The bomb attack in Oslo and the shootings at Utøya, Norway, 2011: Experiences of communication and media management

Acts of terror often entail major challenges for healthcare services. Not just the medical support, but also the authorities’ crisis communication and media management is under pressure. The text summarizes experiences by the results of an observatory study on the bomb attack in Oslo and the shootings at Utøya, Norway, 2011. The report focuses on the communication and media management during the response phase of the bombings and shootings. The main focus is on how the medical and health care services managed during the first hours and the followings days after the events.The preconditions for the work presented (Englund et al, 2012, KAMEDO 97) are that the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare was requested to provide support to the commission that was established in Norway to evaluate the Norwegian society's handling of the incidents of the 22 July,the"22 JulyCommission" (NOU 2012:14). The KAMEDO observer reports study the medical, psychological, organizational and social aspects of disasters.The theme of the book is within the field of Risk management, which is a comparatively new, and most definitely complex, research field, combining knowledge from several other disciplines such as medicine, engineering, economics and psychology, to name a few. Consequently, risk management is important in a variety of subjects and disciplines, clearly illustrated in this festschrift. Professor Ragnar Andersson has played an important roll in not only promoting the importance of risk management and injury prevention, but also developing a deeper understanding of the field through always actively choosing a broad, multi-disciplinary perspective. In other words, he has always chosen “Via Spatiosa” . Or in Swedish, “Den breda vägen” .