Written by: Elaine Lai Uen Ling & Johannes Hagelsø
Former Finance Minister Bjarne Corydon’s appointment as DR’s new Director-General in August received mixed reactions. Experts said Corydon could safeguard DR’s public news role, but concerns linger over political influence.
Corydon served as former Minister of Finance for The Social Democrats from 2011 to 2015. He was also CEO and Editor-in-Chief of Dagbladet Børsen, a Danish business newspaper.
Søren Schultz Jørgensen, Associate Professor at Danish School of Media and Journalism, said that Corydon is a great fit for the job.
“I don’t think the appointment of Bjarne Corydon in any way increases political interference or political control. Quite the contrary, because he’s a strong man and he has his networks around the government and all political agents across the board in Danish society,” he said.
Public service media in Denmark have long been criticised by the liberal parties. As Denmark’s oldest and largest electronic media enterprise, some urged DR to be privatised.
Joachim B. Olsen, a former centre-right politician expressed his opinion about the appointment on X(formerly known as Twitter), calling it undemocratic:
Meanwhile, Jørgensen said from the private conversations he had with Corydon, he believes privatisation of DR or previous political influence won’t be brought to the table under Corydon’s leadership.
“He’s quite aware of the fact that if we privatised DR, or if we just thought that the liberal democracy and our public could depend on private media corporations, we would be lying to ourselves,” he explained.