Arvid Weber Skjærpe (born 9 October 1947) is a Norwegian journalist and director.

Career

Weber Skjærpe was born in

Stavanger Stavanger (, , American English, US usually , ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the fourth largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the a ...

, where he was a member of the

Young Liberals of Norway Young Liberals of Norway ( no, Unge Venstre) (NUV) is the youth league of the Norwegian political party Venstre. Young Liberals was founded on 27 January 1909, with Anders Kirkhusmo as the first leader. The current president is Sondre Hansmark, ...

in the 1960s. Skjærpe later graduated with the

cand.polit. Candidate (Latin ''candidatus'' or ''candidata'') is the name of various academic degrees, chiefly in Scandinavia, the Soviet Union, the Netherlands and Belgium. In Scandinavia, it is a higher professional-level degree usually corresponding to 5– ...

degree in 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 ...

. He also taught political science and sociology at the

and was editor-in-chief of the student newspaper

Universitas ''Universitas'' is a Latin word meaning "the whole, total, the universe, the world", or in Roman law a society or corporation; the latter sense is where the word university is derived from. Universitas may also refer to: * Universitas 21, an in ...

from 1971 to 1972. Skjærpe worked as journalist for

Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and the largest ...

in 11 years, before becoming cultural director for

Stavanger Municipality Stavanger (, , US usually , ) is a city and municipality in Norway. It is the fourth largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the administrative center of Rogaland county. Th ...

in 1985. Controversy arose when he stated that

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

did not deserve to host the

1986 Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest 1986 was the 31st edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It was held in Bergen, Norway, following the country's victory at the with the song "La det swinge" by Bobbysocks! Organised by the European Broadcastin ...

, claiming it had "neglected the culture". The travel director of Oslo stated that his claim was wrong, pointing to Oslo Municipality's recent investments like

Det Norske Teatret Det Norske Teatret ( en, Norwegian Theater)Moe, Jens. 2011. ''My America: The Culture of Giving''. Bloomington, IN: iUniverse, p. 133. is a theatre in Oslo. The theatre was founded in 1912, after an initiative from Hulda Garborg and Edvard Drabl� ...

. In 1986 Skjærpe wanted to become editorial chief of

NRK P1 NRK P1 is a nationwide digital radio channel operated by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK). It is the result of the NRK radio channel reform initiated in 1993 by radio director Tor Fuglevik. NRK P1 is the direct descendant of NRK's firs ...

. He instead returned to his position as a journalist in NRK before becoming editor-in-chief of A/S Avis. After A/S Avis was discontinued after a few months, Skjærpe became editor of Radio Nettverk. In 1992 Skjærpe was hired as a fellow worker for NRK Radio in Oslo. In 1994 he was hired as information manager for the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities. In 1997 Weber Skjærpe was promoted to director of communications and strategy in the same association, where he has been ever since. Skjærpe was also the acting chief executive of the association in 2009. He took over from Olav Ulleren, until

Sigrun Vågeng Sigrun Elisabeth Vågeng (born 29 October 1950) is a Norwegian public sector official. From 2015 to 2020 she was director of the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration. She took her education at the University of Oslo in 1975, graduating as ...

took over. Weber stayed in the association as director of communications and strategy.

Works

*''Selvstyre som system'', 1977 *''Jakten på det gode liv'', 1984 *''Arbeid for alle?'', 1984

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skjaerpe, Arvid Weber 1947 births Living people People from Stavanger University of Oslo alumni Norwegian journalists Norwegian civil servants