Mass media in Norway outlines the current state of the press, television, radio, film and cinema, and social media in
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 ...
.
Press
Reporters Without Borders
Reporters Without Borders (RWB; french: Reporters sans frontières; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organization with the stated aim of safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its advocacy as found ...
ranks
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 ...
1st in its
Worldwide Press Freedom Index
The Press Freedom Index is an annual ranking of countries compiled and published by Reporters Without Borders since 2002 based upon the organisation's own assessment of the countries' press freedom records in the previous year. It intends to re ...
. Freedom of the press in Norway dates back to the
constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When ...
of 1814. Most of the Norwegian press is privately owned and self-regulated; however, the state provides
press support
Press support is a government subsidy available for newspapers in some countries. The support can either be direct, in terms of money to the newspaper, or indirect, such as lowered or eliminated sales tax. The justification for press support is typ ...
.
Television
The two companies dominating the Norwegian terrestrial broadcast television are the government-owned
NRK
NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting Aksjeselskap, AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and ...
(with four main services,
NRK1
NRK1 (pronounced as ''"NRK en"'' or ''"- ein"'') is the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation's (NRK) main television channel.
History
Test broadcasts started on 12 January 1954, regular test broadcasts started on 13 April 1958 and regular broadca ...
,
NRK2
NRK2 (NRK To) is one of the TV channels of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK). It was launched on 1 September 1996.
History
The channel started its regular broadcasts on 1 September 1996, but the evening before, a live simulcast, led ...
,
NRK3
NRK3 (NRK Tre) is a digital TV channel aimed at youth and young adults and produced by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation.
History
Launched on 3 September 2007, and on air from 19:30 each evening, the channel features such British and Americ ...
and
NRK Super
NRK Super is a Norwegian TV & radio channel aimed at children, run by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation. The TV channel is broadcast on the digital terrestrial network, on the same frequency as NRK3 from 7am to 7pm, and was launched 1 Decemb ...
) and
TV2 (with
TV 2 Filmkanalen
TV 2 Filmkanalen was a Norwegian
Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to:
*Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe
* Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway
* Demographics of Norway
...
,
TV 2 Nyhetskanalen
TV 2 Nyheter (''TV 2 News'') is a 24-hour Norwegian language television news channel which started broadcasting on 15 January 2007. It is Norway's first national news network in Norwegian, although Nyhetskanalen did exist from 1997 to 1998.
The c ...
,
TV 2 Sport,
TV 2 Zebra
TV 2 Zebra is a Norwegian television channel showing entertainment programmes, interactive programmes and live sport mainly targeted towards a male audience. The channel was started as TV 2 Xtra on 24 January 2004, but before that the channel was ...
and
TV 2 Livsstil
TV 2 Livsstil is a Norwegian TV channel owned by the TV 2 Group. The channel replaces the previous channel TV 2 Bliss.
Contents
The channel is focusing on lifestyle programs. Some of the regular shows are Keeping up with the Kardashians
...
). Other, long-running channels are
TVNorge
TVNorge (literally "TVNorway"; originally abbreviated TVN, now just abbreviated N in the logos) is a Norwegian television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery EMEA.
History
TVNorge went on the air on 5 December 1988 and was the first adver ...
and
TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to:
Television
*Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso
*Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala
*Channel 3 (Algeria), a public Algerian TV channel owned by EPTV ...
.
Radio
National radio is dominated by the public-service company
NRK
NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting Aksjeselskap, AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and ...
, which is funded from the
television licence fee
A television licence or broadcast receiving licence is a payment required in many countries for the reception of Television broadcasting, television broadcasts, or the possession of a television set where some broadcasts are funded in full or ...
payable by the owners of television sets. NRK provides programming on three radio channels –
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 ...
,
NRK P2
NRK P2 is one of three main, nationwide radio channels produced by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK). Its current format – focusing on news and current affairs, debate, analysis, culture, science, and society – is the result of the ...
, and
NRK P3
NRK P3 is a nationwide digital radio channel operated by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK). It was established as NRK's third radio channel in 1993, and was the result of the NRK radio channel reform initiated in 1992 by radio dire ...
– broadcast on
FM and via
DAB
DAB, dab, dabs, or dabbing may refer to:
Dictionaries
* ''Dictionary of American Biography'', published under the auspices of the American Council of Learned Societies
* ''Dictionary of Australian Biography'', published since 1949
Places
* Dąb, ...
. A number of further specialist channels are broadcast exclusively on DAB,
DVB-T
DVB-T, short for Digital Video Broadcasting – Terrestrial, is the DVB European-based consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial television that was first published in 1997 and first broadcast in Singapore in Febr ...
, and
the internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
including Radio Norway Direct Norway's new English language Radio Station.
Additionally, there are a number of commercial radio stations as well as local radio stations run by various non-profit organizations.
Social media
As of August 2009, it was estimated that 1,156,000 Norwegians use
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
. For comparison, the total number of inhabitants is about 4,830,000.
Institutions
Institutions within organized labour are the
Norwegian Union of Journalists
The Norwegian Union of Journalists ( no, Norsk Journalistlag, NJ) is a trade union in Norway. It consists of editorial personnel in newspapers, magazines, television and radio, as well as freelance journalists.
A member organization of the Norweg ...
, the
Association of Norwegian Editors
The Association of Norwegian Editors ( no, Norsk Redaktørforening, NR) is an interest group for editors and middle managers in the various Norwegian media.Østbye, Helge. 2007. The Norwegian Media Landscape. In: Georgios Terzis (ed.), ''European ...
and the
Norwegian Media Businesses' Association The Norwegian Media Businesses' Association ( no, Mediebedriftenes Landsforening, MBL) is an employers' organisation in Norway, organized under the national Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise.
The current CEO is Arvid Sand. Chairman of the boar ...
—these are organized in the umbrella
Norwegian Press Association
The Norwegian Press Association ( no, Norsk Presseforbund, NP) is Norwegian association established in 1910, for press people with journalism as their main profession. Among its members are the Norwegian Union of Journalists, the Association of Nor ...
. The Press Association is responsible for
Pressens Faglige Utvalg
The Norwegian Press Complaints Commission ( no, Pressens Faglige Utvalg) is a complaint commission of Norwegian Press Association.
The members of the commission from are (from July 2012 to July 2014):Ethical Code of Practice for the Norwegian Press The Ethical Code of Practice for the Norwegian Press ( nb, Vær Varsom-plakaten, nn, Ver Varsam-plakaten, se, Leage Várrugas) is a code regulating journalism ethics and standards in Norway.
It was first written in 1936. In 1956 it was rewritten ...
. The
Broadcasting Council oversees the state-owned Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation. The
Norwegian Media Authority
The Norwegian Media Authority ( no, Medietilsynet) is a Norwegian government agency subordinate to the Ministry of Culture and Equality charged with various tasks relating to broadcasting, newspapers and films. It enforces rules on content, adve ...
contributes to the enforcement government regulations.
Media bias
Image:Mandatfordeling stortingsvalget 2009.svg, Distribution of mandates after the actual 2009 Norwegian parliamentary election:
Image:Mandatfordeling etter norske journalister stortingsvalget 2009.svg, Distribution of mandates by Norwegian journalists sympathies before the 2009 Norwegian parliamentary election:
As with other related countries, the Norwegian media is often criticized of being
biased towards the
political left
Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...
. Political scientist
Frank Aarebrot
Frank Henrik Aarebrot (19 January 1947 – 9 September 2017) was a Norwegian political scientist, political commentator, and professor of comparative politics. Among the most quoted and popular academics in the Norwegian press, he became bette ...
claims to present evidence of this in terms of both Norwegian journalists and editors.
Aarebrot has said that "it is serious when Norwegian journalists massively support the political left, but it is a bit more serious when it actually to a greater degree applies to Norwegian editors than among the journalists". He also expressed concern that journalists who sympathise with the Progress Party may have a lesser chance to get hired than journalists with political sympathies close to editors.
For instance, in the actual
2009 election, the Progress Party received 41 mandates, while by journalists it would have received none. The Christian Democratic Party and Center Party would also have been left without representation, while the revolutionary socialist party Red would enter parliament with 9 mandates. The Socialist Left and Liberal Party would also receive significant gains.
In 2003, as much as 36% of Norwegian journalists said they would vote for the Socialist Left Party alone, with only 25% saying that they would vote for any of the right-of-center Liberal, Christian Democratic, Conservative or Progress Party combined.
News commentator
Frank Rossavik
Frank Rossavik (born 21 December 1965) is a Norwegian journalist and writer.
Rossavik graduated from the University of Bergen in 1986 with a bachelor's degree in comparative politics. In 2004 he took the master's degree in international politics ...
once said that if a journalist would stand forward as a Progress Party voter, it would have been "social suicide", and more devastating than withdrawing from the Norwegian Union of Journalists.
Norwegian editors have as well been proven to have leftist political views, with a 2008 survey showing that the Labour Party would have been given a majority in parliament alone with 85 representatives.
The notion of political bias based on the sum of individuals' party selection has been criticized. Among others, conservative historian and politician
Francis Sejersted
Francis Sejersted (8 February 1936 – 25 August 2015) was a Norwegian history professor and the chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee (which awards the Nobel Peace Prize) from 1991 until 1995.
Early life
Sejersted was born in Oslo. He p ...
holds that the general media is neither left-slanted nor right-slanted, but "media-slanted". This means that media across the political spectrum have a tendency to choose the same angle on a case, focusing on personification and dramatic events.
See also
*
Communications in Norway
*
Culture of Norway
The culture of Norway is closely linked to the country's history and geography. The unique Norwegian farm culture, sustained to this day, has resulted not only from scarce resources and a harsh climate but also from ancient property laws. In t ...
*
Internet in Norway The Internet in Norway is available through Fiber or Mobile. The country code top level domain is .no.
History
In 1973, Norway became the first country other than the United States on the ARPANET. NORSAR (Norwegian Seismic Array) at Kjeller just ...
*
Open access in Norway
Open access scholarly communication of Norway can be searched via the Norwegian Open Research Archive (NORA). "A national repository consortium, BIBSYS Brage, operates shared electronic publishing system on behalf of 56 institutions." , , Univers ...
;Lists
*
List of Norwegian newspapers
The number of national daily newspapers in Norway was 96 in 1950, whereas it was 83 in 1965. A total of 191 newspapers was published in 1969. There were 221 newspapers in the country in 1996. The number of the newspaper was 233 in the country in 1 ...
*
List of Norwegian magazines
In Norway, the number of women's magazines in 2013 were 17, whereas there were only three men's magazines. The circulation of Norwegian magazines declined 32% from 2004 to 2012.
The following is a list of Norwegian magazines, listed by circulation ...
*
List of Norwegian television channels
Television in Norway was introduced in 1954, but the first television program was only shown in 1958, and regular broadcasts did not start until 1960. Like Denmark, Norway had only one television channel until the 1980s. Some 40% of the populatio ...
*
List of Norwegian-language radio stations
This is a list of Norwegian radio stations or stations that broadcast for a Norwegian language audience.
Radio stations Public radio stations broadcasting in analogue
Note:These major radio stations will shut broadcasts via FM and be digital ...
*
List of Norwegian writers
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby union ...
References
Further reading
in English
*
*
*
in Norwegian
;Encyclopedias
*
;Books
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Media of Norway
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 ...