Terje Baalsrud (9 May 1914 – 17 March 2003) was a Norwegian newspaper editor. He was born in

Kristiansand Kristiansand is a city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality is the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 116,000 as of January 2020, following th ...

as a son of Andreas Baalsrud (1872–1961) and his wife Christine Andrea Christofersen (1878–1956). He was a first cousin of

Jan Baalsrud Jan Sigurd Baalsrud, MBE (13 December 1917 – 30 December 1988) was a commando in the Norwegian resistance trained by the British during World War II. Biography Early life Jan Baalsrud was born in Kristiania (now Oslo), Norway and moved ...

. He finished his secondary education in Kristiania in 1932, and started as a journalist in

Fedrelandslaget The Fatherland League () was a Norwegian right-wing, anti-communist and nationalist political organisation in the interwar period. Founded in 1925, the movement aimed to unite all centre-to-right forces against the rise of the revolutionary Marx ...

's publication ''

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

''. He was promoted to subeditor in 1937, the same year that he took the cand.oecon. degree, and was further promoted to editor-in-chief in 1939. The newspaper went defunct in 1940, but Baalsrud moved on to ''

Tidens Tegn ''Tidens Tegn'' (Norwegian: ''Sign of the Times'') is a former Norwegian newspaper, issued in Oslo from 1910 to 1941. Editors The founder and first editor-in-chief of ''Tidens Tegn'' was Ola Thommessen, who edited the newspaper until 1917. Th ...

'' where he was foreign affairs editor until that newspaper's demise in 1941. He was given the

Defence Medal 1940–1945 The Defence Medal 1940–1945 () is the award rewarded to those military and civilian personnel who participated in the fight against the German invasion and occupation of Norway between 1940 and 1945. The Defence Medal 1940–1945 can be award ...

for resistance 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 ...

. Except for a short time as secretary in the

Norwegian Forest Owners Association Norwegian Forest Owners Association () is an association representing 43,000 owners of forest in Norway. The main functions of the organisation is to assist the members, who are mostly farmers, to manage their forest. This includes forestry plans, ...

, he worked in the news agency Press Telegraph from 1941 to 1947, and then worked two years as an encyclopedia editor. In 1949 he was hired in the newspaper '' Norges Handels- og Sjøfartstidende'' (now: ''Dagens Næringsliv''). He was one of the early

muckraker The muckrakers were reform-minded journalists, writers, and photographers in the Progressive Era in the United States (1890s–1920s) who claimed to expose corruption and wrongdoing in established institutions, often through sensationalist publ ...

journalists, and gained fame when he discovered a secret weapons sale from Norway to

Fulgencio Batista Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar (born Rubén Zaldívar; January 16, 1901 – August 6, 1973) was a Cuban military officer and politician who played a dominant role in Cuban politics from his initial rise to power as part of the 1933 Revolt of t ...

. Baalsrud won the

Narvesen Prize The Narvesen Prize was a Norwegian prize for those who excelled in journalism. It was established in 1954 by the company Narvesen, but the Norwegian Press Association was behind the selection of winners. It was discontinued in 1990. List of winne ...

in 1959 for this discovery. Later he helped dig up the

Kings Bay Affair The Kings Bay Affair (''Kings Bay-saken'') was a political issue in Norway that reached its apex in 1963 and brought down the government of Einar Gerhardsen and formed the basis for non-socialist coalition politics in Norway that persisted to the ...

. His main interests were foreign affairs in general, especially the

Baltic countries The Baltic states or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term encompassing Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, and the OECD. The three sovereign states on the eastern co ...

, as well as defence policy. He was active in Norges Forsvarsforening. He became acting editor-in-chief of ''Norges Handels- og Sjøfartstidende'' in 1961, and then served as chief editor from 1962 to 1978. Baalsrud continued writing after his official retirement, and released several books, among others for the Institutt for Forsvarsopplysning. Baalsrud held the Order of the Estonian National Council and was a Commander of the

Order of the Lion of Finland Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood ...

. In 1938, he was married to Ellen Miøen Ellen Miøen (1913–2002), He died in March 2003 in Oslo.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baalsrud, Terje 1914 births 2003 deaths People from Kristiansand Norwegian newspaper editors University of Oslo alumni Norwegian resistance members Commanders of the Order of the Lion of Finland