The Irish media investor who's based in London finally met the Norwegian journalists who've been hounding him for weeks. He met with Orkla Media employee representatives on Saturday and made efforts to quell their fears that he'll dictate massive cost-cutting that could eliminate their jobs. Then he faced a generally hostile press corps, and addressed their fears as well.
Montgomery had, after all, brought out the worst of the fremmedfrykt (fear of foreigners) that often surfaces among Norwegians. Montgomery's and Mecom's plan to take over Orkla Media, which owns around 30 newspapers in Norway and several outside the country, set off a string of negative editorials in papers around the country, along with harsh commentaries from current and former politicians firmly opposed to the takeover.
They accused industrial concern Orkla of selling out, even of endangering Norway's own special cultural, economic and political systems by turning over such a large media group to a non-Norwegian owner. One former prime minister went so far as to call the pending sale "immoral."
Few seemed to take note of the irony, or even hypocrisy, in their claims. They've never protested so loudly when Norway's own media firms like Orkla itself or Schibsted (which owns Aftenposten) themselves have made media investments overseas. It's okay, it seems, for Norwegian firms to buy up papers in Sweden or Poland, for example, but definitely not okay for foreigners to buy up papers in Norway.
Nor did the politicians seem to note that their own laws restricted Norwegian media players' ability to take over Orkla Media. The laws are aimed at promoting varied ownership of media, and limiting concentration, making it hard for Schibsted, for example, to expand its empire within the country.
Montgomery and new Orkla chairman Stein Erik Hagen seemed undaunted by the public outcry, and continued to hash out a NOK 7 billion deal for Orkla Media that also is expected to leave parent Orkla with a 15 percent stake in Mecom. A letter of intent is due in mid-July.
Meanwhile, cooler heads noted in some weekend papers that Montgomery played a key role in rescuing the well-regarded British paper "The Independent," and shouldn't only be known for his involvement with London's racier tabloids. Montgomery will demand 15 percent profit margins, but Norwegian media firms like Schibsted and Orkla itself also put high profit demands on their properties.
"Why is everyone so sure that Mecom will be a worse owner than a Norwegian?" wondered commentator and TV2 boss Kåre Valebrokk in a column in Aftenposten on Sunday. Montgomery himself offered promises that he won't be, saying that none of Orkla Media's papers will be shut down, that they'll continue to be locally run and editorially independently.
Montgomery noted that he's a fan of newspapers in an era when many media investors seem keen to write them off. And he said he'll be glad to visit Orkla papers from Østlandet in the southeast to Romsdal further north, "if I'm invited."
