''Politiken'' is a leading Danish daily

broadsheet A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long Vertical and horizontal, vertical pages, typically of in height. Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner (format), Berliner and Tabloid (newspaper ...

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 ...

, published by

JP/Politikens Hus JP/Politikens Hus A/S (''House of JP/Politiken'') is a Danish media company. History and profile JP/Politikens Hus was established on 1 January 2003 as a merger between Politikens Hus and Jyllands-Posten A/S, publishing companies of the major ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. It was founded in 1884 and played a role in the formation of the

Danish Social Liberal Party The Danish Social Liberal Party (, RV, ) is a Social liberalism, social-liberal List of political parties in Denmark, political party in Denmark. The party was founded as a split from the Venstre (Denmark), Venstre Reform Party in 1905. Histori ...

. Since 1970 it has been independent of the party but maintains a liberal stance. It now runs an

online newspaper An online newspaper (or electronic news or electronic news publication) is the electronic publishing, online version of a newspaper, either as a stand-alone publication or as the online version of a printed periodical literature, periodical. Goin ...

, ''politiken.dk''. The paper's

design A design is the concept or proposal for an object, process, or system. The word ''design'' refers to something that is or has been intentionally created by a thinking agent, and is sometimes used to refer to the inherent nature of something ...

has won several international awards, and a number of its journalists have won the

Cavling Prize The Cavling Prize () is a Danish journalist award. It is awarded annually in January to "a journalist or a group of journalists who have shown initiative and talent in the past year." The Prize commemorates Henrik Cavling, founder of the Dani ...

History and profile

''Dagbladet Politiken'' was founded on 1 October 1884 in

Viggo Hørup Viggo Lauritz Bentheim Hørup (22 May 1841 – 15 February 1902) was a Danish politician, journalist and agitator. He was the father of Ellen Hørup (1871-1953). He was one of the most influential politicians of the Danish non-Socialist ...

Edvard Brandes Carl Edvard Cohen Brandes (21 October 1847 – 20 December 1931) was a Danish politician, critic and author, and the younger brother of Georg Brandes and Ernst Brandes. He had a Ph.D. in eastern philology. Biography Brandes was a member of th ...

and Hermann Bing. Hørup and Brandes formed the newspaper after being fired as editors from the ''

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 ...

'' over political differences. Hørup led the paper as

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

for fifteen years from its start in 1884. In 1904, the tabloid was founded as a supplement to ''Politiken ''and was later spun off as an independent newspaper on 1 January 1905. The paper established its present location in central Copenhagen at The City Hall Square in 1912. In 1987 ''Politiken'' started its business supplement. The paper was published by Politikens Hus until 1 January 2003 when the company merged with Jyllands-Posten A/S to form

. Thus, became its sister paper. ''Politiken'' is published in

format. The newspaper also publishes an international edition named ''Politiken Weekly'' which compiles the most important stories of the week for Danes living abroad. In 2012, ''Politiken Foundation'' became one of the founding members of the

European Press Prize The European Press Prize is a non-profit foundation based in the Netherlands. It runs a programme of journalism awards of the same name for journalists from 46 countries, the Council of Europe, Belarus and Russia. As part of the programme, a jur ...

. In February 2020 ''Politiken'' and its editor-in-chief, Christian Jensen, had to pay a fine due to the publication of the sections from a book on the security and intelligence of Denmark in 2016. Since 2016, Danish journalist

Mette Davidsen-Nielsen Mette Davidsen-Nielsen (born 10 May 1965 in Frederiksberg) is a Danish journalist, who served as the CEO for ''Dagbladet Information'' from 2010 to 2016. Since 2016, she has been the cultural editor for ''Politiken ''Politiken'' is a leadi ...

has worked as the cultural editor at ''Politiken Foundation.'' In November 2023, ''Politiken'' joined with the

International Consortium of Investigative Journalists The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Inc. (ICIJ), is an independent global network of 280 investigative journalists and over 140 media organizations spanning more than 100 countries. It is based in Washington, D.C., with ...

, and 69 media partners including

Distributed Denial of Secrets Distributed Denial of Secrets, abbreviated DDoSecrets, is a nonprofit whistleblower site founded in 2018 for news leaks. The site is a frequent source for other news outlets and has worked on investigations including Cyprus Confidential with o ...

and the

Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) is a global network of Investigative journalism, investigative journalists. It was founded in 2006 and specializes in organized crime and corruption. It publishes its stories through ...

(OCCRP) and more than 270 journalists in 55 countries and territories to produce the '

Cyprus Confidential Cyprus Confidential is a journalism project investigating financial services in Cyprus and their role in allowing avoidance of international sanctions, and implementation of Russian state goals. It is conducted by the International Consortium of In ...

' report on the financial network which supports the regime of

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

, mostly with connections to Cyprus, and showed Cyprus to have strong links with high-up figures in the Kremlin, some of whom have been sanctioned. Government officials including Cyprus president

Nikos Christodoulides Nikos Christodoulides (; born 6 December 1973) is a Cypriot politician, diplomat, and academic who has served as the 8th President of Cyprus since 2023. He previously served as Government Spokesman from 2014 to 2018 and List of Ministers of Fore ...

and European lawmakers began responding to the investigation's findings in less than 24 hours, calling for reforms and launching probes.

Wartime reporting

On 28 April 1940, three weeks after the German invasion of Denmark, ''Politiken'' ran an editorial in which

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

was called "a dangerous man". The editorial was written by foreign affairs editor Einard Schou after a conversation in the editor-in-chief's office with chairman of the board and soon-to-be-again Danish foreign minister

Erik Scavenius Erik Julius Christian Scavenius (; 13 July 1877 – 29 November 1962) was the Danish foreign minister from 1909 to 1910, 1913 to 1920 and 1940 to 1943, and prime minister from 1942 to 1943, during the occupation of Denmark until the Danish elect ...

. The aim is thought to have been to please the German occupation force, though no other Danish newspaper took such steps at the time. Usually, it was enough to keep within the newly introduced censorship. The article led to 15,000 readers, about 10% of subscribers, cancelling their subscriptions in protest.

Editorial line

During the early 1900s ''Politiken'' had a cultural radical political stance. Historically the paper was connected to the Danish Social Liberal Party (

Det Radikale Venstre The Danish Social Liberal Party (, RV, ) is a social-liberal political party in Denmark. The party was founded as a split from the Venstre Reform Party in 1905. Historically, the centrist party has played a central role in Danish politics and ...

), but the newspaper declared its political independence in 1970. The paper has a far-leaning social, liberal and

centre-left Centre-left politics is the range of left-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. Ideologies commonly associated with it include social democracy, social liberalism, progressivism, and green politics. Ideas commo ...

stance. In February 2010 the editor in chief at the time

Tøger Seidenfaden Tøger Seidenfaden (28 April 1957 – 27 January 2011) was a Danish journalist and political scientist, and, from 1993 until his death, editor-in-chief of the broadsheet newspaper ''Politiken''. His father, Erik Seidenfaden, was also a journali ...

apologized to anyone who was offended by the newspaper's decision to reprint the cartoon drawing by

Kurt Westergaard Kurt Westergaard (born Kurt Vestergaard; 13 July 1935 – 14 July 2021) was a Danish cartoonist. In 2005 he drew a cartoon of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, wearing a bomb in his turban as a part of the ''Jyllands-Posten'' Muhammad cartoons, whic ...

depicting Muhammed with a bomb in his turban, which was originally published in ''

Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten (; English: ''The Morning Newspaper "The Jutland Post"''), commonly shortened to or ''JP'', is a Danish daily broadsheet newspaper. It is based in Aarhus C, Jutland, and with a weekday circulation of approximately 120,000 copies.

Circulation

''Politiken'' started with a daily circulation of 2,000 copies. Its circulation was 23,142 copies in 1901. In 1910 its circulation rose to 41,400 copies. Later it became one of Denmark's leading newspapers in terms of both circulated copies and number of readers. Its circulation was 165,615 copies in 1950. During the last six months of 1957 the paper had a circulation of 148,169 copies on weekdays. It fell to 142,847 copies in 1960. The circulation of the paper was 134,728 in 1970, 138,921 copies in 1980 and 152,435 copies in 1990. During the second half of 1997 its circulation was 146,000 copies on weekdays. ''Politiken'' had a circulation of 143,000 copies on weekdays and 185,000 copies on Sundays in the first quarter of 2000, making it the third best selling newspaper in the country. It was 142,780 copies in 2000. In 2002 it was the third best-selling newspaper in the country with a circulation of 142,000 copies. The circulation of the paper was 137,000 copies in 2003, making it again the third best selling newspaper in the country. In 2004 the paper had a circulation of 134,000 copies. The circulation of ''Politiken'' was 110,230 copies in 2007. The number of copies sold per day in the first half of 2012 were 97,820 on weekdays and Saturdays, and 120,411 on Sundays.Dansk Oplagskontrol
/ref> The same year the number of readers were 375,000 on weekdays and Saturdays, and 479,000 readers on Sundays. The paper had a circulation of 88,597 copies in 2013. Its online newspaper, politiken.dk, received around 800,000 monthly users in 2011 and was the tenth most viewed page among the members of the Association of Danish Interactive Media.

Awards

Internationally, ''Politiken'' has received recognition for its design through the form of several awards. In 2012 ''Politiken'' was declared 'World's Best' along with four other newspapers in a competition carried out by the Society for News Design. In 2014 the paper was chosen as one of

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

’s best-designed newspapers in the Best of Scandinavian News Design competition. The paper's design, format, and brand was given as the reason, when in 2010, the European Newspapers Congress awarded ''Politiken'' with the

European Newspaper Award European Newspaper Award is a design competition for European newspapers. The competition was founded and organized by newspaper designer Norbert Küpper from Meerbusch, Germany. He co-operates with the journalist magazines '' Medium Magazin'' ( ...

in the national newspaper category. ''Politiken'' has also been known for its photography.

Jan Grarup Jan Grarup (born 1968) is a Danish photojournalist who has worked both as a staff photographer and as a freelance, specializing in war and conflict photography. He has won many prizes including the World Press Photo award for his coverage of th ...

, winner of several World Press Photo Awards and numerous other prizes, was a staff photographer from 2003 until 2009. Anselm Hüwe is one of the contemporary awarded photographers.

The Cavling Award

Cavlingprisen The Cavling Prize () is a Danish journalist award. It is awarded annually in January to "a journalist or a group of journalists who have shown initiative and talent in the past year." The Prize commemorates Henrik Cavling, founder of the Danis ...

'' ("The Cavling Award") is a Danish honorary award for journalism. It was named after a former reporter and editor-in-chief at ''Politiken''

Henrik Cavling Paulus Henrik Cavling ( Paulus Henrik Olsen, 22 March 1858 – 7 August 1933) was a Danish Journalist, news editor and author. Biography Paulus Henrik Olsen was born on 22 March 1858 in Kongens Lyngby, Copenhagen, Denmark. He was the editor-i ...

. Cavling award winners at ''Politiken'': * 1945

Henrik V. Ringsted Henrik is a male given name of Germanic origin, primarily used in Scandinavia, Finland, Estonia, Hungary and Slovenia. In Poland, the name is spelt Henryk but pronounced similarly. Equivalents in other languages are Henry (English), Heiki (Estoni ...

* 1946 Kristian Find (Findus) * 1962

Jørgen Hartmann-Petersen Jørgen is a Danish, Norwegian, and Faroese masculine given name cognate to George People with the given name Jørgen * Jørgen Aall (1771–1833), Norwegian ship-owner and politician * Jørgen Andersen (1886–1973), Norwegian gymnast * Jørgen ...

(Habakuk) * 1966

Herbert Pundik Herbert Pundik or Nahum Pundak (; September 23, 1927 – December 8, 2019) was a Danish- Israeli journalist and author. He worked for the newspaper Information and as a correspondent for Danmarks Radio. Beginning in 1965, he worked for the newspa ...

* 1967

Sune Skallerup Sørensen Sune may refer to: * ''Sune'' (book series), a Swedish children's book series * Sune (''Forgotten Realms''), a fictional deity in ''Forgotten Realms'' * Sune (name), a given name * Lalah Sune, a fictional character in ''Mobile Suit Gundam'' Se ...

* 1968 Erik Nørgaard * 1974 Anne Wolden-Ræthinge (Ninka) * 1976

Inger Østergaard Inger may refer to: People * Inger (given name), list of people with the given name * Inger (surname), list of people with the surname * Inger, the main character of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale ''The Girl Who Trod on a Loaf'' Other uses ...

* 1982 J. B. Holmgaard * 1992 Svend Bjering Schmidt (Svenne) * 2006

Miriam Dalsgaard Miriam (, lit. ‘rebellion’) is described in the Hebrew Bible as the daughter of Amram and Jochebed, and the older sister of Moses and Aaron. She was a prophetess and first appears in the Book of Exodus. The Torah refers to her as "Miriam t ...

(photographer) and Olav Hergel

Editors in chief

''Politiken'' has had a number of editors in chief since its inception. In some periods there were more than one editor at a time, causing overlap. * 1884–1901:

* 1901–1904:

* 1905–1927:

* 1927–1937: Valdemar Koppel * 1937–1933:

Ove Rode Ove Rode (31 August 1867 – 11 July 1933) was a Denmark, Danish politician, writer, newspaper editor, and Minister of the Interior and Health (Denmark), Minister of Interior Affairs for Det Radikale Venstre. Biography As a young journalist, ...

* 1931–1959: Niels Hasager * 1941–1963: Poul Graae * 1946–1959: Hakon Stephensen * 1959–1963: Svend Tillge-Rasmussen * 1963–1966: Bo Bramsen * 1963–1970:

Ernst Priemé Ernst is both a surname and a given name, the German, Dutch, and Scandinavian form of Ernest. Notable people with the name include: Surname * Adolf Ernst (1832–1899) German botanist known by the author abbreviation "Ernst" * Anton Ernst (born ...

* 1963–1971: Harald Engberg * 1966–1971:

Arne Ejbye-Ernst Arne may refer to: Places * Arne, Dorset, England, a village ** Arne RSPB reserve, a nature reserve adjacent to the village * Arné, Hautes-Pyrénées, Midi-Pyrénées, France * Arne (Boeotia), an ancient city in Boeotia, Greece * Arne (Thessaly), ...

* 1970–1993:

* 1971–1982: Bent Thorndahl * 1981–1993: Agner Ahm * 1981–1992: Jørgen GrunnetJørgen Grunnet død
''Politiken''. 22 January 2009. * 1993–2011:

* 2011– 2016:

Bo Lidegaard Bo Lidegaard (born 23 January 1958 in Godthåb) is a Danish historian, public intellectual, and former responsible editor-in-chief for ''Politiken''. Bo Lidegaard worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1984-2005), was Ministerial Counselor an ...

* 2016-: Christian Jensen

References

* Bjørn Bredal, Politiken mod Politiken – Idékampe 1884–2009, Politikens Forlag, 2009. .

External links

*
''Politiken Edition''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Politiken 1884 establishments in Denmark Daily newspapers published in Denmark Danish-language newspapers Liberalism in Denmark Newspapers established in 1884 Newspapers published in Copenhagen Social liberalism