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INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST TO BE EPAW'S SPOKESMAN IN SCANDINAVIA

Press release
from the European Platform Against Windfarms (EPAW)
www.epaw.org

Our organisation, which regroups 358 member-associations, federations and other groups from 19 European countries, has the pleasure of announcing the nomination of Peter Skeel Hjorth as its spokesman for Scandinavia (Denmark, Norway and Sweden) plus Finland and the Baltic countries (Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia).


He will represent EPAW in these countries, sending or relaying press releases, and establishing a dialogue with governments, the media, and the public in general. He will further act as coordinator of EPAW members in that region of Europe.

Following is a short CV of Peter Skeel Hjorth; but before, here is what Peter has to say about the ugly side of wind farm development in Sweden:
http://www.epaw.org/index.php?lang=en

Born 7th November 1943 in Copenhagen.

Trained as a journalist 1962-66. Was trainee journalist the last two years at a small press bureau in the Danish parliament Folketinget where his first insight into political work was gained.

In 1973 as the first journalist ever he was allowed to join The Copenhagen Fire Brigade as an observer in uniform. The night of 1st September 1973 he happened to experience the century’s most serious hotel fire in Denmark.

Peter Skeel Hjorth followed the specially trained smoke helmeted firemen into the burning Hotel Hafnia in the heart of Copenhagen. 35 hotel guests lost their lives, and around 90 people were rescued under extremely dramatic circumstances – some in the very last moment.

These experiences became of great importance to Peter Skeel Hjorth’s journalistic work. From 1975 till 1990 he edited in his free time a professional journal for fire fighters.

In 1974 he was employed to develop the Danish nurses’ professional journal into a modern periodical. During the next 30 years as the editor-in-chief he created a prize winning periodical that in press circles enjoyed huge recognition for, among other things, its investigative journalism.

For a period of time Peter Skeel Hjorth was chairman of the Danish Society for Investigative Journalism FUJ.

During Peter Skeel Hjorth’s time as chief editor approximately 75.000 copies of the journal Sygeplejersken (The Nurse) were published weekly. Thus it was one of Europe’s biggest periodical for nurses. The magazine’s publisher was the Danish Nurses Organisation that with an organisation percentage of 98 was one of Europe’s strongest and most influential both nationally and internationally.

In 1983 Peter Skeel Hjorth took the initiative in a thorough journalistic investigation of the Danish ambulance service. That resulted in a comprehensive mapping out of the ambulance services and pre-hospital care organisations with or without nurses all over Europe with special focus on the French SAMU – Service d’Aide Medicale Urgence – where through the years he was on numerous study visits.

Peter Skeel Hjorth’s journalistic work describing the development of the pre-hospital arrangements resulted in him being requested by the chairman of the Health Committee of the Danish parliament to arrange a study visit to SAMU in France. The study visit took place 5th-9th March 2000.

Peter Skeel Hjorth left Sygeplejersken in 2004. The last couple of years he has undertaken extensive journalistic research of wind power and from his house in Southern Sweden he is active in two Swedish associations that are trying to protect its members from the encroachment of the wind farm industry.

We are happy to welcome Peter, who will play an active role in our organisation.

He may be reached at: peter@skeelhjorth.dk tel +46 708 166521


EPAW
www.epaw.org

Contact:
Jean-Louis Butré, Chairman of EPAW
3 rue des Eaux - 75016 Paris - France
Telephone: +33 680 99 38 08
contact@epaw.org

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