''The Barents Observer'' (formally ''The Independent Barents Observer'') is a Norwegian online newspaper which publishes news and

op-ed An op-ed, short for "opposite the editorial page," is a type of written prose commonly found in newspapers, magazines, and online publications. They usually represent a writer's strong and focused opinion on an issue of relevance to a targeted a ...

content about the

Barents Region The Barents Region is a name given, by advocates of establishing international cooperation after the fall of the Soviet Union, to the land along the coast of the Barents Sea, from Nordland county in Norway to the Kola Peninsula in Russia and bey ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

and

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

. The newspaper is based in

Kirkenes (Norwegian language, Norwegian; ), (Northern Sami language, Northern Sami; , or is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town in Sør-Varanger Municipality in Finnmark county, in the far northeastern part of Norway. The town lies on a peninsu ...

and is owned by its journalists. It receives financial support from the

European Endowment for Democracy The European Endowment for Democracy is a European non-governmental organisation with the stated purpose of promoting democracy, particularly in the European Neighbourhood, Turkey and the Western Balkans. It was established in 2013 following a p ...

, the

Nordic Council of Ministers The Nordic Council of Ministers is an intergovernmental forum established after the Helsinki Treaty. The purpose of the Nordic Council of Ministers is to complement the Nordic Council and promote Nordic cooperation. Structure The governm ...

, the Norwegian government, the Fritt Ord foundation, private companies and individuals.

History

The newspaper's predecessor was founded by Atle Staalesen in 2002 as ''Barents News''. It changed its name to ''BarentsObserver'' in 2003 and operated under the aegis of the

Norwegian Barents Secretariat The Norwegian Barents Secretariat aims at developing the Norwegian-Russian relations in the north by promoting and funding Norwegian-Russian cooperation projects. As of 2022, the organisation has 11 employees in Kirkenes; its offices are in Ar ...

from 2005 to 2015. Following a dispute regarding their editorial freedom in 2015, the newspaper's staff left ''BarentsObserver'' and subsequently launched today's journalist owned paper, ''The Independent Barents Observer''. The online newspaper launched its Chinese version in 2019, having previously been published in English and Russian only.

2019 Russian censorship

Barents Observer panel at National Press Club

In March 2019, ''The Barents Observer'' was blocked for readers in Russia after having published an interview with a homosexual

Sámi Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ...

activist describing his suicidal thoughts. A member of the Russian State Duma supported the blocking, saying that the article expressed "degeneration and decay". The newspaper actively tries to bypass the blockade.

2022 Murmansk recording

In 2022, ''The Barents Observer'' was offered a video showing a Norwegian diplomat complaining about a hotel room in Murmansk, using undiplomatic language. Thomas Nielsen, the newspaper's editor, decided not to publish the video, justifying his decision by saying that the video was filmed by Russian intelligence. The case was widely covered by other outlets. On February 18, 2025, ''The Barents Observer'' was declared an

undesirable organization The Russian undesirable organizations law (officially Federal Law of 23.05.2015 N 129-FZ "On amendments of some legislative acts of the Russian Federation") is a law that was signed by President Vladimir Putin on 23 May 2015 as a follow-up to ...

by the

Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation The Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation () is a ministry of the Government of Russia responsible for the legal system and penal system. The Ministry of Justice is the federal authority for operating Russia's courts and correctional ...

References

{{reflist Newspapers published in Norway Kirkenes Norwegian_news_websites