Inside the world’s first TV station run for and by people with learning disabilities

TV BRAReporter Emily Ann Riedel has had to learn to contain her effusive personalityIt’s perhaps no surprise that the décor of TV BRA’s new studio is shocking pink.
It’s the favourite colour of two of the station’s reporters, Emily Ann Riedel – who is wearing a pink top when I visit – and Petter Bjørkmo. “I even had pink hair!” Bjørkmo tells me, laughing, before adding that he had to get rid of it “because I am a reporter – reporters have to look decent.”
All the reporters at TV BRA – which means “TV Good” – are disabled or autistic; most have a learning disability.
For an easy English version of this article, click hereEvery week, they put together an hour-long magazine programme covering news, entertainment and sport, which is broadcast on a major Norwegian streaming platform, TV2 play, as well as TV BRA’s own app and website.
'I have inner beauty and outside beauty'The show is presented in simple Norwegian and is slower than mainstream news reports, making it much easier to follow. Between 4,000 and 5,000 people tune in every week.
The station’s 10 reporters are dotted around the country, where they work as local news correspondents.
Riedel, who has Down's Syndrome, lives and works in the seaside city of Stavanger. She has had to learn to contain her effusive personality.
“I have to follow the script and not talk about personal stuff – because here is about the news. When I work here I have to be very professional.”
Although she has been at the station for years, some things are still novel, like the mascara she wears before going on camera, and which she says weighs down her eyelids.
TV BRA Managing Editor Camilla Kvalheim sometimes doubles as the station's make-up artist“I don’t need it because I look beautiful,” Riedel tells me with a smile. “I have inner beauty and outside beauty.”
“Yeah that’s right,” chuckles Camilla Kvalheim, the managing editor of the station – and also, currently, make-up artist. “But in the studio, with heavy lights and everything, you look paler.”
Kvalheim and a small technical crew who are not disabled produce and edit all the reports.
Although Riedel and her colleagues have mild learning impairments – they can mostly speak English well, and travel without support – some things are a challenge.
I watch as the team tries to get to grips with a new autocue system. The presenters frequently have to read a line many times to get a good take.
“Sometimes it can be difficult to say what’s in the cue cards, so we have to do it again and again,” says Kvalheim. She also has to provide on-the-job training for her team, who did not study journalism at university before joining the TV station.