After the 22 July Terror in Norway: <i>Media debates on freedom of expression and multiculturalism</i>

Abstract

This article analyses the mainstream press coverage of the terror in Norway post 22.07.2011 and discusses how and in what context the concepts of freedom of expression and multiculturalism occur. The aim has been to map important discursive trends in the aftermath of the terror. A clear division between different victim positions is identified. One blames majority society for not granting enough space to extreme right wing views on Islam and diversity/ multiculturalism; another one sees the terror connected to a majority society that already has demonstrated a high degree of hostility towards migrants and Muslims. Thus, two different understandings of the status for freedom of expression in Norway occur, linked to differing positions on the diversity society. Keywords Multiculturalism • terrorism • freedom of expression journalism • opinion

Å føle fellesskap med fremmede: Rosetogene og følelsenes sosiologi

“…I det hele tatt har det vaert få studier av hvordan «vanlige folk» opplevde angrepene («vanlige» i den forstand at de ikke var direkte berørt av angrepene og heller ikke hadde noen privilegert posisjon i offentligheten). Det er forsket en del på hva som ble sagt og skrevet av nasjonale ledere, offentlige personer og i massemedia (Eide, Kjølstad & Naper, 2013;Falkheimer & Olsson, 2015;Kolås, 2017;Thoresen mfl., 2012;Andersson, 2012;Figenschou, Ustad & Beyer, 2014;Aagedal, Botvar & Høeg, 2013;Syse, 2018;Rafoss, 2018a;2015b;2016;2018b;2015a;Lenz, 2018;Jenssen & Bye, 2013). Det er forsket mindre på hva vanlige folk følte (og tenkte).…”

Erostratus Unbound: <i>Norway’s 22/7 converging frames of war</i>

“…One "story" that is intimately related to the 22/7 events and discussed in two articles of this volume (Eide et al 2013;Hervik & Boisen 2013) is anger relating to anti-migration. More specifically, the theme discussed is the representation of Danish and Norwegian peoples' anger towards immigration and immigrants as "natural", unavoidable and therefore justifiable.…”

“…At present, radical right wing groups and counter-jihad milieus continue to work intensely to remove legislation on racist utterance, arguing that there should be no limits to freedom of speech and freedom of expression, allowing them to speak "the truth", "their truth" about immigration and Islam. And it is also on the behalf of these analogies that, for instance, an author of the Norwegian Dagsavisen can argue that to blame for what happened in Norway were not so much those speaking like the terrorist, but rather those opposing his rhetoric (see Eide et al, 2013).…”

Recuperating whiteness in the injured nation: Norwegian identity in the response to 22 July

“…This is followed by an analysis of 'goodness' as central to Norwegian articulations of whiteness and national identity, and the ways in which this was both disrupted and rearticulated in the coverage of 22 July. I then move on to examine 'freedom of speech', which this and other research identify as a central topic in media coverage in the weeks after 22 July (Eide, Kjølstad, & Naper, 2013). Here, I argue that the focus on freedom of speech in the response to the terror attacks functioned as a reclamation of whiteness and the homeliness of the nation.…”