Crime reporter has an alleged affair with terror suspect

TV2 Crime reporter Karianne Solbrække was today exposed as the woman who allegedly had an affair with Arfan Qadeer Bhatti, who faces terror charges for the synagogue shootings in Oslo. TV2 did not want to release the reporters' name, but after names appeared on several web sites, Finansavisen finally let the name drop today.

Solbrække, who has been with TV2 since 2000, is an experienced journalist, covering, among other things, last year's robbery of Norsk Kontantservice in Stavanger. While Solbrække is not charged with anything (except maybe poor judgment in her selection of partners), releasing her name was still the right thing to do. TV2 rarely holds back names in other cases, so why should their own receive special treatment? And, as Solbrække is such an experienced and exposed reporter, the fact that she might have had an affair with a terror suspect is of public interest. The public should not have to worry about the objectivity of well-known reporters. I just hope that we are spared similar revelations in the future, lest the media lose its' credibility alltogether.

I post this after reading Knut Stian Olsen's request that bloggers should spread the Solbrække's name, and his reasons why we should do so.