Aftenposten#Editions

{{Infobox newspaper

| name = {{Lang|no|Aftenposten}}

| logo = Aftenposten logo.svg

| image = Aftenpostens forside 6. februar 2023.png

| caption = The front page, 6 February 2023

| format = Compact

| foundation = {{start date and age|1860|05|14|df=yes}}

| owners = Schibsted (99.99%)
Stiftelsen Tinius (0.01%){{cite web|url=http://www.proff.no/roller/aftenposten-as/oslo/aviser-fagblader-og-tidsskrifter/Z0I3KVPN/|title=Aftenposten AS - Oslo - Roller og kunngjøringer|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160408151620/http://www.proff.no/roller/aftenposten-as/oslo/aviser-fagblader-og-tidsskrifter/Z0I3KVPN/|archive-date=8 April 2016|access-date=30 March 2016}}

| editor = Trine Eilertsen

| language = Norwegian

| headquarters = Oslo, Norway

| website = {{URL|www.aftenposten.no}}

| ISSN = 0804-3116

}}

{{lang|no|Aftenposten}} ({{IPA|no-NO-03|ˈɑ̂ftn̩ˌpɔstn̩|lang}}; {{translation|"The Evening Post"}}; stylized as {{lang|no|Aftenpoſten|i=yes}} in the masthead) is Norway's largest printed newspaper by circulation as well as Norway's newspaper of record. It is based in Oslo. It sold 211,769 daily copies in 2015 (172,029 printed copies according to University of Bergen){{Cite web|url=http://medienorge.uib.no/statistikk/medium/avis/190|title=medienorge|website=medienorge|access-date=2016-12-13}} and estimated 1.2 million readers.{{Cite news|url=http://www.aftenposten.no/kultur/Aftenposten-har-det-hoyeste-avisopplaget-i-Norge-63125b.html|title=Aftenposten har det høyeste avisopplaget i Norge|date=3 March 2016|newspaper=Aftenposten|access-date=13 December 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220142921/http://www.aftenposten.no/kultur/Aftenposten-har-det-hoyeste-avisopplaget-i-Norge-63125b.html|archive-date=20 December 2016}} It converted from broadsheet to compact format in March 2005.{{cite news|author=Ingrid Brekke|date=4 May 2013|url=http://www.aftenposten.no/fakta/innsikt/Avisformatet-Tabloid-i-form_-men-ikke-i-sjel-5327441.html#.UbuQZJyTmuA|title=Tabloid i form, men ikke i sjel|language=no|newspaper=Aftenposten|access-date=14 June 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116094301/http://www.aftenposten.no/fakta/innsikt/Avisformatet-Tabloid-i-form_-men-ikke-i-sjel-5327441.html#.UbuQZJyTmuA|archive-date=16 January 2014}}{{cite news|title=Norway: leading daily's successful switch to compact|url=http://wef.blogs.com/editors/e_tabloid_vs_broadsheet/|access-date=5 February 2015|work=Editors Weblog|date=22 March 2005|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304040311/http://wef.blogs.com/editors/e_tabloid_vs_broadsheet/|archive-date=4 March 2016}} Aftenposten{{'}}s online edition is at Aftenposten.no.

Aftenposten is a private company wholly owned by the public company Schibsted ASA.{{cite journal|author=Stig A. Nohrstedt|display-authors=etal|title=From the Persian Gulf to Kosovo — War Journalism and Propaganda|journal=European Journal of Communication|date=2000|volume=15|issue=3|url=http://site.iugaza.edu.ps/mamer/files/War-Journalism-and-Propaganda1.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222090850/http://site.iugaza.edu.ps/mamer/files/War-Journalism-and-Propaganda1.pdf|archive-date=22 December 2015}} Norway's second largest newspaper, VG, is also owned by Schibsted. Norwegian owners held a 42% of the shares in Schibsted at the end of 2015.{{cite web|url=http://www.schibsted.com/no/Arsrapport-2015/Aksjeinformasjon/Aksjonarer/|title=Aksjonærer - Schibsted|website=www.schibsted.com|access-date=29 April 2018|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107005521/http://www.schibsted.com/no/Arsrapport-2015/Aksjeinformasjon/Aksjonarer/|archive-date=7 November 2017|df=dmy-all}}

The paper has around 240 employees.{{Cite web |title=Aftenposten AS - 890412882 - Oslo - Se Regnskap, Roller og mer |url=https://proff.no/selskap/aftenposten-as/oslo/aviser-fagblader-og-tidsskrifter/IEQ4MZ60ZDB/ |access-date=2023-04-11 |website=proff.no}} Trine Eilertsen was appointed editor-in-chief in 2020.

Aftenposten has correspondents based in Kyiv, Brussels, Washington D.C, Moscow and Istanbul (2025).{{Cite web |last=Njie |first=Ragnhild Aarø |title=Øst-Europa-korrespondent fast ansatt i Aftenposten |url=https://kampanje.com/medier/2022/07/aftenposten-ansetter-fast-ost-europa-korrespondent/ |access-date=2023-04-11 |website=kampanje.com |language=nb}}

History and profile

Aftenposten was founded by Christian Schibsted on 14 May 1860{{cite book|author=Bernard A. Cook|title=Europe Since 1945: An Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hafLHZgZtt4C&pg=PA935|year=2001|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-8153-4058-4|page=935}} under the name Christiania Adresseblad. The following year, it was renamed Aftenposten. Since 1885, the paper has printed two daily editions. A Sunday edition was published until 1919, and was reintroduced in 1990. The Friday-morning edition carries the A-magasinet supplement, featuring articles on science, politics, and the arts. In 1886, Aftenposten bought a rotary press, being the first Norwegian newspaper in this regard.{{cite journal |author=Svennik Hoyer|author-link=Svennik Høyer|title=The Political Economy of the Norwegian Press|journal= Scandinavian Political Studies|publisher=Danish Royal Library|url=http://img.kb.dk/tidsskriftdk/pdf/spso/spso_0003-PDF/spso_0003_95928.pdf|pages=85–141}}

Historically, Aftenposten labelled itself as "independent, conservative", most closely aligning their editorial platform with the Norwegian Conservative Party. This manifested itself in blunt anticommunism during the interwar era. During World War II, Aftenposten, due to its large circulation, was put under the directives of the German occupational authorities, and a Nazi editorial management was imposed. Its editor-in-chief was H. Nesse at that time, and he was arrested and imprisoned in Grini concentration camp.{{cite journal|author=Joachim Joesten|title=The Lights Went Out|journal=The Virginia Quarterly Review|date=Autumn 1942|volume=18|issue=4|page=551|jstor=26448498 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26448498}}

Aftenposten is based in Oslo.{{cite web|title=Annual report 2012|url=http://www.schibsted.com/global/annualreport/annual_report_2012_low%20ok.pdf|work=Schibsted Media Group|access-date=26 March 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924095114/http://www.schibsted.com/global/annualreport/annual_report_2012_low%20ok.pdf|archive-date=24 September 2015}} In the late 1980s, Egil Sundar served as the editor-in-chief and attempted to transform the paper into a nationally distributed newspaper.{{cite journal|author=Sigurd Allern|title=Journalistic and Commercial News Values. News Organizations as Patrons of an Institution and Market Actors|journal=Nordicom Review|date=2002|volume=2|issue=2|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/242189101}} However, he was forced to resign from his post due to his attempt.

Editions

In addition to the morning edition, Aftenposten published a separate evening edition called Aften (previously Aftenposten Aften). This edition was published on weekdays and Saturdays until the Sunday morning edition was reintroduced in 1990. The evening edition was only circulated in the central eastern part of Norway, i.e. Oslo and Akershus counties. Thus, it focused on news related to this area, in contrast with the morning edition, which focuses on national and international news. The evening edition was converted to tabloid format in 1997. From April 2006, the Thursday edition of Aften also included a special edition with news specific to a part of Oslo or Akershus, called Lokal Aften ("Local Evening"). This edition had eight versions, with each subscriber receiving the version which is most relevant to the area in which he or she lives. In areas not covered by any of the eight versions (for example Romerike and Follo), the version for central Oslo was distributed. From May 2009, Aften was only printed and distributed Tuesday through Thursday. The publication of Aften ended on 20 December 2012.{{cite news|title=Historien sett gjennom Aften-øyne|url=https://www.aftenposten.no/osloby/i/Opjx1/historien-sett-gjennom-aften-oeyne|access-date=14 October 2019|work=Aftenposten|date=20 December 2012}}

Aftenposten started its online edition in 1995.{{cite news|title=Online Journalism Atlas: Norway|url=http://onlinejournalismblog.com/2008/01/25/online-journalism-atlas-norway/|access-date=13 January 2015|work=Online Journalism|date=25 January 2008}}

Controversies

Aftenposten opposed the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to German pacifist Carl von Ossietzky in 1935.

In 1945, Aftenposten published an obituary of Adolf Hitler in which the 86-year-old Nobel-laureate novelist Knut Hamsun referred to Hitler as "a warrior for humankind and a preacher of the gospel of justice for all nations".{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/28/books/28hams.html|title=Norwegian Nobel Laureate, Once Shunned, Is Now Celebrated|work=The New York Times|date=27 February 2009|page=C1|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141208004621/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/28/books/28hams.html|archive-date=8 December 2014|url-status=live|first=Walter|last=Gibbs|issn=0362-4331|quote={{bracket|I}}n Oslo last week . . . at the National Library was the 7 May 1945, edition of a . . . newspaper whose lead article on Hitler’s death was by Knut Hamsun. As most collaborators lay low, preparing alibis, Hamsun wrote, ‘He was a warrior, a warrior for mankind, and a prophet of the gospel of justice for all nations’.}} At that time, Aftenposten was under the censorship of the German occupying forces.

Historically, Aftenposten has not received the same number of lawsuits or as much attention from the Norwegian Press Complaints Commission as some of the larger tabloids.{{citation needed|date=April 2016}} However, there are exceptions. In 2007, Aftenposten alleged that Julia Svetlichnaya, the last person to interview the murdered Russian national Alexander Litvinenko, was a Kremlin agent. London correspondent Hilde Harbo admitted having allowed herself to be fed disinformation emanating from the Russian emigrant community without investigating the matter properly.{{cite web|url=http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article1972241.ece |title=Svetlichnaja and Litvinenko: Clarifications |work=Aftenposten|date=9 December 2006 |access-date=1 February 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080214203801/http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article1972241.ece |archive-date=14 February 2008 }} Aftenposten eventually had to apologize and pay Svetlichnaya's legal costs.

In 2011 the newspaper was criticized by Jon Hustad for publishing conspiracy theories that promoted the false claim that convicted Soviet spy Arne Treholt was innocent, based entirely on a book by convicted fraudster Geir Selvik Malthe-Sørenssen that was revealed to be based on a fabricated source.{{cite news|last1=Hustad|first1=Jon|title=Konspirasjonsteoretikarane|date=17 June 2011|work=Dag og tid}} In a study dated 2016 Aftenposten was found to contain the epithet Negro (Norwegian: neger) at the highest frequency in the period between 1970 and 2014 with 674 references.{{cite journal|author=Paul Thomas|title=Papa, Am I a Negro? The Vexed History of the Racial Epithet in Norwegian Print Media (1970–2014)|journal=Race and Social Problems|year=2016|volume=8|issue=3 |page=233|doi=10.1007/s12552-016-9179-4|hdl=10642/4424 |s2cid=152211098 |hdl-access=free}} In 2021, the paper was criticized by the youth organization of the National Association for Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transgender People for allegedly publishing articles that promoted transphobic conspiracy theories about trans women.{{cite web |last1=Stenslie |first1=Sol|title=Pride er knapt over, før Aftenposten igjen lar en sinna mann spre hysteri og konspirasjonsteorier om transkvinner i idrett

|url=https://twitter.com/sol_sten/status/1410010016627806211|access-date=17 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211101182700/https://twitter.com/sol_sten/status/1410010016627806211|archive-date=1 November 2021}}

Editorial line

Aftenposten had a conservative stance and supported the political party Høyre{{cite journal|author=Rolf Werenskjold|title=The Dailies in Revolt|journal=Scandinavian Journal of History|date=2008|volume=33|issue=4|pages=417–440|doi=10.1080/03468750802423094|s2cid=142265516}} until the breakdown of party press system in the country. Following this, the paper positioned itself as an independent centre-right newspaper.

Language

From its establishment in 1860 until 1923, Aftenposten was published in the common Dano-Norwegian written language used in both Norway and Denmark, which was generally known as Danish in Denmark and as Norwegian in Norway, and which only occasionally included minor differences from each other in vocabulary or idiom. In 1923 Aftenposten adopted the Norwegian spelling standard of 1907, which mainly replaced the "soft" consonants (e.g. d, b) characteristic of Danish pronunciation (but also used in some Norwegian dialects) with "hard" consonants (e.g. t, p) characteristic of Eastern Central Norwegian pronunciation, but which was otherwise mostly identical with Danish. In 1928 Aftenposten adopted the most conservative variant of the spelling standard of 1917, which is largely similar to the "moderate Bokmål" or "Riksmål" standard used today.

During the Norwegian language struggle from the early 1950s, Aftenposten was the main newspaper of the Riksmål variety of Norwegian, and maintained close ties to the Riksmål movement's institutions, recognising the Norwegian Academy for Language and Literature as the sole authoritative body for regulating the Norwegian language as used by the newspaper. Due to its status as the country's largest and most influential newspaper, Aftenposten therefore had a significant influence on the developments that took place during the Norwegian language struggle. The "moderate" or "conservative" Riksmål language used by Aftenposten was mainly associated with a conservative stance in Norwegian politics, and was contrasted with the "radical" Samnorsk language, an attempt to merge Bokmål with Nynorsk which was promoted by socialist governments in the 1950s. By 1960 it had become apparent that the Samnorsk attempt had failed, and as a result, Aftenposten's Riksmål standard and the government-promoted Bokmål standard have in the following decades become almost identical as the Bokmål standard has incorporated nearly all of Riksmål. As a consequence, Aftenposten decided to describe its language as "Moderate Bokmål" from 2006, and published its own dictionary, based on Riksmål and Moderate Bokmål, but excluding "radical" (i.e. similar to Nynorsk) variants of Bokmål.

The online version of the paper for some years during the early 2000s had an English section. To cut costs, Aftenposten stopped publishing English-language articles in early November 2008. Archives of past material are still available online.{{cite news|title=So long, farewell ... |url=http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article2741143.ece |work=Aftenposten |date=5 November 2008 |access-date=20 November 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081208103416/http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article2741143.ece |archive-date=8 December 2008 |url-status=dead }}

Circulation

=''Aftenposten'' (morning paper)=

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color:blue width:7

bar:80 from:start till:223925

bar:81 from:start till:227122

bar:82 from:start till:230205

bar:83 from:start till:232459

bar:84 from:start till:233998

bar:85 from:start till:240600

bar:86 from:start till:252093

bar:87 from:start till:260915

bar:88 from:start till:264469

bar:89 from:start till:267278

bar:90 from:start till:265554

bar:90 from:start till:192896

bar:91 from:start till:269278

bar:92 from:start till:274870

bar:93 from:start till:278669

bar:94 from:start till:279965

bar:95 from:start till:282018

bar:96 from:start till:283915

bar:97 from:start till:286163

bar:98 from:start till:288078

bar:99 from:start till:284251

bar:00 from:start till:276429

bar:01 from:start till:262632

bar:02 from:start till:263026

bar:03 from:start till:256639

bar:04 from:start till:249861

bar:05 from:start till:252716

bar:06 from:start till:248503

bar:07 from:start till:250179

bar:08 from:start till:247556

bar:09 from:start till:243188

bar:10 from:start till:239831

bar:11 from:start till:235795

bar:12 from:start till:225981

bar:13 from:start till:214026

bar:14 from:start till:221659

bar:15 from:start till:211769

{{center|Aftenposten 1980–2015}}}}

Numbers from the Norwegian Media Businesses' Association, Mediebedriftenes Landsforening 1980–2009:

1980: 223,925
1981: 227,122
1982: 230,205
1983: 232,459
1984: 233,998
1985: 240,600
1986: 252,093
1987: 260,915
1988: 264,469
1989: 267,278
1990: 265,558
1991: 269,278
1992: 274,870
1993: 278,669
1994: 279,965
1995: 282,018
1996: 283,915
1997: 286,163
1998: 288,078
1999: 284,251
2000: 276,429
2001: 262,632
2002: 263,026
2003: 256,639
2004: 249,861
2005: 252,716
2006: 248,503
2007: 250,179
2008: 247,556
2009: 243,188
2010: 239,831
2011: 235,795
2012: 225,981
2013: 214,026
2014: 221,659
2015: 211,769

=''Aften'' (evening paper) - now defunct=

Numbers from the Norwegian Media Businesses' Association, Mediebedriftenes Landsforening: 1989–2009:

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color:skyblue width:7

bar:80 from:start till:0

bar:81 from:start till:0

bar:82 from:start till:0

bar:83 from:start till:0

bar:84 from:start till:0

bar:85 from:start till:0

bar:86 from:start till:0

bar:87 from:start till:0

bar:88 from:start till:0

bar:89 from:start till:193932

bar:90 from:start till:192896

bar:91 from:start till:195022

bar:92 from:start till:197738

bar:93 from:start till:198647

bar:94 from:start till:188544

bar:95 from:start till:186033

bar:96 from:start till:188635

bar:97 from:start till:191269

bar:98 from:start till:186417

bar:99 from:start till:180479

bar:00 from:start till:175783

bar:01 from:start till:167671

bar:02 from:start till:163924

bar:03 from:start till:155366

bar:04 from:start till:148067

bar:05 from:start till:141612

bar:06 from:start till:137141

bar:07 from:start till:131089

bar:08 from:start till:124807

bar:09 from:start till:111566

}}

1939: 78,700
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
1989: 193,932
1990: 192,896
1991: 195,022
1992: 197,738
1993: 198,647
1994: 188,544
1995: 186,003
1996: 188,635
1997: 191,269
1998: 186,417
1999: 180,497
2000: 175,783
2001: 167,671
2002: 163,924
2003: 155,366
2004: 148,067
2005: 141,612
2006: 137,141
2007: 131,089
2008: 124,807
2009: 111,566

=''Aftenposten.no'', online newspaper=

The online newspaper Aftenposten.no had an average of 827,000 daily readers in 2015, an increase from 620.000 in 2010.{{cite web|url=http://medienorge.uib.no/statistikk/medium/avis|title=medienorge|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160406181846/http://medienorge.uib.no/statistikk/medium/avis|archive-date=2016-04-06}}