- and other ethical problems in cultural journalism
Perfide portraits is a book about cultural journalism that goes to the limit - and sometimes beyond. Morten Sabroe wrote that a pig's heart was beating in the chest of Ekstra Bladet's editor-in-chief, Sven Ove Gade. Gade would not accept that. He sued Sabroe in the District Court, which sentenced him to 8 daily fines of DKK 400 each. John Chr. Jørgensen talks about this and several other perfidious portraits - and about a string of lawsuits and press council cases that have been brought against reviewers. Only once has a Danish author won over his critics in the Supreme Court. That victory had nearly ruined him. Outside the legal system, there used to be duels. Now they have been replaced by threats, abuse of power and suicide in the form of online postings. The Internet offers tempting opportunities for weak souls who quote, plagiarize and construct. Fabricated interviews with sports stars who have long since given up denying false stories, and war reports written at a bar counter near the front. However, there is some ethical regulation in the form of disclosures, firings and public shaming. John Chr. Jørgensen is the first to uncover the ethics behind cultural journalism in this book, which abounds with examples of scandals in the present and past.
