Danish can stay on Greenland’s air waves

News will continue to be broadcast in Danish in Greenland, after parliament rejected a bill by the social democratic Siumut party to limit the amount of Danish-language news broadcasts on the national broadcasting station, KNR.

The proposal met with strong opposition from the many Greenlanders who only understand Danish and who rely on the news in Danish as their source of information. There are also many Danes who work temporarily in Greenland who do not understand Greenlandic.

MLA Per Rosing-Petersen, who presented the bill, said the time was ripe to do away with Danish news broadcasts. He said the Faeroe Islands, another member of the Danish Commonwealth, only broadcast local news in Faeroese.

The bill’s supporters said Danish news broadcasts are a relic from Greenland’s colonial past. Eliminating them would encourage both more Greenlanders and Danes living in Greenland to learn Greenlandic.

Rosing-Petersen’s proposal met with opposition both from conservative parties as well as Siumut’s coalition partner, the left-wing Inuit Ataqatigiit Party.

“The proposal is neither realistic nor suitable,” said Kuupik Kleist, one of Greenland’s two members of Denmark’s parliament and a long-time IA member. “The goal must be that the public, regardless of language or skin colour, has access to as much information as possible so they can take part in public debate.”