In the case of Norway, the two newspapers that stand out relative to the crieteria offered by the coding scheme would be: Aftenposten and Klassekampen. There are of course others, but no other papers stand out as more relevanrt in terms of the project criteria. Reflecting newspapers and state parallelism, one would argue that Aftenposten takes a more cooperative (high parallelism) point of editorial view, whereas Klassekammpen conforms more to a critical (oppositional) ideological stance. Nweither newspaper woulds classifyt as directly ideological in their positions. Accordingly, classfication categories as offered by Hallin and Mancini ought to be applied with caution. Generally, Norway´s international relartions with the US would be characterized as cooperative. But again, it depends: In terms of NATO and military spending, the correct view would be to state the relation as dependent, or interdependent.
As to the media system in Norway, the featuring element is the central position held by Public Service Broadcasting ventures, notably the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, the TV2 news operation and other smaller ventures fitting the definition of public service broadcasting. Public service broadcasting entails a commitment to content pluralism, and it is subject to periodic review by an appointed board of independent peers. Aside from these public media, the diversity of Norwegian media debate and news coverage is shaped by historical developments of a news paper industry derived from early stages of party-owned newspapers (pre 1900 and up to 1970), as well as a scheme for state subsidies to newspaper presence in vulnerable parts of the news eco system nationally. These news subsidies are discussed regularly, and they are administered by a government-funded independent institution. Much of the background can be found in the enclosed English-language references below. A starting place would be the overview presented in the Media Landscapes Overview, as pr. footnote[1], as well as Bastiansen (2014) and Rolland (2008).
The two chosen newspapers are both online and paper based, both national and both daily. We have chosen them as the best representation of the day-ty-day discourse in Norway on matters of relevance to this project. Quite clearly, the Norwegian Broadcasting Systems also runs a daily news web page that closely reflects the ongoing political discourse in the country, but the study asks for newspapers. Furthermore, there are a few weeklies and some magazines that would offer an in-depth view, but again, they are not newspapers.
News circulation in print is diminishing in Norway, as most newspapers now publish online and predominantly so. Online journalism in Norway began mid 1990´s. It is commonly known that the level of news readership – online and in print – is high in Norway, as it is in the other Nordic countries. Considering the target audience groups, one might also think that news relayed through social media plays a somewhat smaller role for these two media than what would be the case for more tabloid news media adressing a more tabloid world view.
About the papers:
Aftenposten:
This is Norway´s largest newspaper, with a center-liberal leaning, as well as a tradition for emphasis and interest in Norway-USA relations, NATO-supporting and EU-supporting. The paper services its audiences born in print and online. The online version is fully digitalized, with access to digital archives for its subscribers. The newspaper has a history of party press affiliation with the copncersvative party Høyre in Norway. Like other newspeprs formerly belonging to a political party, Atftenposten became independent in the 1970´s.
This paper is part of a newspaper chain that also operates the dominant regional newspapers in Norway, which means that these regional papers make use of Aftenposten´s foreign affairs coverage. Most of these regional newspapers in the chain, have a background as party-press adhering go the liberal party Venstre, which today is a very small political party but was the country´s largest one. At the time when the media-party links were formed in the second half of the 19th century.
Aftenposten, in turn, also runs quite parallel to the Norwegian News Agency on matters of foreign policy towards the US. Accordingly, it is the obvious choice. Aftenposten runs high-quality news analysis and would be characterized as an independent newspaper adhering to common standards of journalism independence. It has frequent coverage of the United States and maintains correspondents abroad, including in the US.
Website address: https://www.aftenposten.no/
Klassekampen:
The best way to represent the ideological spectrum is then to emphasize the one daily newspaper in the country leaning more to the left that shows a significant emphasis on US-Norway news, generally. Klassekampewn would be the choice. Choosing this paper doe not happen without certain conceptual issues. Klassekampen, as a newspaper has an ideological left-leaning background. The name literally translates into The Class Struggle.
This paper runs print version and an online version. Its readership would be found in the more intellectually inclined and politically interested audience. The history is a newspaper that began as a party-owned pamphlet for the far-left in Norway. Gradually, the newspaper took shape and also gradually it severed its ties to its Marxist-Leninist past. Seeking a status as a deeply analytical newspaper informed by canons of journalistic integrity, the paper has built a reputation over the years as a critical voice in the Norwegian public discourse. The paper is critical to the US, generally. However, it is also critical in the sense of adhering to journalistic principles.
Today, the paper runs sophisticated USA-Norway analysis based on journalistic principles of fairness and accuracy but still has an ideological stance in that here is where the intellectual community on the center-left wing congregate to debate. Given the profile of this study, this too, is in our opinion the obvious choice: Klassekampen differs from Atftensposten also in the sense that the intellectual community of readers contribute fairly complex essays that are given space and extension in a manner not usually observed in contemporary journalism.
Website: https://klassekampen.no/
References
https://medialandscapes.org/country/norway
Bastiansen, Henrik Grue (2014) Rethinking Mass Communications in Norway, Nordicom Review 35.2, pp. 43-63
Hallin, D., Mancini, P. (2004). Comparing Media Systems: three models of media and politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Rolland, Asle (2008) Norwegian Media Policy Objectives and the Theory of a Paradigm Shift, Journal of Communication, , pp. 126-148, doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.2007.00377
[1] https://medialandscapes.org/country/norway