New Time and Orientering enters a new era while the newspaper celebrates 60 years: After the change of ownership last Friday, you are also invited to the ownership side. Ur-SFs Einar Krog Grimsgaard (85) has subscribed since the first edition in 1953. He went in the breeze for the new solution.
(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
Ownership. It was The class match as Wednesday 20. November first told about the change of ownership in the newspaper you read here: New Time, in which busy Orientering.
After a few months of internal disagreement, between editors and majority shareholders and between different shareholders, last week came to an agreement: 15. November editor-in-chief Dag Herbjørnsrud signed that 77 percent of the shares be transferred from former owner Ahmet Kilicaslan, for a nominal value of NOK 90.000. These shares will be resold at the next general meeting.
Former shareholders and contributors are now invited from Orienteringperiod (1953-1975), as well as SV members and others from the New Time period (after 1975), on the owner's page in the newspaper. Others with affiliation to the newspaper tradition are also wanted in the further process.
Formerly Ivar Evensmo, son of Orienterings first editor Sigurd Evensmo, second largest shareholder. In addition, the Peace Council, the Antiracist Center and former owners Orienteringwriters smaller shareholdings in the newspaper, which on 19 February this year celebrated that it was 60 years since the first edition of the opposition, international and power-critical publication. Herbjørnsrud emphasizes that the newspaper is inclusive – and that the newspaper on the owner's side will now be 100 per cent for the newspaper's traditional line.
- I want to remove the doubt that owners are in the newspaper's tradition, said editor Herbjørnsrud to Klassekampen.
He emphasizes that in the articles of association of Ny Tid & Orientering AS in recent years has stated that the purpose is to «publish the weekly newspaper 'Ny Tid – in which it is engaged Orientering', both on paper, online and in electronic media, in the extension of the publication's tradition since its founding in 1953 ».
Conflict resolved
The conflict between editors and majority owners has waned on the newspaper since this spring.
- We have agreed to put the conflicts behind us for the good of the newspaper, says Herbjørnsrud, who for the time being also assumes administrative and financial responsibility.
Herbjørnsrud was hired as editor and manager in the summer of 2005, when the newspaper still had SV as its largest owner. After the red-greens won the election, both the party and the editorial staff agreed to separate teams. This meant that the publishing house Damm / Egmont took over in January 2006, when the newspaper went from tabloid to magazine information. Since then, Ny Tid has also visited Dagsavisen and Mentor Medier, which in May 2010 sold the shareholding to an international group at the request of the editorial staff.
The first traditional co-owners were invited back in February 2011. That process is now being brought up again, by Herbjørnsrud
– Ny Tid is also now somewhat more back where we were before the change of government in September 2005. Now it is about rebuilding much of what we have lost. We hope that as many of the newspaper's old and new friends as possible can now help us in a difficult time, where both paper newspapers in general and left-wing and globally oriented newspapers in particular are threatened, says Herbjørnsrud to Ny Tid.
The goal now is renewal within the tradition that has stood in since its predecessor Orientering was founded in 1953. A possible new co-owner is architect and Ny Tid & Orienteringsubscriber since 1953, Einar Krog Grimsgaard (b. 1928). He has all the editions of both Orientering and Ny Tid at home in his home on Nesodden, where he also helped start up Orienteringoffshoot SF in 1961.
- There are no other bodies in the Norwegian market that have managed to carry out such a thoroughgoing left-wing debate as Ny Tid, Grimsgaard says to Klassekampen.
In the autumn of 2013, Grimsgaard has been central in the negotiations to find a new time for Ny Tid.
New start for old newspaper
Also minority owner Ivar Evensmo, who earlier this autumn announced that he would sell out of Ny Tid & Orientering, will now be part of the new start. Evensmo is also interviewed by Klassekampen. He has the following comment on the new ownership situation:
- I am very happy to have put the internal strife behind us. The newspaper now has two main tasks: to strengthen confidence in the market, which has suffered, and to ensure that the journalistic product is critical, socially engaged and professional.
Work is now being done to get a proper newspaper product on its feet at the same time as work is being done to get support from the Cultural Council, which was withheld due to the level of conflict in the newspaper. It is also stated in the agreement between the parties that the debt in the company is a total of 270.000 kroner.
Editor Herbjørnsrud is ready to start again after a turbulent year:
- We have been weakened, but are now trying to rebuild, he says to Klassekampen.
Ny Tid has been through several changes of ownership since SV sold its 20 per cent shareholding in January 2006, when the newspaper was taken over by the proposal house Damm. Since then, the newspaper has also been with the daily newspaper and Mentor Medier. The party still has a right of first refusal on shares offered on the open market.
Eide's advice
It was businessman and conflict broker Kim Süslü who finally helped to solve the mess in Ny Tid. He has been involved in conflict resolution for over ten years and is used to resolving misunderstandings and finding good solutions.
- The most important thing I did was to bring the parties together in the same room where they could look each other in the eyes. Then a lot is done. – I eventually found out that on both sides there were idealists, with different ideals, but who wanted the best for the newspaper. Lack of dialogue and communication problems had created misunderstandings and accusations from both sides. My task was to erase these, explains Turkish-Norwegian Süslü.
- Despite the financial problems, I hope it will go well for Ny Tid. Norwegian democracy needs a newspaper with such perspectives on Norway and the world around us, says Süslü.
Elisabeth Eide is a professor of journalism at Oslo and Akershus University College. She replies from Morocco that she is relieved that the newspaper's ownership has now been clarified.
- It came in the count's time. New Time has a distinctive voice. The newspaper takes globalization seriously in an undogmatic way and brings original news that makes us think. It must continue with that. It should be possible to obtain some support from internationally oriented organizations, says Eide.
Are you interested in shares or assisting the newspaper in the future? Readers and former New Time and Orienteringaffiliates can contact the editor at dag@nytid.no. ■
(This is an excerpt from Ny Tid's weekly magazine 22.11.2013. Read the whole thing by buying Ny Tid in newspaper retailers all over the country, or by subscribing to Ny Tid -click here. Subscribers receive previous editions free of charge as PDF.)
