Göteborgsbranden 1998 - Myndigheten för samhällsskydd och ...

for those covering the acute phase at the scene of the fire. Among the many dilemmas faced
by media representatives, the most dominant was the feeling of conflict between their professional
assignment and their desire to help those in distress.
Problematic for journalists was the question of how to approach people who are suffering
and in shock. Several reported difficulties in determining the condition and reliability of those
affected. One dilemma arose when, out of consideration for those distressed, journalists
tried to hide their professional status, thereby conducting anonymous interviews. Thus,
several affected individuals were unaware that a journalist had interviewed them. Ethical
discussions on the performance of assignments have been ongoing at the editorial desks, and
clear consideration has been given to the consequences of various publications. Different
approaches to ethics and censoring at the scene of the accident are revealed, however, for
example in discussions of whether an unethical picture constitutes a violation first upon publication,
or already at the moment the picture is taken. The managing editors at the various
newspapers varied in the extent to which they felt prepared for the situation. Many felt that
the entire profession benefited from the experience of reporting on the loss of the passenger
ferry Estonia in the Baltic Sea in 1994, and that the Gothenburg fire provided the media with
additional experience. Among other things, many felt that the profession was insufficiently
prepared to deal with co-workers’ psychological reactions following the assignment.
Debriefings have been conducted in several cases but, according to many, in an
awkward and unprofessional manner. In connection with media coverage of the fire disaster,
it became clear that, in several cases, media representatives should have been viewed as
indirectly affected by the event, and thereby as needing some degree of support following
completion of their assignments. This normal reaction to an unusual event raises the question
of what consequences journalists’ own psychological reactions at the scene of the fire
had on the content of media reports.
With respect to the depiction of events in the wake of the fire catastrophe, e.g., the burial
of its victims, most media representatives pointed to deficient cultural – multiethnic – competence
within their own organisation. The study suggests some degree of uncertainty as
to how the fire's multicultural character should be dealt with journalistically and ethically,
which seems to have led to the downplaying of the disaster’s ethnic dimensions.
In summary, the interview study with journalists, photographers and managing editors
from four newspapers shows that the portrayal of this event required strong professional
identity and good judgement, while the assignment also involved great mental and emotional
strain under pressure against the clock. The journalism conducted in connection
with the Gothenburg fire disaster must be viewed as having functioned well, given the
prevailing conditions.
The main tendencies arising from analyses of the interview study with journalists,
photographers and managing editors can be summarised by the following points:
• Witnessing and depicting an ongoing accident of this scale placed great demands on journalists
and photographers – the conflict between professional standards and emotional
reactions constitutes a main thread throughout the interviewees’ stories.
• Given the above, we should see those journalists and photographers who covered the
acute phases of the disaster as having been indirectly affected by the event.
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