Arbeider-Avisa
Encyclopedia
Arbeider-Avisa was a daily newspaper published in Trondheim
, Norway, started in 1924 and defunct in 1996. Until 1989 it was officially the newspaper for the Norwegian Labour Party
.
majority in the local party organisation in Trondheim, and the newly formed Norwegian Communist Party, secured the party's assets, including the party newspaper Ny Tid
, established in 1899. Among the most known staff in Ny Tid was Martin Tranmæl
. The Labour Party in Trondheim prioritised the work to establish a new newspaper, and at the annual meeting it created an extra member fee for the purpose. A new newspaper was published on March 15, 1924 under the name Arbeider-Avisen - organ for the Norwegian Labour Party. Within the party many regarded the newspaper as a direct succession of Ny Tid.
Trøndelag Social-Demokrat, established by the Social Democratic Labour
who had left the Labour Party during the first party split in 1917, was merged into Arbeider-Avisen in 1927. At the same time, the Social Democrats were merged into Labour. Later the newspaper Arbeidets Rett in Levanger
was merged with Arbeider-Avisen, making it a pan-Trøndelag
newspaper. In 1939 Ny Tid lost the struggle against Arbeider-Avisen and became defunct. Arbeider-Avisen had prospered after the cabinet Nygaardsvold
, led by Johan Nygaardsvold
from Trøndelag, assumed national office.
(15,000 issues) followed by the conservative
Adresseavisen
(15,000 issues), Arbeider-Avisen (10,000 issues) and the liberal
Nidaros
(10,000 issues).
Arbeider-Avisen continued to come out during the war, but soon met problems. In article
and editorial
s there were clear stands in cases that were in conflict with the German interests, resulting in that the newspaper was stopped for shorter or longer periods. The first such stop occurred on August 30, 1940 and the newspaper was stopped for six days. The punishment came after a small notice from a municipal council
debate in Leksvik
under the title "Someone who doesn't give up". Under the real message is was added: "We have taken under doubt to increase the line distance so the readers better can read between the lines". The final stop order came on January 29, 1941 when German and Norwegian police met up at Adresseavisen's printing press
where Arbeider-Avisen was printed and wrecked the printed pages with a sledgehammer
. The three other Trondheim newspapers barely mentioned the event with a small notice from central authorities: "Arbeider-Avisen has lately repeatedly published articles and messages that only has had the intention of giving an unwanted influence on the newspaper's readers, and by that evading civil obedience, at the same time it is damaging the work that Norwegian and German authorities are conducting in cooperation. The stop was intended to last only four weeks, but instad leaster throughout the entire war. The newspaper's editor Harald Langhelle
was in October 1942 arrested and executed as one of ten after a sabotage
at Fosdalen Mines in Malm
.
was launched, a common newspaper created by Adresseavisen, Arbeider-Avisen and Nidaros. It was produced at Adresseavisen after press from the resistance
, who wanted to avoid to much unfair competition because of the many newspapers that were stopped during the war. But on May 14 the ordinary newspapers were back on the street, each with about 30,000 issues. Dagsposten was not part of the project, the newspaper had voluntarily been nazified
during the was and did not survive the peace. The Christian Dagsavisa was established in the ruins of Dagsposten and survived about ten years. In light of communisms newgained popularity Ny Tid was published again for two years, before being closed again. Adresseavisen had during the war taken over both advertisers and subscribers who had fled from Dagsposten.
While Adresseavisen and to a certain extent Nidaros had intact production equipment, Arbeider-Avisa stated with nothing. Not even a pencil was left after the Germany occupants had cleansed the offices. But thanks to hard work from former employees and not least the labour unions, the newspaper could again start production, layout and printed at Adresseavisen, with Ole Øisang
back as editor
. Adresseavisen was convicted, as part of the newspaper trials after the war, to pay a compansation of NOK
600,000 to all newspapers. Despite this, it didn't take many days after the war to see that Adresseavisen had won the newspaper war. In 1947 Arbeider-Avisa (21.400) had half the number of subscribers as Adresseavisen (41.000).
to strengthen the economy, something that also happened. The two other newspapers were demerged in the 1970s and 90s respectively.
Arbeider-Avisa was an innovative newspaper when it came to technology. Early in the 1970s it converted to tabloid format at the same time it started printing in offset
at its own press. In 1974 it became a morning newspaper, but this was not a success since Adresseavisen was well established in the morning market. In the middle of the 1980s the newspaper was one of the first in Norway were the journalists wrote the articles directly into computers.
Only once, in 1971, has the newspaper been close to the target issue number of 20,000, right before the Norwegian European Communities membership referendum, 1972. Editor Eigil Gullvåg
took a stand for Norwegian EEC membership
, unlike most of the opinion
in Central Norway and among the newspapers readers and the growth was changed to decline. Norsk Arbeiderpresse
(now A-Pressen) went into the ownership of Arbeider-Avisa in the late 1980s and declared the newspaper a priority area, but neither this put an end to the rumours of an imminent death. Editor Terje Dalen lead the first dramatic cut-back and 30 prosent of the employees had to quit in 1989. After 45 years in Folkets Hus in Midtbyen Arbeider-Avisa moved the offices and press to a new building in Lade
in 1990 under leadership of editor Bjørn Stuevold. In Folkets Hus in the city centre the offices had grown so much it had been in four floors, connected through labyrinths of corridors.
(SiT) and Norske Aller became coowners of the multimedia corporation Trøndelag Avis og Kringkasting through a cooperation with Radio 1
and Norsk Arbeiderpresse. A major refinancing was to insure the newspaper a good economy without debt. As part of the agreement SiT was to buy between 2,000 and 3,000 subscriptions and give these onwards to its students, an agreement that met large resistance among the students and was quickly abolished.
A refinancing in the fall of 1994 was successful, where the competitor Adresseavisen was part. The year later all the employees in the newspaper were fired and asked to apply to new jobs in the newspaper in an attempt to reduce the number of employees and save money. But the losses continued, among others because of the reduction in sold newspapers. Just at the end of the newspapers life the owners in A-Pressen asked Adresseavisen if they wanted joint ownership in the company, but before they answered A-Pressen declared the newspaper bankrupt. The last issue came out on February 27, 1996 with 11,036 issues. Repeated attempts to start again failed. But after the bankruptcy was processed most of the creditor
s got their assets back. Arbeiderbladet
bought the subscriber list while the Norwegian Labour Movement Archive and Library bought the archive
.
Trondheim
Trondheim , historically, Nidaros and Trondhjem, is a city and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. With a population of 173,486, it is the third most populous municipality and city in the country, although the fourth largest metropolitan area. It is the administrative centre of...
, Norway, started in 1924 and defunct in 1996. Until 1989 it was officially the newspaper for the Norwegian Labour Party
Norwegian Labour Party
The Labour Party is a social-democratic political party in Norway. It is the senior partner in the current Norwegian government as part of the Red-Green Coalition, and its leader, Jens Stoltenberg, is the current Prime Minister of Norway....
.
Born from party split
The newspaper was born as a consequence of the split of the Labour Party in the fall of 1923. Unlike in most of the country, there was a CommunistCommunism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
majority in the local party organisation in Trondheim, and the newly formed Norwegian Communist Party, secured the party's assets, including the party newspaper Ny Tid
Ny Tid (Trondheim)
Ny Tid was a Norwegian newspaper established in 1899 by the typographers Joh. Halseth and Alf Scheflo at the same time as they established their own printing office in Trondheim. The publishers meant to create a worker's newspaper, not a socialist paper...
, established in 1899. Among the most known staff in Ny Tid was Martin Tranmæl
Martin Tranmæl
Martin Olsen Tranmæl was a radical Norwegian socialist leader.-Biography:Martin Tranmæl grew up in a middle-sized farm in Melhus, in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. He started working as a painter and construction worker. In the early 20th century, Tranmæl lived for a while in the USA where he came...
. The Labour Party in Trondheim prioritised the work to establish a new newspaper, and at the annual meeting it created an extra member fee for the purpose. A new newspaper was published on March 15, 1924 under the name Arbeider-Avisen - organ for the Norwegian Labour Party. Within the party many regarded the newspaper as a direct succession of Ny Tid.
Trøndelag Social-Demokrat, established by the Social Democratic Labour
Social Democratic Labour Party of Norway
The Social Democratic Labour Party of Norway was a Norwegian political party in the 1920s. Following the Labour Party's entry into the Comintern in 1919, its right wing left the party to form the Social Democratic Labour Party in 1921...
who had left the Labour Party during the first party split in 1917, was merged into Arbeider-Avisen in 1927. At the same time, the Social Democrats were merged into Labour. Later the newspaper Arbeidets Rett in Levanger
Levanger
Levanger is a town and municipality in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Innherred region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Levanger...
was merged with Arbeider-Avisen, making it a pan-Trøndelag
Trøndelag
Trøndelag is the name of a geographical region in the central part of Norway, consisting of the two counties Nord-Trøndelag and Sør-Trøndelag. The region is, together with Møre og Romsdal, part of a larger...
newspaper. In 1939 Ny Tid lost the struggle against Arbeider-Avisen and became defunct. Arbeider-Avisen had prospered after the cabinet Nygaardsvold
Cabinet Nygaardsvold
Nygaardsvold's Cabinet was appointed on 20 March 1935, the second Labour cabinet in Norway. It closed the brought to an end the non-socialist, minority Governments that had been dominating politics since the introduction of the parliamentary system in 1884, and replaced it with stable, Labour...
, led by Johan Nygaardsvold
Johan Nygaardsvold
Johan Nygaardsvold was a Norwegian politician from the Labour Party. He was Prime Minister of Norway from 1935 to 1945 , as head of the cabinet Nygaardsvold.-Political career:...
from Trøndelag, assumed national office.
Stopped during the war
During World War II and the German occupation of Norway the entire media environment in Trondheim changed. At the start of the war the city had four daily newspapers, the largest being DagspostenDagsposten
Dagsposten was a Norwegian newspaper, published in Trondheim in Sør-Trøndelag county.It was started on 2 October 1877 by Olai Olsen. He chose a connection with the liberal politician Johan Sverdrup, who later founded the Liberal Party. It soon became the largest newspaper in Central Norway...
(15,000 issues) followed by the conservative
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
Adresseavisen
Adresseavisen
Adresseavisen is a regional newspaper published daily, except Sundays, in Trondheim, Norway. It is an independent, conservative newspaper with a daily circulation of approximately 85,000. It is also informally known as Adressa. The newspaper covers the areas of Trøndelag and Nordmøre.Adresseavisen...
(15,000 issues), Arbeider-Avisen (10,000 issues) and the liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
Nidaros
Nidaros (newspaper)
Nidaros was a Norwegian newspaper, published in Trondheim in Sør-Trøndelag.Nidaros was started on 1 May 1902. Its first editor was former Dagsposten editor Håkon Løken, and with its Liberal Party affiliation Nidaros became the largest newspaper in Trondheim, with a circulation of 20–30,000...
(10,000 issues).
Arbeider-Avisen continued to come out during the war, but soon met problems. In article
Article (publishing)
An article is a written work published in a print or electronic medium. It may be for the purpose of propagating the news, research results, academic analysis or debate.-News articles:...
and editorial
Editorial
An opinion piece is an article, published in a newspaper or magazine, that mainly reflects the author's opinion about the subject. Opinion pieces are featured in many periodicals.-Editorials:...
s there were clear stands in cases that were in conflict with the German interests, resulting in that the newspaper was stopped for shorter or longer periods. The first such stop occurred on August 30, 1940 and the newspaper was stopped for six days. The punishment came after a small notice from a municipal council
Municipalities of Norway
Norway is divided into 19 administrative regions, called counties , and 430 municipalities...
debate in Leksvik
Leksvik
Leksvik is a village and a municipality in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway. The administrative center of the municipality is the village of Leksvik. Other villages in Leksvik include Vanvikan, Seter, and Dalbygda. Norwegian County Road 755 is the main road that connects the whole municipality from...
under the title "Someone who doesn't give up". Under the real message is was added: "We have taken under doubt to increase the line distance so the readers better can read between the lines". The final stop order came on January 29, 1941 when German and Norwegian police met up at Adresseavisen's printing press
Printing press
A printing press is a device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium , thereby transferring the ink...
where Arbeider-Avisen was printed and wrecked the printed pages with a sledgehammer
Sledgehammer
A sledgehammer is a tool consisting of a large, flat head attached to a lever . The head is typically made of metal. The sledgehammer can apply more impulse than other hammers, due to its large size. Along with the mallet, it shares the ability to distribute force over a wide area...
. The three other Trondheim newspapers barely mentioned the event with a small notice from central authorities: "Arbeider-Avisen has lately repeatedly published articles and messages that only has had the intention of giving an unwanted influence on the newspaper's readers, and by that evading civil obedience, at the same time it is damaging the work that Norwegian and German authorities are conducting in cooperation. The stop was intended to last only four weeks, but instad leaster throughout the entire war. The newspaper's editor Harald Langhelle
Harald Langhelle
Harald H. Langhelle was a Norwegian newspaper editor and politician for the Labour Party.He was born in Dale, Hordaland, and became editor-in-chief of Nordlands Social-Demokrat in 1919. He was elected to the Parliament of Norway from the Market towns of Nordland, Troms and Finnmark in 1921, and...
was in October 1942 arrested and executed as one of ten after a sabotage
Sabotage
Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening another entity through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. In a workplace setting, sabotage is the conscious withdrawal of efficiency generally directed at causing some change in workplace conditions. One who engages in sabotage is...
at Fosdalen Mines in Malm
Malm
is a former municipality, a village, and the administrative centre of the municipality of Verran in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway. Malm is located along the Trondheimsfjord, about a drive west from the town of Steinkjer. The village of Malm has a population of 1,572. The population density of...
.
The end of the war
When the peace came on May 8, 1945, Trondheims-PressenTrondheims-Pressen
Trondheims-Pressen was a cooperative newspaper published in Trondheim, Norway from May 8 to May 12, 1945 by Arbeider-Avisen, Nidaros and Adresseavisen....
was launched, a common newspaper created by Adresseavisen, Arbeider-Avisen and Nidaros. It was produced at Adresseavisen after press from the resistance
Norwegian resistance movement
The Norwegian resistance to the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany began after Operation Weserübung in 1940 and ended in 1945. It took several forms:...
, who wanted to avoid to much unfair competition because of the many newspapers that were stopped during the war. But on May 14 the ordinary newspapers were back on the street, each with about 30,000 issues. Dagsposten was not part of the project, the newspaper had voluntarily been nazified
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
during the was and did not survive the peace. The Christian Dagsavisa was established in the ruins of Dagsposten and survived about ten years. In light of communisms newgained popularity Ny Tid was published again for two years, before being closed again. Adresseavisen had during the war taken over both advertisers and subscribers who had fled from Dagsposten.
While Adresseavisen and to a certain extent Nidaros had intact production equipment, Arbeider-Avisa stated with nothing. Not even a pencil was left after the Germany occupants had cleansed the offices. But thanks to hard work from former employees and not least the labour unions, the newspaper could again start production, layout and printed at Adresseavisen, with Ole Øisang
Ole Øisang
Ole Thorsen Øisang was a Norwegian newspaper editor and politician for the Labour Party.-Early life and career:...
back as editor
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
. Adresseavisen was convicted, as part of the newspaper trials after the war, to pay a compansation of NOK
Norwegian krone
The krone is the currency of Norway and its dependent territories. The plural form is kroner . It is subdivided into 100 øre. The ISO 4217 code is NOK, although the common local abbreviation is kr. The name translates into English as "crown"...
600,000 to all newspapers. Despite this, it didn't take many days after the war to see that Adresseavisen had won the newspaper war. In 1947 Arbeider-Avisa (21.400) had half the number of subscribers as Adresseavisen (41.000).
Post-war
After the war Arbeider-Avisa had three major developments. The number of issues fell, costs exceeding income and the removal of the church journalism. In 1964 the newspaper merged with Namdal Arbeiderblad in the company A/S Trønderpresse and some time later with Stjørdalens BladStjørdalens Blad
Stjørdalens Blad is a local newspaper published in Stjørdal, Norway. It covers Stjørdal and Meråker. It was established in 1892.It has a circulation of 7634, of whom 7023 are subscribers....
to strengthen the economy, something that also happened. The two other newspapers were demerged in the 1970s and 90s respectively.
Arbeider-Avisa was an innovative newspaper when it came to technology. Early in the 1970s it converted to tabloid format at the same time it started printing in offset
Offset printing
Offset printing is a commonly used printing technique in which the inked image is transferred from a plate to a rubber blanket, then to the printing surface...
at its own press. In 1974 it became a morning newspaper, but this was not a success since Adresseavisen was well established in the morning market. In the middle of the 1980s the newspaper was one of the first in Norway were the journalists wrote the articles directly into computers.
Only once, in 1971, has the newspaper been close to the target issue number of 20,000, right before the Norwegian European Communities membership referendum, 1972. Editor Eigil Gullvåg
Eigil Gullvåg
Eigil Gullvåg was a Norwegian newspaper editor and politician for the Labour Party.He was born in Trondheim. He was hired as a journalist in Arbeider-Avisa in 1945, and was editor-in-chief from 1958 to 1983. When stepping down as editor-in-chief, he was decorated with the HM The King's Medal of...
took a stand for Norwegian EEC membership
European Economic Community
The European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) The European Economic Community (EEC) (also known as the Common Market in the English-speaking world, renamed the European Community (EC) in 1993The information in this article primarily covers the EEC's time as an independent...
, unlike most of the opinion
Opinion
In general, an opinion is a subjective belief, and is the result of emotion or interpretation of facts. An opinion may be supported by an argument, although people may draw opposing opinions from the same set of facts. Opinions rarely change without new arguments being presented...
in Central Norway and among the newspapers readers and the growth was changed to decline. Norsk Arbeiderpresse
A-pressen
A-pressen is one of the three largest media companies in Norway and was established on May 27, 1948 with the name Norsk Arbeiderpresse . It got its present name in 1994...
(now A-Pressen) went into the ownership of Arbeider-Avisa in the late 1980s and declared the newspaper a priority area, but neither this put an end to the rumours of an imminent death. Editor Terje Dalen lead the first dramatic cut-back and 30 prosent of the employees had to quit in 1989. After 45 years in Folkets Hus in Midtbyen Arbeider-Avisa moved the offices and press to a new building in Lade
Lade, Trondheim
Lade is a community in Trondheim, Norway. It is located on a peninsula north-east of the city centre, north of the community of Lademoen. It was the site of the historic Lade farm.-History:...
in 1990 under leadership of editor Bjørn Stuevold. In Folkets Hus in the city centre the offices had grown so much it had been in four floors, connected through labyrinths of corridors.
Last years
In 1993 the newspaper changed name to Avisa Trondheim at the same time it moved back to the city centre. On the owner side there had been a small revolution as Student Welfare Organisation in TrondheimStudent Welfare Organisation in Trondheim
The Student Welfare Organisation in Trondheim or SiT is the student welfare organisation in Trondheim, Norway and is responsible for the welfare of about 25,000 students at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology , Sør-Trøndelag University College and Queen Maud's College of Early...
(SiT) and Norske Aller became coowners of the multimedia corporation Trøndelag Avis og Kringkasting through a cooperation with Radio 1
Radio 1 (Norway)
Radio 1 is a radio network in Norway. It is available in the towns and environs of Oslo, Trondheim, Bergen and Stavanger....
and Norsk Arbeiderpresse. A major refinancing was to insure the newspaper a good economy without debt. As part of the agreement SiT was to buy between 2,000 and 3,000 subscriptions and give these onwards to its students, an agreement that met large resistance among the students and was quickly abolished.
A refinancing in the fall of 1994 was successful, where the competitor Adresseavisen was part. The year later all the employees in the newspaper were fired and asked to apply to new jobs in the newspaper in an attempt to reduce the number of employees and save money. But the losses continued, among others because of the reduction in sold newspapers. Just at the end of the newspapers life the owners in A-Pressen asked Adresseavisen if they wanted joint ownership in the company, but before they answered A-Pressen declared the newspaper bankrupt. The last issue came out on February 27, 1996 with 11,036 issues. Repeated attempts to start again failed. But after the bankruptcy was processed most of the creditor
Creditor
A creditor is a party that has a claim to the services of a second party. It is a person or institution to whom money is owed. The first party, in general, has provided some property or service to the second party under the assumption that the second party will return an equivalent property or...
s got their assets back. Arbeiderbladet
Dagsavisen
Dagsavisen is a daily newspaper published in Oslo, Norway. The former party organ of the Norwegian Labour Party, the ties loosened over time from 1975 to 1999, and it is now fully independent...
bought the subscriber list while the Norwegian Labour Movement Archive and Library bought the archive
Archive
An archive is a collection of historical records, or the physical place they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or organization's lifetime, and are kept to show the function of an organization...
.
Revival as Arbeideravisa
In January 2008, the newspaper resumed publication under the name Arbeideravisa. However, it only lasted until August the same year.Editors
- Hjalmar WaageHjalmar WaageHjalmar Waage was a Norwegian newspaper editor and writer.He was born in Bergen, and joined the Norwegian Labour Party in 1908. He became editor-in-chief of Arbeidets Ret in 1913, sub-editor of Fremtiden in 1915 before being hired in Social-Demokraten in 1920...
1924–1925 - Ole ØisangOle ØisangOle Thorsen Øisang was a Norwegian newspaper editor and politician for the Labour Party.-Early life and career:...
1925–1940 - Harald LanghelleHarald LanghelleHarald H. Langhelle was a Norwegian newspaper editor and politician for the Labour Party.He was born in Dale, Hordaland, and became editor-in-chief of Nordlands Social-Demokrat in 1919. He was elected to the Parliament of Norway from the Market towns of Nordland, Troms and Finnmark in 1921, and...
1940–1942 - Ole ØisangOle ØisangOle Thorsen Øisang was a Norwegian newspaper editor and politician for the Labour Party.-Early life and career:...
1945–1958 - Eigil GullvågEigil GullvågEigil Gullvåg was a Norwegian newspaper editor and politician for the Labour Party.He was born in Trondheim. He was hired as a journalist in Arbeider-Avisa in 1945, and was editor-in-chief from 1958 to 1983. When stepping down as editor-in-chief, he was decorated with the HM The King's Medal of...
1958–1983 - Terje Dalen 1983–1990
- Bjørn Stuevold 1990–1992
- Randi Rassmussen 1992–1995
- Torgeir Winnberg 1995–1996