126 ANNUAL REPORT 2014 H. MINISTRY OF CULTURE The following statements on cases concluded in 2014 have been published: 2014-12. FREEDOM OF SPEECH FOR THE DANISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION (DR) EMPLOYEES In May 2013, a programme presenter at the Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR) wrote a feature article in a daily newspaper in which he expressed his personal and strong dislike of religion. At the end of May 2013, the programme presenter was summoned to a disciplinary interview with his immediate superior. At the meeting he was given a disciplinary reprimand and also told to get permission from his immediate superior if he in future wanted to express his personal opinions in the public domain. DR’s reaction to the programme presenter’s article was covered by the press in October 2013, and the Ombudsman decided to take up the case on his own initiative. In November 2013 DR withdrew the imposed and unconstitutional censorship. Instead, DR composed a new management response to the programme presenter which said that he had to expect that it might be necessary to reallocate him if he made any similar expressions in future. In his case report, the Ombudsman approved DR’s guidelines for the private statements of employees. At the same time, the Ombudsman found that DR’s handling of the actual case was clearly outside those guidelines and that it was cause for severe criticism that DR had, among other things, applied a censorship measure in breach of section 77 of the Danish Constitutional Act. The Ombudsman also stated that it was difficult to understand that DR’s administrative procedures had made such mistakes possible. As the new management response from November 2013 did not contain any specific explanation as to why the feature article was incompatible with the function as programme presenter, the Ombudsman recommended that DR reconsider the new management response.