Challenges to Investment Ethics in the Norwegian Petroleum Fund: a Newspaper Debate

In this article I will describe the main elements of the Norwegian press s moral confrontation with the Government Pension Fund s ethical investment management when it was in an introductory phase in early 2005, with special emphasis on one newspaper, Stavanger Aftenblad. The press criticized the fund s fresh investment profile and intended exclusionary practice before it had really started in earnest. Then I will focus on how the press s unilateral criticism of the fund s investment practice at the time overshadowed a discussion of any defects in the ethical principles for investment. And I will focus on the press s lack of distinguishing between information and sensation. In conclusion I point out that in 2006 the press has abandoned its critical stance from 2005 and has now a tendency to idealize the fund s exclusionary practice and the underlying principles.