The Norwegian media landscape
Professor at the Department of Information Science and Media Studies, Helge Østbye, provides an overview of the Norwegian media landscape. The article describes the structures of various media sectors, accountability systems and Norwegian media policy.
Main content
From Østbye's conclusion:
Norway is a stable democracy with well-developed media. The press (news media like newspapers, radio and television) used to be very focused on political and social issues. Their aim was education and propaganda. In the postwar period, especially since the early 1980s, media outlets have become more and more focused on their own commercial results. The content is continually adapted to what is selling on the market. The competition between media outlets is strong. The worldwide financial decline in 2008 and 2009 has hit Norway less intensely than most other European economies, but the media’s revenues from advertising has been hit relatively hard. This comes in a period when newspaper reading has been in a slow decline for some years. It is at the end of 2009 difficult to distinguish between short-term economic factors and more long-term trends in media structure.
