A popular Norwegian broadcaster has been banned from wearing a tiny cross on air after complaints from some viewers.

The presenter, Siv Kristin Saellmann, wore the cross several times in the past month, but was recently told by regional editor, Anders Sårheim, not to wear the Christian symbol in future, The Local, a Norwegian news website, reports.

Sårheim told the Norwegian newspaper Vårt Land that he was simply following the state broadcaster’s dress code.

“NRK has a clear policy that news anchors should be dressed neutrally, and we encourage them to avoid the use of jewellery with religious and political significance,” he said.

Saellmann acquiesced to the demand to remove her cross, but she said: “What I don’t like is that people out there can just call in and tell my boss what I should and I shouldn’t wear.

“I didn’t wear the cross because I wanted to be provocative.

“I am a Christian, but right now I see the cross everywhere. It’s part of the catwalk.  

“It’s part of fashion. It’s not like only Christians wear the symbol. I didn’t think that people would react.”

Norwegian journalist and commentator Sven Egil Omdahl said the question is not whether it is appropriate to have dress policies and rules, but rather whether they are enforced too strictly in not allowing a newscaster to wear a small cross while on the air.

Banning the cross is like “shooting sparrows with a cannon,” Omdahl commented in a NRK report. “It is over zealous interpretation of the rules.”