
Marie Heiberg Simonsen (born 1 June 1962) is a Norwegian journalist who since 2003 has been political editor in ''
Dagbladet
''Dagbladet'' (lit.: ''The Daily Magazine'') is one of Norway's largest newspapers and is published in the tabloid format. It has 1,400,000 daily readers on mobile, web and paper. Traditionally ''Dagbladet'' is considered the main liberal newsp ...
''. She has previously worked for ''
Dagens Næringsliv
''Dagens Næringsliv'' (Norwegian for "Today's Business"), commonly known as ''DN'', is a Norwegian newspaper specializing in business news. , it is the third-largest newspaper in Norway. Editor-in-chief is Janne Johannessen, who was appointed i ...
'' and ''
VG''.
Early life, education and career
Simonsen was born in
Bodø
Bodø (; smj, Bådåddjo, sv, Bodö) is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Salten. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Bodø (which is also the capital of Nordland count ...
[Olav Garvik]
Marie Heiberg Simonsen
''Store norske leksikon
The ''Great Norwegian Encyclopedia'' ( no, Store Norske Leksikon, abbreviated ''SNL''), is a Norwegian-language online encyclopedia.
The online encyclopedia is among the most-read Norwegian published sites, with more than two million unique vis ...
''. Retrieved 6 March 2014 and grew up on the
west side
West Side or Westside may refer to:
Places Canada
* West Side, a neighbourhood of Windsor, Ontario
* West Side, a neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia
United Kingdom
* West Side, Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland
* Westside, Birmingham E ...
of Oslo. Her father is the lawyer and Conservative politician
Gustav Heiberg Simonsen.
[Bjarne Riiser Gundersen (17 April 2009)]
Overdommeren
'' Morgenbladet''. Retrieved 6 March 2014
She studied law, literature and political science at the
University of Oslo
The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...
1983–1985. She started working as a journalist in ''Dagens Næringsliv'' in 1985 after having been recruited by
Kåre Valebrokk
Kåre Valebrokk (17 December 1940 – 9 February 2013) was a Norwegian journalist and television executive. He was editor-in-chief and administrative director of TV 2 from October 1999 until June 2007, when he retired. He was the father of econom ...
. She headed the feature department for a while and was the paper's correspondent in London 1994–1997.
[ She worked for ''VG'' 1997–2003 where she became head of the newspaper's commentary section. She has also held causeries in ]NRK
NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting Aksjeselskap, AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and ...
radio.[ She participated in founding the Norwegian Foundation for Investigative Journalism (SKUP) in 1990.][
]
Views
Simonsen has described her general political positions as in accordance with the liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
tradition of ''Dagbladet''. She does not have any fixed preference for a particular political party.[ She has named Gro Harlem Brundtland as a role model.
A feminist, she favours affirmative action for women and opposes cash-for-care benefits for the parents of toddlers which she believes hinders gender equality and integration of immigrant women and their children. Simonsen has expressed concern that women who are public figures are subject to more threats and harassment both online and in real life than men and that this causes women to stay away from public debate. Having experienced much internet harassment as well as real life threats, Simonsen has voiced concern that women in public life experience more and graver cyberbullying and threats than men, and that this may cause many women to stay out of public debate. She opposes the ]Norwegian monarchy
Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to:
*Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe
*Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway
*Demographics of Norway
*The Norwegian language, including the ...
and the Norwegian state church
The Church of Norway ( nb, Den norske kirke, nn, Den norske kyrkja, se, Norgga girku, sma, Nöörjen gærhkoe) is an evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. The church b ...
.[
In 2007, Simonsen commented on the paramedics incident in Oslo 2007 and wrote that the paramedics that refused aid to Ali Farah would not have behaved in the same way if Farah had been the ethnic Norwegian ]Hydro
Hydro from Ancient Greek word ὕδωρ (húdōr), meaning ''water''.
Hydro may also refer to:
Energy technologies
* Water-derived power or energy:
** Hydropower, derived from water
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* "Hydro", AC mains ...
CEO Eivind Reiten
Eivind Kristofer Reiten (born 2 April 1953) is a Norwegian economist, corporate officer and politician for the Centre Party. He served as Minister of Fisheries from 1985-1986 and Minister of Petroleum and Energy from 1989-1990, before entering ...
. She further wrote: "This week, we were forced to see what we didn't want to see. It was the ugly and unmerciful effect of racism". One of the paramedics sued ''Dagbladet'' for their coverage of the incident and in 2014, the Supreme Court of Norway ordered ''Dagbladet'' to pay Erik Schjenken, one of the two paramedics, 200,000 Norwegian kroner in compensation for false allegations of racism, based on the commentary of Simonsen and two other writers for the paper. ''Dagbladet'' and other media leaders and journalists have called the ruling a threat to free journalism.[Thorstein Hvattum (6 March 2014]
Et varselskudd mot ytringsfriheten
''Aftenposten''. Retrieved 15 March 2014
Books
*Marie Simonsen and Ingunn Yssen (2010): ''Bråk! Den store likestillingssvindelen''. Aschehoug Forlag
H. Aschehoug & Co. (W. Nygaard), commonly known as Aschehoug,() is one of the largest independent publishing companies in Norway, founded in 1872. Headquartered in Oslo, the publishing house has 480 employees. The Aschehoug group also comprises ot ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simonsen, Marie
1962 births
Living people
Norwegian newspaper journalists
Norwegian newspaper reporters and correspondents
Norwegian expatriates in England
Norwegian political writers
Norwegian women non-fiction writers
21st-century Norwegian women writers
University of Oslo alumni
People from Bodø