Digi.no - 10 Stories

1) Hevder de har patent på PC-batterier (Einar Ryvarden) 8 March 2007
http://www.digi.no/php/art.php?id=372401

In this story the Norwegian journalist writes: "For eksempel ble amerikanske Rim som lager Blackberry-mobilene presset til å betale flere hundre millioner dollar til en helt ukjent aktør." First, the inventors of Blackberry are Canadian. It's a Canadian company based in the Canadian city of Waterloo, in the Canadian province of Ontario, in Canada. Second, the amount quoted is not correct: "flere hundre million dollar". How is it that the wrong country and the wrong nationality is used to identify this Canadian product and company? In asking the Norwegian journalist if he could provide his source that identifies Canada's RIM as American, he replied: "We use Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Reuters..." In checking these sources, none identify RIM as being American. In pointing this out to the journalist and asking why he identified the Canadian company as American, a reply has not been received after six different attempts to provide his source of information. Why would a Norwegian journalist identify a Canadian company as American, and say his source of information (Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Reuters) stated it, yet when verified it does not? Why do so many Norwegian journalists guess or assume Blackberry is American?
2) Blackberry-problem bremset hele USA i går (By Einar Ryvarden) 19 April 2007

http://www.digi.no/php/art.php?id=377429

In this story there are two mistakes. First, the Norwegian journalist writes the blackout took place in the USA, that is not correct. It took place in all of North America as stated in the Reuters story. So the problem would have affected all North America users, not just users in the USA. The problem that caused the blackout took place at RIM's headquaters in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, not even in the USA. Naturally because the problem took place in Canada, this would affect Canadian users as well. Second, the Norwegian journalist writes that Blackberry has 8 million users in the USA, that is not correct. The Norwegian journalist writes: "Åtte millioner Blackberry-eier over hele USA". The Reuters story does not mention 8 million users are in the USA, this has been changed by the journalist to say the USA. The Reuters story states that Blackberry has 8 million users world-wide. In this story these two Reuters comments are not reported correctly in the Norwegian story. How does the details of a Reuters story get changed to look just American in this Norwegian story? One of the main problems of many Norwegian journalists is the sloppy and lazy habits when covering Canada, Canadians, and Canadian stories.
3) Vil bli rik på Blackberry i Norge (Ann Kristin Bentzen Ernes) 26 April 2007

http://www.digi.no/bedriftsteknologi/vil+bli+rik+på+blackberry+i+norge/art378513.html

This story is an excellent example of how even one of Canada's most famous and successful companies does not receive the proper credit it deserves by many in the Norwegian press. In fact, this is an excellent example of how any references to this company being Canadian or the Canadian sales of Blackberry is not worth mentioning, with the bulk of the story made to look just American. For example, one part of the story states: "Blackberry har lenge ledet an i en rekke av de store internasjonale markedene. Ved å levere sikker e-post-teknologi til mobil har Blackberry sikret seg 6,5 millioner brukere i USA, Sør-Amerika, Asia og Europa. " What about Canada, the country it comes from and started in?? The journalist takes the time to mention the sales in the USA, South America, Asia, and Europe, but not even in the company's homeland - Canada. Not once in the entire story is this Canadian company or the Canadian Blackberry product mentioned as being Canadian or from Canada. Not once is Canada mention in the information regarding the 6.5 million sales, even though Blackberry comes from Canada and was the first country Blackberry was sold in. All the mentions are of the success of Blackberry in the USA, and now the growth in Norway. From any Norwegian reading this story one would think that Blackberry is American, and the success of the sales in the USA are the only thing important to Norwegians. The sad reality for Canadians and Canada by much of the Norwegian media is even when it is Canada content it is more likely this will never be mentioned in many Norwegian press stories about Canada. Of course it's great the product is successful outside of Canada, but why would Canada not receive at least a mention of its home country? If it was a USA, Australian or British company or product the chances are much higher that would be mentioned. Why does Canada and Canadian stories receive so often receive such discriminatory treatment in the Norwegian press? Is it so difficult for many Norwegian journalists to conceive that other countries in North America (like Mexico and Canada) can make and sell products around the world, and not just the USA? Is it not possible for the Norwegian press to write a story about Canada or Canadians without trying to make us look American or always in comparison to the USA? If Norwegians don't like the constant references to being Swedish or German, then why would should Canadians accept the same treatment from the Norwegian press? In the story above, the journalist didn't even know the company was Canadian and either just assumed or guessed it was American. Is this professional journalism? If he knew it was Canadian why would have written Canadian RIM was American? This is like a Canadian journalist writing Norway's Statoil or Telenor is from Sweden or Germany. Shouldn't journalists verify their facts before the go to print?
4) Telenor sponser Outlook på mobilen (By Einar Ryvarden) 21 February 2006http://www.digi.no/php/art.php?id=292536

In this story the Norwegian journalist incorrectly identifies Canada's Blackberry as American: He writes: "Blant annet er HP klar med den svært avanserte smartmobilen iPaq hw6900 som ser ut som de amerikanske Blackberry-enhetene der man kan taste med to tomler. HW6900 har WLAN, men mangler 3G." That is wrong. He has either guessed or assumed it is American, because if he knew it was Canadian then why would he write it is American? The Canadian inventors of the Blackberry - Research in Motion is headquartered in the Canadian city of Waterloo, in the Canadian province of Waterloo, in Canada. Many Norwegians are now using Canadian Blackberries, yet many in the Norwegian media still seem to think the product comes from the the USA.
5) Brenner for sine nettstudenter (Ann Kristin Bentzen Ernes) 5 September 2008

http://www.digi.no/php/art.php?id=785283In this story the Norwegian journalist writes about the Canadian Centre for Distance Education at the Canadian Athabasca University. In the story she writes: "...er tilknyttet Center for Distance Education ved Athabasca University i Canada." This is wrong; it is spelt: "Centre for Distance Education", not Center as spelt in the story. The Canadian spelling is centre not the American spelling center. The Canadian university's website confirms this spelling at: http://cde.athabascau.ca/. This is like a Canadian journalist using Swedish spellings for Norwegian institutions. Would that be acceptable to to Norwegians? The story was corrected.
6) iPhone er nå større enn Sony Ericsson (By Marius Jørgenrud) 22 October 2008

http://www.digi.no/php/art.php?id=791319

In this story the Norwegian journalist writes "Tallene viser dessuten at Apple har gått forbi den amerikanske erkerivalen Research in Motion, som i siste kvartal solgte 6,1 millioner enheter av merket Blackberry." This is a mistake. The Canadian company Research in Motion (RIM) is from Ontario, in Canada, and is not American.
7) Nokia forsinket med flere mobiler (Author unknown) 4 April 2006
http://www.digi.no/php/art.php?id=298622
In this story the Norwegian journalist writes: "...som amerikanske Blackberry RIM-eiere har hatt i flere år. Nokia skulle ha lansert E61 og musikkmobilen N91, men har måttet utsette lanseringen for å gjøre mer testing, forteller selskapet i en pressemelding." This is not correct. Blackberry is a Canadian, not American as the journalist writes. To be correct the story should say: "kanadiske Blackberry." Why give the Americans credit for a Canadian telephone?
8) Siemens lanserer ny supertelefon (Einar Ryvarden) 2 August 2004
http://www.digi.no/php/art.php?id=107343
In this story the Norwegian journalist writes: "Siemens lanserte i dag en ny supermobil med det amerikanske BlackBerry-systemet." This is not correct. Blackberry is a Canadian telephone from the Canadian province of Ontario in Canada. After notifying the journalist he changes to the story to: "Siemens lanserte i dag en ny supermobil med BlackBerry-systemet." This story is an excellent example of how if it's American it's worth mentioning, but why when the error is pointed about and in fact Blackberry is correctly identified as Canadian it is not worth mentioning Canadian in the correction? It seems many Norwegian journalists have a definite double standard in giving credit to Canada, Canadians, and Canadian culture in many of their stories. It seems it is easier for Norwegian journalists to assume or guess and give the Americans credit for what is Canadian. In comparison, this would be like Canadian journalists constantly giving Germany or Sweden credit for what is Norwegian. Is it so hard for some Norwegians to recognise that not everything from this side of the Atlantic is from the USA?
9) Nokia forsinket med flere mobiler (Author unknown) 4 April 2006
http://www.digi.no/php/art.php?id=298622
In this story Digi writes: "amerikanske Blackberry RIM-eiere har hatt i flere år." This is not correct. Blackberry is Canadian, not American. A correction has never been made.
10) Fly-bredbånd tar av i år (Harald Brombach) 5 July, 2010
http://www.digi.no/846331/fly-bredbaand-tar-av-i-aar
In this story the Norwegian writer states: ""Aircell er for tiden den ledende leverandøren av bredbåndstjenester for fly. Selskapet leverer tjenester til mer enn 950 amerikanske fly som eies av blant annet Air Canada, Air Tran, Alaska Airways, American Airlines, Continental Airways, Delta Airways, Frontier Airways, United Airlines, US Airways og Virgin America. En oversikt over priser og hvor mange klargjorte fly de enkelte selskapene hadde ved utgangen av april, finnes her." Air Canada is not an American airline, it's nationality is Canadian and comes from Canada, not from the USA. The story was later corrected.