The Jeremiad Over Journalism

6. Counterforces and Qualifications
The process of Americanization is one described by Hallin and Mancini as an interplay between
exogenous processes and endogenous development. 601 While there have clearly been external
attempts to influence Danish journalism, most notably coming from the American Embassy in
Copenhagen, the internal development within the Danish media market has also played a prominent
role in the discussion of Americanization in Denmark. Some of the internal development has been
shaped by the government‘s media policies, some by the journalistic institutions themselves and
some by the individual journalist. Some have worked counter to Americanization and some has
spurred it along. Direct media subsidies, the move away from the party press and the strong union
organization are all developments unique to Danish media system which have little to do with
influence from the United States. 602
We have seen how the Danish government‘s subsidy policy towards the newspapers is markedly
different from the American espoused by FCC chairmanMark Fowler, and has helped the Danish
press resist commercial pressure commonly associated with Americanization. We have followed
the development of the party press from Henrik Cavling‘s derision of newspapers‘ political
affiliation to the party press‘ demise in the late 1970‘s, a development which can be seen as a step
towards an American model of ―objective‖ journalism. It is, however, important to note, as
Hjarvard has done, that the Danish press is still tied to politicial ideologies just not as closely as it
was in the 1970s. 603
Concerning union membership, the Danes has not felt that there was much to be gained from
following an American or British example. In fact the Danish Union of Journalist‘s in 1979 more or
less derided the American Newspaper Guild and the British National Union of Journalist‘s for not
being better economically prepared for conflicts between workers and publicists.
―The two biggest union‘s within the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the
American Newspaper Gulid and the British NUJ is threatened by economic ruin because of
601
Hallin and Mancini, Comparing Media Systems. Three Models of Media and Politics. Page 254-262.
602
Journalisten, "Har Strejket Sig Til Økonomisk Ruin [Have Striked Themselves to Economic Ruin]," Journalisten,
June, 1979. Page 15.
603
Erik Lund, "Med Fyns Tidende Døde Den Sidste Rest Af Flerbladssystemet [with Fyns Tidende the Last Remnant of
the Multipaper System Died]," Journalisten, September, 1979. Page 8. Lund describes the Danish multipaper-system,
where every major city would have four different papers backing four different political parties as ―the Danish press‘
and the Danish democracy‘s hallmark.‖ See also Hjarvard, "Den Politiske Presse - En Analyse Af Danske Avisers
Politiske Orientering [The Political Press: An Analysis of Political Parallelism in Danish Newspapers]." Page 51.
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