is a daily newspaper published in

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. The former party organ 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 ...

, the ties loosened over time from 1975 to 1999. It has borne several names, and was called ''Arbeiderbladet'' from 1923 to 1997. Eirik Hoff Lysholm is editor-in-chief. The newspaper depends on economic support from the Norwegian Government.

History

was established by Christian Holtermann Knudsen in 1884 under the name ''Vort Arbeide'' ('Our Work' in archaic Riksmål), and was affiliated with the trade union center ''Fagforeningernes Centralkomité''. Holtermann Knudsen also had to establish his own

printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a printing, print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in whi ...

since the existing printing presses did not want to be affiliated with a labourers’ newspaper. The fledgling project was marred by economic problems, and the burden of writing, editing, and printing lay chiefly on Knudsen. In 1885 the newly founded association ''Socialdemokratisk Forening'' formally took over the newspaper. The name was changed from ''Vort Arbeide'' to ''Social-Demokraten'' ('The Social Democrat') in 1886. The next year, the Norwegian Labour Party was founded, and ''Social-Demokraten'' became its official party organ. Carl Jeppesen took over as editor-in-chief. In 1894 the newspaper was published on a daily basis, and in 1904 the financial balance was positive. Around 1920 there were tensions in the Labour Party. The radical wing spearheaded by Martin Tranmæl and Kyrre Grepp had assumed control over the party at the 1918 national convention. The party aligned itself with the

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 ...

. As a result, a moderate wing broke out in 1921 to form the Social Democratic Labour Party. Nonetheless, ''Social-Demokraten'' remained affiliated with the Labour Party, as Martin Tranmæl assumed the editorship in 1921. In 1923, the same year as the Labour Party renounced the Comintern and the communist wing broke away, ''Social-Demokraten'' changed its name to ''Arbeiderbladet'' (lit. 'The Worker Paper') in 1923. The factionalism was contrary to the goal of Christian Holtermann Knudsen, who wanted to unite the fledgling labour movement. In 1940, upon the German invasion and subsequent occupation of Norway, ''Arbeiderbladet'' was stopped by the Nazi authorities. The only legal party in Norway during the occupation,

Nasjonal Samling The Nasjonal Samling (, NS; ) was a Norway, Norwegian far-right politics, far-right political party active from 1933 to 1945. It was the only legal party of Norway from 1942 to 1945. It was founded by former minister of defence Vidkun Quisling a ...

, evicted ''Arbeiderbladet'' from its premises, using it as headquarters for its party organ '' Fritt Folk''. ''Arbeiderbladet'''s printing press was also utilized by ''Fritt Folk''. Only in 1945, upon the liberation of Norway, did ''Arbeiderbladet'' resume publication. Olav Larssen, imprisoned during the occupation, was promoted from news editor as he succeeded Martin Tranmæl as editor-in-chief in 1949. At that time, the editor-in-chief was elected by the national convention of the Labour Party, and the editor-in-chief was also an ex officio member of the party's central committee. This practice continued with editors-in-chief Reidar Hirsti and Einar Olsen, until abolished in 1975. From this point, the board of directors appointed the editor-in-chief. In 1974, Tor and Trygve Bratteli, aided by Jens Chr. Hauge, forced Hirsti out of his job.Njølstad p.515 ''Arbeiderbladet'' was formally owned by the Labour Party until 1991, when a separate, but affiliated, entity Norsk Arbeiderpresse took over. The labour-inspired name ''Arbeiderbladet'' was changed in 1997, to the neutral ('The Daily Newspaper'). In 1999 a step towards independence was taken, as the newspaper was published by the public company Dagsavisen AS, which is in turn was owned 100% by the foundation Stiftelsen Dagsavisen. As of 2016, this foundation only owns 9% of the shares of Dagsavisen directly, with the remaining 91% of the paper owned by Mentor Medier AS. This company also owns the Christian daily , and is partly owned by Christian groupsMentor Medier AS
/ref> such as Normisjon, Blå Kors and the Norwegian Lutheran Mission. The largest owner is Mushom Invest (10%). Stiftelsen Dagsavisen controls 6% of the shares in Mentor Medier AS. The newspaper depends on economic support from the Norwegian Government.

Publishing

The newspaper changed to tabloid format in 1990, having used the Berliner format since 1976. In 1997 it launched its Internet version, and also started publishing on Sundays. The Sunday edition was discontinued in 2007 due to economic problems. It is widely accepted that would face drastic problems if the distinctively Norwegian press support were to cease. is published six days a week. had a circulation of 28,337 in 2009, making it the fifth largest Oslo-based newspaper, after and . It is also smaller than the regional and local newspapers , , , '' Sunnmørsposten'' and . Its slogan is "Nyheter med mening" ('Meaningful news').

Editors-in-chief

Editors-in-chief of the newspaper: *1884–1886: Christian Holtermann Knudsen *1887–1891: Carl Jeppesen *1892–1893: Christian Holtermann Knudsen *1894–1897: Oscar Nissen *1898–1900: Ludvig Meyer *1900–1903: Anders Buen *1903–1906: Olav Kringen *1906–1912: Carl Jeppesen *1912–1918: Jacob Vidnes *1918–1921: Olaf Scheflo *1921–1940: Martin Tranmæl *1940–1945: ''stopped'' *1945–1949: Martin Tranmæl *1949–1963: Olav Larssen *1963–1974: Reidar Hirsti *1974–1975: Einar Olsen *1975–1991: Per Brunvand *1991–1994: Arvid Jacobsen *1995–2000: Steinar Hansson *2001–2004: Hilde Haugsgjerd *2005–2009: Carsten Bleness *2009-2013: Arne Strand (At the time Strand left the position, the newspaper had twoKaia Storvik slutter som sjefredaktør i Dagsavisen
/ref> editors in chief) *2010-2014: Kaia Storvik (She held the position alone since 2013.) *2014- : Eirik Hoff Lysholm

Circulation

Source after 1950: The Norwegian Media Businesses' Association, Mediebedriftenes Landsforening. * 1884: 300 * 1892: 1200 * 1894: 3000 * 1904: 6000 * 1912: 15000 * 1914: 23000 * 1918: 40000 * 1921: 85000 * 1923: 35000 * 1927: 27000 * 1930: 34000 * 1934: 48000 * 1937: 59359 * 1938: 58735 * 1939: 58681 * --- * 1945: 80000 * 1947: 56877 * 1950: 62845 * 1951: 64228 * 1952: 65635 * 1953: 64524 * 1954: 65159 * 1955: 65201 * 1956: 70087 * 1957: 71299 * 1958: 68112 * 1959: 66271 * 1960: 67494 * 1961: 67684 * 1962: 67894 * 1963: 69182 * 1964: 67254 * 1965: 68278 * 1966: 67675 * 1967: 70714 * 1968: 71267 * 1969: 74091 * 1970: 73217 * 1971: 75372 * 1972: 69159 * 1973: 64155 * 1974: 61931 * 1975: 62211 * 1976: 60380 * 1977: 60152 * 1978: 60091 * 1979: 59211 * 1980: 55125 * 1981: 52596 * 1982: 52000 * 1983: 52500 * 1984: 56000 * 1985: 57000 * 1986: 58000 * 1987: 60737 * 1988: 57015 * 1989: 55707 * 1990: 51786 * 1991: 47016 * 1992: 44046 * 1993: 43528 * 1994: 42848 * 1995: 42870 * 1996: 42139 * 1997: 40771 * 1998: 43792 * 1999: 40349 * 2000: 38239 * 2001: 35413 * 2002: 33816 * 2003: 32706 * 2004: 32920 * 2005: 33830 * 2006: 32380 * 2007: 31403 * 2008: 29041 * 2009: 28337 * 2014: 21945 * 2015: 20497

References

External links