The film covers the controversy that surrounded black metal musician Varg Vikernes in the early 1990s, who not only has been tied to a series of church arsons in Norway, but received widespread media attention for the murder of Mayhem band member Øystein "Euronymous" Aarseth.
According to Satan rir media, two (unnamed) trainee journalists had approached the Bergens Tidende (BT), a major Norwegian newspaper, with a story they had done with Vikernes.
This story mentioned the torching of churches and a murder which attracted the interest of Finn Bjørn Tønder, a crime journalist.
However, Vikernes was convinced that the journalist gave information to the police and misrepresented his words in the published article.
The documentary also shows the development of the early Norwegian black metal scene, the inspiration for it, prevailing thoughts and attitudes and ultimately how the Norwegian media contributed to making the scene known worldwide by hyping the Satanist angle and thus inspiring copycat arsons.