Norsk presses historie 1660–2010

Norsk presses historie 1660–2010 is a four-volume work about the press media history of Norway. It was released in April 2010 by Universitetsforlaget, and was the first book of its kind in Norway.

Structure and production

Hans Fredrik Dahl was the superior editor of all four volumes. The first volume, En samfunnsmakt blir til. 1660–1880 was edited by Martin Eide. The second volume, Presse, parti og publikum. 1880–1945 was edited by Rune Ottosen. The third volume, Imperiet vakler. 1945–2010 was edited by Guri Hjeltnes. The fourth volume, Norske aviser fra A til Å was edited by Idar Flo. The first three volumes are regular prose, the fourth volume is more of an encyclopedia with about 400 "newspaper biographies".^[1]

The work spans 1925 pages in total, thirty people have provided a substantial amount of writing; it cost NOK 15 million and eleven years were used.^[1] Some 130 writers contributed with "newspaper biographies".^[2] The release date in 2010 was to accommodate to the 100th anniversary of both the Norwegian Press Association and the Norwegian Media Businesses' Association, as well as the 350th anniversary of the establishment of absolute monarchy in the country.^[1] This way, the Norwegian press history is drawn far earlier back in time than the existence of newspapers and journalism.^[3] The original plan was to begin in 1763, the year of Norway's first newspaper Norske Intelligenz-Seddeler.^[2][4] Such a long-spanning history work on the press in Norway had not been written.^[5]

Reception

The newspaper VG received the work in a lukewarm way. Commentator Olav Versto criticized the third volume for not underlining VG's role enough, and academia in general for not understanding VG.^[6] Critic Sindre Hovdenakk insinuated that too much money had been spent on a not-brilliantly-written work. Handing out dice throws (a review where 1 is worst, 6 is best) to each of the four volumes, he rated all the prose volumes as 4 and the biography volume as a 3.^[7] In Dagens Næringsliv the work with its several authors was criticized as being of uneven quality and precision. The critic titled his piece "Impossible".^[8]

The newspaper Dag og Tid praised the four volumes as a "standard work".^[1] Dagsavisen called it an "impressive chronicle".^[9] Klassekampen also received it favourably.^[3]

Few local or regional newspapers gave critiques of the work. In an article Sogn Avis expressed happiness that Sogn og Fjordane had been case studied in Eide's volume.^[10] Odd S. Lovoll criticized the work for not containing much about Norwegian diaspora newspapers in the United States.^[11]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Nicolaysen, Bjørn Kvalsvik (21 May 2010). "Eit banebryta" (in Norwegian). Dag og Tid: pp. 20–21. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Mossin, Bjørn Åge (30 October 2009). "Et historisk år for norsk presse" (in Norwegian). Journalisten. http://www.journalisten.no/story/59249. 
3. ^ ^{a b} Bjerke, Paul (24 April 2010). "Avisenes kretsløp" (in Norwegian). Klassekampen: p. 10. 
4. ^ Keilhau, Wollert Otto Hallvard Konow (1924). "Norske Intelligenssedler". In Blangstrup, Chr. (in Danish). Salmonsens Konversationsleksikon. 18 (2 ed.). Copenhagen: J.H. Schultz Forlagsboghandel. pp. 235–236. http://runeberg.org/salmonsen/2/18/0261.html. Retrieved 23 June 2009. 
5. ^ Bromark, Stian (14 April 2010). "Siste nytt fra en sjofelist" (in Norwegian). Dagbladet: pp. 56–57. 
6. ^ Versto, Olav (15 April 2010). "Storverk med mangler" (in Norwegian). Dagbladet: p. 40. 
7. ^ Hovdenakk, Sindre (24 April 2010). "Pressehistorie uten trøkk" (in Norwegian). VG: p. 50. 
8. ^ Møst, Morten (21 April 2010). "Avisenes kretsløp" (in Norwegian). Dagens Næringsliv: p. 62. 
9. ^ Steinkjer, Mode (14 April 2010). "Solid og levende om den fjerde statsmakt" (in Norwegian). Dagsavisen: pp. 26–27. 
10. ^ Brekkekai, Kai Martin (15 April 2010). "Midt i pressesoga" (in Norwegian). Sogn Avis: pp. 18–19. 
11. ^ Holmøy, Katrine Ree (5 July 2010). "En glemt kulturarv" (in Norwegian). Klassekampen: p. 19.