Marie Heiberg Simonsen (born 1 June 1962) is a Norwegian journalist who since 2003 has been political editor in ''

Dagbladet () is one of Norway's largest newspapers and is published in the Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. It has 1,400,000 daily readers on mobile, web and paper. Traditionally it was considered the main liberal newspaper of Norway, with a ...

''. She has previously worked for ''

Dagens Næringsliv ''(DN)'' ( Norwegian for "''Today's Business Affairs''"), is a Norwegian daily newspaper focusing on economic and business current affairs. it is the third-largest newspaper in Norway by circulation. Editor-in-chief is Janne Johannessen, appoint ...

'' and '' VG''.

Early life, education and career

Simonsen was born in Bodø Olav Garvik
Marie Heiberg Simonsen
''

Store norske leksikon The ''Great Norwegian Encyclopedia'' (, abbreviated ''SNL'') is a Norwegian-language online encyclopedia. It has several subdivisions, including the Norsk biografisk leksikon. The online encyclopedia is among the most-read Norwegian publishe ...

''. 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 ...

of Oslo. Her father is the lawyer and Conservative politician Gustav Heiberg Simonsen.Bjarne Riiser Gundersen (17 April 2009)
Overdommeren
''

Morgenbladet is Norway's oldest daily newspaper, covering politics, culture and science, now a weekly news magazine primarily directed at well-educated readers. The magazine is notable for its opinion section featuring contributions exclusively from Norweg ...

''. Retrieved 6 March 2014 She studied law, literature and political science at the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...

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

causerie Causerie (from French, "talk, chat") is a literary style of short informal essays mostly unknown in the English-speaking world. A causerie is generally short, light and humorous and is often published as a newspaper column (although it is not defi ...

s in

NRK The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (), commonly known by its initialism NRK, is a Norwegian state-run, government-influenced radio and television public broadcasting company. The NRK broadcasts three national TV channels and thirteen nat ...

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 * Generally, a supporter of the political philosophy liberalism. Liberals may be politically left or right but tend to be centrist. * An adherent of a Liberal Party (See also Liberal parties by country ...

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 Affirmative action (also sometimes called reservations, alternative access, positive discrimination or positive action in various countries' laws and policies) refers to a set of policies and practices within a government or organization seeking ...

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 *Norwegian language, including the two ...

and the

Norwegian state church The Church of Norway (, , , ) is an evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. Christianity became the state religion of Norway around 1020, and was established as a separate ...

. In 2007, Simonsen commented on the

paramedics incident in Oslo 2007 The paramedics incident in Oslo 2007 involved two paramedics who were dispatched to Sofienberg park in Oslo, Norway, on August 6, 2007, in response to a reported head injury from an altercation. Upon arrival, paramedics determined the issue was ...

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 ) may refer to: Energy technologies * Water-derived power or energy: ** Hydropower, derived from water ** Hydroelectricity, in electrical form * "Hydro", AC mains electricity in parts of Canada * Micro hydro, a type of hydroelect ...

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 enterin ...

. 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 The Supreme Court of Norway ( Norwegian Bokmål: ; Norwegian Nynorsk: ; lit. 'Highest Court') is the highest court in the Norwegian judiciary. It was established in 1815 on the basis of section 88 in the Constitution of the Kingdom of Norway, ...

ordered ''Dagbladet'' to pay Erik Schjenken, one of the two paramedics, 200,000

Norwegian kroner The krone (, currency sign, abbreviation: kr (also NKr for distinction); ISO 4217, code: NOK), plural ''kroner'', is the currency of the Kingdom of Norway (including List of possessions of Norway, overseas territories and dependencies). It was t ...

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 Ingunn is a given name. Notable people with the given name include: *Ingunn Arnórsdóttir (12th century), Icelandic scholar *Ingunn Bollerud (born 1972), Norwegian cyclist *Ingunn Thomassen Berg, Norwegian handball player *Ingunn Foss (born 1960), ...

(2010): ''Bråk! Den store likestillingssvindelen''. Aschehoug Forlag.

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