Outcry as 'fake' Solskjaer picture used to display lack of leadership

17 Sept 2021 18:12 BST
3 min read

Norwegian television channel TV2 has been criticised after they used a doctored image of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to highlight his supposed lack of leadership at Manchester United.

During the week the Red Devils took on Young Boys in the opening match of their Champions League campaign.

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Things started well as Cristiano Ronaldo opened the scoring relatively early on, but a red card for Aaron Wan-Bissaka completely changed the game as United became more and more pragmatic.

Solskjaer eventually switched to five at the back to soak up the pressure and potentially hold on to the lead, but Young Boys rallied in the second half and eventually won 2-1, with Jesse Lingard giving a helping hand for the winner with a horrendous backpass that was intercepted.

The Norwegian received plenty of criticism for his tactical choices and substitutions afterwards.

On TV2, they showed an image of Ronaldo standing in the managerial area shouting out instructions rather than Solskjaer, who was nowhere to be seen.

The problem was, Solskjaer was actually beside Ronaldo and had actually been edited out of the image.

The reaction

Gunnar Bodahl-Johansen, a press expert, has spoken of how dangerous a precedent this could set.

“Here, the picture is used in a specific context to tell something about Solskjaer. Then it is a gross and unacceptable manipulation,” he is quoted.

“The public can rarely control what journalists do. Journalistic working methods must be trusted by the public. Every time you do such things, you leave a little opening for the audience to think: Does it happen often?

“When this becomes known, it can naturally affect the credibility of TV 2. It makes people think: “Has TV 2 done this before?” Regretting this does not solve that problem.”

TV2 have since apologised for the incident and insisted their intention was not not "mislead" anyone.