Brilliant Borgen shows how news media shapes events
The fictional Borgen newsroom is complex and authentic, says Rufus Olins, CEO, Newsworks. The interdependency between the senior politicians, the spin doctors and the media is expertly drawn without resorting to cartoon characters or cliché – indeed, Borgen shows how news media can shape the national conversation and the outcome of events.
“Where is the British Borgen?” asked Alastair Campbell last weekend. Surely there is a gap in the market for a riveting television drama series exploring the symbiotic relationship between politics and the media?
Katrine Fonsmark, the star journalist on the Danish import, is consistently troubled by her twin desire to get the scoop and to do the right thing. Her conscience saw her resign from her job on the Express together with her alcoholic political editor Hanne Holm.
Now she has moved from newspapers to television, our winsome heroine is battling with the same issues – what is the real story and how do you tell it? She has even tried and rejected spin doctoring for The Liberals, a marginalised party seeking centre stage in Copenhagen politics. Sound familiar?
Much of the show’s appeal centres on blurred lines between public service and personal ambition. Episode Five opened last Saturday (19 January) with a wonderful epigraph from the philosopher Bertrand Russell: “Much that passes as idealism is disguised love of power.”
There are those that wonder about the accuracy of the portrayal and in particular the staffing levels of Danish newsrooms. The Times columnist David Aaronovich tweeted: “#Borgen night tonight – two hours in a country that only has four journalists. Perfect.”
What the newsroom loses in quantity it makes up for in complexity and authenticity. The interdependency between the senior politicians, the spin doctors and the media is expertly drawn without resorting to cartoon characters or cliché. Borgen shows how news media can shape the national conversation and the outcome of events.
Sometimes the media can shed light in dark corners. Other times it can be used unwittingly as part of a score settling exercise. The motivations of its flawed lead characters are changing and ambiguous.
In an effort to bring the Green Party into line and support her compromised environmental bill, Brigitte Nyborg, Prime Minister, allows her media adviser to leak a damaging story about the Green’s leader Amir and his gas-guzzling car. Once the story is running she loses control and, to Brigitte’s horror, Amir resigns from politics altogether.
With the exception of John Simm in State of Play, the portrayal of journalists in contemporary British drama tends to be satirical as in The Thick of It or comedic as in the last big series Drop the Dead Donkey, which highlighted the ongoing battles between the staff of GlobeLink, led by the nervous wreck, hypochrondriacal editor George Dent. It was popular, running for eight years until 1998, ancient history in media terms.
Digital and social media barely figured then as in the output of most newspaper newsrooms. And even the excellent Borgen downplays the impact of Twitter, tablets and smartphones, though we do see videos and stories breaking on the website at The Express.
We all know now that news is reported 24/7, available to all at the click of a button. The popularity of smartphones and tablets has, in particular, allowed all of us to be tuned in and constantly engaged. A recent YouGov survey, commissioned by Newsworks, found that 12.2 million people now own a tablet in the UK, which is almost 30% of adults who have online access.
And that number is expected to keep rising with a further 7% of people questioned saying they plan to buy a tablet by March. Three out of four adults are expected to be using smartphones by the end of the year.
It may be a while before a newspaper plays a leading role in a Borgen-style political drama series, reflecting its role in contemporary British life. But do look out for Kentish Gazette’s newsroom which features as one of the locations in Southcliffe, a four part Channel 4 drama starring Rory Kinnear and Edie Marsan.
It tells the story of a community devastated by a spate of shootings, viewed from the perspective of a journalist returning to the town of his childhood. It will be fascinating to see how his trade is depicted.