Dagbladet’s Article Series “The Middle East Money”: Raising International Attention

The case “Sent ten mysterious men to Norway” and its follow-up cases, has received a lot of national and international attention during the last week. During the period, the cases have received close to one million page views. The cases are part of Dagbladet’s “The Middle East Money” article series.

Several international outlets such as The Independent, The Telegraph, Yahoo News, Forbes, and several major Turkish and Saudi media and news agencies such as Anadolu Agency and Albawaba have covered the cases.

He sent ten mysterious men to Norway

– Little by little we realized that some of the topics we are working on in the “Middle East Money” project could also be of interest outside of Norway. Therefore, we chose to translate some of the cases into English and publish them together with the Norwegian version. We rely as much on advice as on other feedback, and the fact that cases have been easily picked up in other countries has provided us with a completely different supply of advice and contacts than if we had not translated the cases. We really hope you can help us make even more cases on this topic, says journalist John Rasmussen at Dagbladet.

He says the case area is a difficult issue to tackle. Many sources do not want to speak to the serious Dagbladet journalists or fear for their own safety.

– We have been through many rounds on those things, but also on the text, the angles, the use of the fonts and the documentation that we have carefully reviewed before publishing. And it seems that readers have taken an interest in the project, both in Norway and abroad, Rasmussen says.

Threatened by cyberbullying

Complex

Journalists from Dagbladet’s investigative group have been working on the extensive set of cases for nearly a year. The articles are part of the “Middle East Money” complex, which Dagbladet has published since late October. Many of the cases have attracted national attention, and to some extent in the Nordic countries, but the cases involving Saudi Arabia’s operations on Norwegian soil have had a much broader scope.

– We see, among other things, that there is enormous interest in the cases of Turkey, which is also the country where the Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi was liquidated at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The security guards were also central in that case, and therefore it is not that difficult to understand that the Saudi request for diplomatic status for ten security people in Norway in the same time frame also attracts attention there.

– As journalists, we really want as many people as possible to read what we discover and write, and in that way it is an added advantage that so many people outside our field of national interest are also interested in what we have spent a long time on and effort. dig, says Rasmussen.

– Saudi Arabia scares an artist in Bergen.

To the tanker

His boss, news editor Frode Hansen, is proud.

– Dagbladet is one of the most winning media houses in investigative journalism in recent years. We work very hard to be the best in breaking news, but we also invest heavily in self-journalism, says Hansen.

– The disclosures about Saudi Arabia’s activities are a matter the excavation group has been working on for a long time. The cases have already received national and international attention and reactions. This is an area where it is not easy to work, especially as our journalists have encountered silence from the Saudi authorities, he says.

Ask Joe Biden for help

Factory price

Dagbladet still stands out with his digging journalism. Gravegruppa’s project “Gliden’s Prize”, on the damage to health that fluoride lubrication for skis has caused not only to professional ski lubricators, but also to amateurs and parents who lubricate skis for their children, is the series of Media-Norway’s most winning cases in 2020, with the Grand Journalist Award, SKUP diploma and national sports coverage on the list of merits.

Since 2010, Dagbladet has raised price after price for its excavation journalism, and has been awarded the SKUP award, SKUP diplomas, SKUP data awards, Grand Journalist Award, International Journalist Award and other merits each year. .