Lytring gets Christmas time on NRK P2: Six debates for curious ears
Lytring -editor Anki Gerhardsen and Nordland Research Institute Director André Wallann Larsen. Photo: Lise Fagerbakk / Nord University.
Romjula will be wiser this year. NRK P2 sets Lytring on the broadcast schedule almost every day until January is well underway.
NRK P2 has decided to fill the Christmas season with Lytring . In a series called Debates from Lytring The channel offers six conversations where Researchers and social debaters meet for quiet reflection and fresh disagreement. The series airs almost daily from December 25th and right into the new year.
Lytring owned by Nord University and Nordland Research Institute , and has emerged as a clear arena for knowledge-based social debate since 2015. For editor Anki Gerhardsen, the P2 initiative feels both uplifting and a bit unreal.
– It makes me happy and proud, and I am very excited about how it will be received by the audience. This is broadcast in prime debate time. When people usually turn on Dagsnytt 18, they now get Lytring instead. I am very happy that we are being promoted in this way, she says, and is supported by director André Wallann Larsen in Nordland Research Institute .
– For Nordland Research Institute is Lytring one of our most important contributions to making research relevant and accessible to everyone. The fact that NRK is now creating a Christmas marathon of the conversations shows the power of the format to bring people together for engaged and knowledge-based social debate. Here, all you have to do is tune in to the radio during the Christmas period, says Wallann Larsen
Six Space Christmas Debates
The sending plan looks like this:
Thursday, Christmas Day at 6 p.m.: How cool is it to get old?
Friday, Boxing Day at 6 p.m.: The world will never be the same
Saturday 27.12. 1 pm: School for the children or the village?
Sunday, December 28th at 4 pm: Who takes their own life?
Monday, December 29th at 6 pm: Do we really need economists?
Friday, January 2nd at 3pm: Thank you for not sharing!
The debates vary in topic, but share one core: time to think aloud together.
– Each debate lasts a full hour. It allows for both calm, depth and engagement. The goal is for listeners to leave the debate wiser than when they arrived. Maybe, in the middle of the ribs and rice cream, people will discover that they learned something that will actually stay with them going forward, says Gerhardsen.
A growing audience
Lytring organizes around 15 physical debates a year in Bodø, Levanger, Mo i Rana and Svolvær. They are also streamed live and made available afterwards. In 2025, more than 1,500 people attended in person, in addition to several thousand digital listeners.
– This year we have registered over five thousand digital listeners. And this spring, when Lytring -the debates were broadcast on NRK, 640,000 people followed. It shows that there is an appetite for this type of communication, she says.
The joy of democracy in practice
Gerhardsen has followed Lytring since the beginning, and describes the editorial work as a privilege.
– The idea came from Ingrid Bay-Larsen, Frode Bjørgo and Ragnhild Holmen Waldahl in Nordland Research Institute I was in the audience at the very first debate and felt that this hit me right in the heart. Lytring is about strengthening democracy. Open disagreement is not a nuisance; it is a sign of health. The biggest threat is that we become too similar.
She also points out that good research can withstand criticism, and that the public needs to hear professionals grapple with issues that matter.
“When research conclusions are tested in full transparency, the quality increases. It also prevents people from starting to speculate in secret,” she says.
A highlight and a reminder
Among many great experiences over ten years with Lytring , she highlights a debate about ME, entitled "Can one imagine being healthy?".
– The hall was full, and nearly three thousand followed us digitally. The topic is demanding, but we managed to create a factual and thorough debate in which several new voices emerged. That made me both proud and relieved.
For Gerhardsen, pride also lies in the meetings with the audience.
– I am touched when people I have never met say: ' Lytring 'Yes. I'm listening to that.' Then I feel that all the work is actually hitting the mark.
She feels that the arena now has a clear national position, and that the collaboration with NRK has been crucial for that promise.
– I am just as happy when people speak up afterwards, write reader contributions or challenge us. It shows that our debates ignite something, and that social engagement is growing among ordinary people, she says.
Lytring further
The spring program for 2026 is already ready, and all topics and dates are now available on lytring . Everything from trust in research to women's participation in society is being debated. Lytring asks, among other things: "Don't women want to work?", where the question is based on studies that, according to Gerhardsen, should concern everyone.
– It will be a broad and courageous program. I hope we reach even more people. And I really hope more academics connect as an audience. They have a lot to gain from supporting colleagues who stand up, says Gerhardsen.
She also highlights the support that makes Lytring possible.
– We could not have done it without the contributions from the Fritt Ord Foundation, Samfunnsløftet in SpareBank 1 Nord-Norge and Nordland County Municipality. It all means that they see the value of this as a democracy-preserving measure, says Lytring -the editor.
Gerhardsen smiles when asked what she hopes the Christmas listeners will be left with.
– That they feel a little wiser. And maybe a little more curious. That's a pretty nice Christmas present, actually.
