''Smaalenenes Avis'' is a

local 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 p ...

published in

Askim Askim () is a town and a former municipality in (from January 1, 2020) Indre Østfold Kommune in the former county of Østfold county (from January 1, 2020 a part of Viken county), Norway. The administrative centre of the Askim municipality wa ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. It covers

Indre Østfold Indre Østfold is a mostly rural countryside region north in the former county of Østfold county in Norway, noted for its mostly unspoilt nature and for its agriculture. At January 1. 2020 five of the municipalities of Indre Østfold merged into ...

. It was established in

Mysen Mysen is the administrative center of the municipality of Eidsberg in the county of Østfold in Norway. The town is named after the old farm of Mysen ( Norse ''Mysin'', from ''*Mosvin''), since the town is built on its ground. The first element i ...

in 1899 under the name ''Indre Smaalenenes Avis'', and covered the municipalities of

Eidsberg Eidsberg was a municipality in Østfold county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality was the town of Mysen. In 2020, Eidsberg was absorbed into the Indre Østfold municipality. Eidsberg was established as a municipality on 1 Jan ...

Trøgstad Trøgstad is a municipality in Østfold county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Skjønhaug. The municipality is divided into the parishes of Skjønhaug, Havnås and Båstad. The parish of ''Trygstad'' was ...

and Marker. A trial issue came on 22 December 1899, followed by the first official issue on 4 January 1900. The first editor, who sat until 1901, was a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

pastor.

Peder Slotsvik Peter Joachim Kristian Slotsvik (3 February 1862 – 20 September 1924) was a Norwegian newspaper editor and fiction writer. He was born in Ålesund Ålesund () sometimes spelled Aalesund in English, is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal ...

took over. It had a politically bourgeois leaning, with an unofficial Liberal affiliation during Slotsvik's time, then a

Norwegian Agrarian Association The Norwegian Agrarian Association ( no, Norges Bondelag) is the largest Norwegian interest organization for farmers. It functions both as a labour union and as a trade union. It negotiates with the Norwegian Farmers and Smallholders Union and ...

affiliation in the 1920s. In 1929 it absorbed the agrarian newspaper ''Søndre Østfold''. In the 1930s ''Indre Smaalenenes Avis'' gradually became an unofficially Conservative newspaper. 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 the ...

it was forced to have a

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

editor from 1942 to 1945. The circulation improved from about 4,000 in 1932 to 4,853 in 1950, 5,928 in 1970 and 7,578 in 1990. In 1983 the newspapers ''Indre Smaalenenes Avis'' and neighbor '' Øvre Smaalenene'' were about the same size, with a circulation of 6,995 and 7,061 respectively. In 1996 the ''Indre Smaalenenes Avis'' was surprisingly bought by

A-pressen Amedia AS is the second largest media company in Norway (the largest is Schibsted and the third largest is Polaris Media). The company is whole or partial owner of 50 local and regional newspaper with online newspapers and printing presses, and ...

, despite its bourgeois roots. Already on 2 January 1997 the

-based newspaper ''Øvre Smaalenene'' was amalgamated into ''Indre Smaalenenes Avis'' From 3 February 2003 the name was changed to ''Smaalenenes Avis''. The headquarters are now in Askim. It now has a circulation of 13,190, of whom 12,905 are subscribers. It is owned by the company Smaalenene Medier, which is in turn owned 100% by A-pressen.

References

{{Reflist Newspapers established in 1899 Daily newspapers published in Norway Mass media in Askim 1899 establishments in Norway Amedia