''Bergensavisen'' (lit. "the Bergen newspaper"), usually shortened to ''BA'', is the second largest

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

Bergen, Norway Bergen (, ) is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 2025 the population is 294 029 according to Statistics Norway. The municipali ...

. The paper is published in tabloid format. The newspaper's webpage ba.no is Bergen's largest

local newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

webpage. In 2006, ''Bergensavisen'' had a daily circulation of 30,719 on Monday to Saturday, and 29,782 on Sundays. Approximately 108,000 read the paper every day.

Pre-history

''Bergensavisen'' had a predecessor in Arbeidervennen, founded by the Danish trade unionist Sophus Pihl in 1885. When he died in 1888, a group of trade unionists and idealists continued his work. The newspaper ''

Arbeidet ''Arbeidet'' ("The Work") was a Norwegian newspaper, published in Bergen in Hordaland county. History and profile ''Arbeidet'' was started in Bergen as a socialist newspaper on 6 December 1893, by a grouping called . It was the first socialist ...

'', started as a daily in December 1893. They sold their newspaper to Bergens Arbeiderparti, the local affiliation of the

Norwegian Labour Party The Labour Party (; , A or Ap; ), formerly The Norwegian Labour Party (, DNA), is a Social democracy, social democratic List of political parties in Norway, political party in Norway. It is positioned on the centre-left of the political spectru ...

in 1905. However, the Labour Party went through two party splits in the 1920s. As the Labour Party joined

Comintern The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internatio ...

in 1919, a group broke away in 1921 to form the Social Democratic Labour Party. This group founded a new newspaper ''

Bergens Social-Demokrat was a Norwegian newspaper, published in Bergen. It was started on 15 May 1922 as an organ for the Social Democratic Labour Party of Norway The Social Democratic Labour Party of Norway (in Norwegian ''Norges Socialdemokratiske Arbeiderparti'' ...

'' in 1922. The next year, the Labour Party left Comintern. As a result, the pro-Comintern faction broke away to form the Communist Party. In the city of Bergen, the communists controlled the local Labour Party chapter Bergens Arbeiderparti, and its newspaper ''Arbeidet''. When the social democrats had lost the power struggle, the victorious communists changed the journalism of their newspaper from social democracy to communism in 1922, erased the local news and published long political articles, chasing their readers away from the newspaper. The few remaining Labour activists were left without a newspaper. Bergen Labour Party tried to run a newspaper called ''Bergens Arbeiderblad'' formerly, but it only existed from 11 April 1924 till October 1924. In 1927, the Social Democratic Labour Party reconciled with the Labour Party, and the two parties again became one. At the same time, a new newspaper ''Bergens Arbeiderblad'' was founded on the base of ''Bergens Social-Demokrat''. 1927 is considered the official founding year of BA. The seven men commissioned to start the newspaper, also started the new Labour Party of Bergen, called Bergens Forenede Arbeiderparti. Three years later, they had bigger circulation than Arbeidet. Arbeidet closed in 1948.

History

''Bergens Arbeiderblad'' eventually became larger than ''Arbeidet'', and instead started competing with ''

Bergens Tidende is Norway's fifth-largest newspaper, and the country's largest newspaper outside Oslo. is owned by the public company Schibsted ASA. Norwegian owners held a mere 42% of the shares in Schibsted at the end of 2015. History and profile Founded ...

'', which was dominant in the city. ''Bergens Arbeiderblad'' was stopped by the Nazi authorities in February 1941 during the

German occupation of Norway The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany during the Second World War began on 9 April 1940 after Operation Weserübung. Conventional armed resistance to the German invasion ended on 10 June 1940, and Nazi Germany controlled Norway until th ...

, chief editor

Oscar Ihlebæk Oscar Ihlebæk (9 October 1900 – 10 March 1945) was a Norwegian newspaper editor and resistance member. History Ihlebæk was born in Drammen, to a mother from Skoger and a father from Rakkestad. In 1926 he married Fredrikke Wium from Drammen, ...

was sent to a German concentration camp, where he died just after the camp was liberated by the Allied forces in May 1945. It resumed operations after the war. BA added a Sunday edition in August 1990, changed name to ''Bergensavisen'' in August 1992 and started one of the first online newspapers in Norway in January 1996.

References

External links

* * {{Coord, 60, 23, 36.16, N, 5, 19, 22.16, E, type:landmark, display=title 1927 establishments in Norway Amedia Newspapers published in Bergen Daily newspapers published in Norway Norwegian-language newspapers Newspapers established in 1927