalism slip away.
Unfortunately we probably have more of the old, new journalists, than of the all new – we too
have tried to become Anglo-Saxon in our feature after all.‖ 436
To Berendt there was more experimentation going on in traditional Danish journalism than in
traditional American journalism, but when it came to the stylistic technique of American new
journalism, Danish journalists had still not embraced the possibilities. What was new was the
literary approach to journalism. Before New Journalism novelists primarily wrote literature, and
journalists primarily journalism, but Gay Talese and subsequent journalists succesfully blended the
genres and inspired journalists outside the United States‘ borders.
Berendt along with authors and journalists like Lasse Ellegaard, Poul Martinsen, Jørgen Leth, Erik
Thygesen, Per Høyer Hansen, Kurt Thyboe, Ebbe Kløvedal Reich and Dan Turéll experimented
with New Journalism as a supplement to the more traditional Anglo-Saxon descriptive news
writing taught at the Danish School of Journalism in the 1970‘s and early 1980‘s. 437 What tied them
together was either their personal experience with transnational exchange to the United States, or a
specific interest in American culture, as was the case with Martinsen and Thygesen.
―The central individuals behind the import from the United States was the TV-reporter Poul
Martinsen (born 1934), who had studied journalism at Columbia University in the 1960‘s, and
author Erik Thygesen (1941-99), who had translated American beat-poems to Danish.‖ 438
436
Mogens Berendt, "Den Ny Journalistik [The New Journalism]," Journalisten, February, 1974. Page 22-23. My
translation. The original text reads, ―Fransk journalistisk, f.eks., har en ganske anden tradition, og vor egen danske slap
gudskelov aldrig helt de gamle kæmpers trang til lyrisk journalistik. Desværre har vi nok flere af de gamle, Ny
Journalister, end af de helt nye – også vi har jo forsøgt at blive angelsaxiske i reportagen – men vi har sandelig i dag
flere eksempler på litterære gentlemen fra den dyre langside.‖
437
Jørgensen, Journalistik Med Stil: Fra Klassiske Nyheder Til Fortælling [Journalism with Style - From Classical
News to Narrative]. Page 17-18 and 24-30.
438
Ibid. Page 32. My translation. Original text reads, ―De central personer bag importen fra USA var tv-manden Poul
Martinsen (f. 1934), som havde studeret journalistik på Columbia University midt i tresserne, og forfatteren Erik
Thygesen (1941-99), som havde oversat amerikanske beat-digte til dansk.‖
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