Ny Tid is launched in newspaper format

(NB! Interview with the Minerva and Ny Tid editor at the bottom of the case.)

Back. FFriday, February 7, 2014 comes New Time, in which busy Orientering, again in newspaper format – after eight years as a news magazine. The newly launched newspaper you read here still has what it takes to have a global and radical perspective. And it will continue the legacy as a left-wing weekly newspaper back to 1953 – according to the articles of association in Ny Tid & Orientering AS.

Ivar Evensmo, professional advisor at Norad, is one of the co-owners of Ny Tid – in which he is involved Orientering, where his father Sigurd Evensmo became the first editor of 1953. Evensmo believes that in 2014 it is especially important that there is a weekly opposition newspaper in the Norwegian public

- Norway is a homogenous society where it can be difficult to develop countercurrent thinking. Therefore, we must ensure that we have a well-oriented opposition and environments that challenge the conventional. In a time characterized by more individualization and commercialization, there is a greater need than ever for a counterweight newspaper like Ny Tid, Evensmo says.

After the parliamentary elections in 2005, the governing party SV completely withdrew from the originally independent weekly newspaper. The publishing house Damm / Egmont took over the ownership in January 2006, and the newspaper was launched as a news magazine. Ny Tid won circulation, won awards and became Norway's most quoted periodical for several years in a row. But the newspaper quickly struggled financially. And after conflicts between the editorial staff and previous owners in 2013, the circulation dropped further.

Just before Christmas took over as editor in charge Dag Herbjørnsrud both the shares of former principal owners and the responsibility for the operation of the newspaper. Now thousands of shares have been resold to people in it traditional newspaper circle, like Einar Krog Grimsgaard, Torild Skard, Hilde Bojer og Trygve Natvig.

counterbalance Avis

Evensmo wants Ny Tid to be a newspaper that delves into many of the topics covered in the daily news picture, such as human rights, climate and foreign policy.

- I expect to read analytical articles and reports that give depth to the daily news flow, written by skilled journalists and interesting writers, Evensmo says.

Historian Tore Linné Eriksen, formerly Orienteringwriter and current book reviewer in Ny Tid, has also helped to provide input for the current reorganization. He believes the weekly newspaper Ny Tid is needed more than ever now that a dark blue government is in power in Norway. He wants Ny Tid to continue to be a strong voice when it comes to the international.

- Avisa should conduct a critical examination of Norway's foreign policy. In an anti-imperialist tradition, Ny Tid should cover that Norway promotes liberalization for business and oil interests abroad, says Linné Eriksen.

He believes Ny Tid is one of the few newspapers that do not get votes from the south. He refers, for example, to last week's Al-Jazeera report in Ny Tid, from oil extraction in Mozambique, as an example of how Ny Tid prioritises issues not seen in other Norwegian media.

- Politicians sell Norway as a humanitarian climate country. New Time should display an alternate image. It is becoming a global weekly newspaper that Ny Tid justifies its own existence, says Linné Eriksen.

Military follow-up

Researcher and former SV politician Torild Skard became the first woman in the presidency of the Storting. She has been a contributor to Orientering, is now a columnist in Ny Tid, and she has long been a significant voice in Norwegian women's work. Skard wants New Time «to have a critical analysis of patriarchal features of society and follow up the feminist women's movement nationally and internationally ». She certainly believes that an opposition newspaper like Ny Tid on the Norwegian left is needed.

- I want Ny Tid to have a critical analysis of the military development and follow up the national and international peace work. The magazine will also critically analyze capitalism nationally and internationally and support environmental conservation, democracy, justice and the equalization of power and resources, says Skard.

- Continue the project

Architect and «watch SFs» Einar Krog Grimsgaard (85) has been a subscriber since the first regular edition on 19 February 1953. During the newspaper's 60th anniversary event on 7 February last year, exactly one year ago, he became an honorary subscriber. Now he has bought shares for 10.000 kroner in the newspaper. He resolutely answers the question of whether Norway needs an opposition newspaper such as Ny Tid:

- Yes of course. Opposition newspapers are vital for a society. We need a strong opposition on both sides of politics in all kinds of society, otherwise the social structures will stiffen and in the worst case lead to a unification that can be dangerous, says Grimsgaard.

- What do you want from Ny Tid?

- I agree with Ny Tid's stated goals, and I want the newspaper to continue its project. Ny Tid will continue and fulfill the important social task the newspaper has, still lie far to the left of the Labor Party and be a clear socialist newspaper, says Grimsgaard.

New Time is not needed

The conservative Minerva editor Nils August Andresen believes there is no longer room for New Time in today's Norway.

BY AURORA HANNISDAL

Critical. Editor of the conservative magazine Minerva, Nils August Andresen, believes it is a problem that people on the left are critical of each other.

- There are many axes in Norwegian politics, and it is not certain that it is wise to equip everyone with their own publications. The left has many publishing arenas. The question is whether there will not be too many. The Norwegian left condemns not only the right, but also each other. I think the left needs to cooperate, says Andresen.

- Need a newspaper like Ny Tid – in which busy Orientering – in the Norwegian public?

- No. I would still like to add that we need the views of New Time. We also need the international focus, which is often lacking in Norwegian media everyday life. I think the problem is that Ny Tid is read by an audience that already agrees with most of what is in the newspaper, says Andresen.

The new Conservative-FRP government has already announced that it wants to stop the weekly newspaper support to the Cultural Council, where niche newspapers such as Dag og Tid and Ny Tid receive support. Instead, the plan is to transfer the newspapers to the Norwegian Media Authority for benefits after circulation. Cuts have already been announced in the Cultural Council's budgets for 2014.

Welcome

With the return to newspaper format, and with a new design and new columnists, editor Dag Herbjørnsrud welcomes old and new subscribers to an outgoing weekly newspaper. He points out that Ny Tid is the only left-wing weekly newspaper in the country, and that the largest newspapers have a right-wing tradition in line with the current governing parties.

- We now want to clarify the newspaper's profile. I understand that many subscribers in recent years have been insecure, both due to unfamiliar ownership and perhaps the unfamiliar magazine information. Now we are back with both the traditional Ny Tid newspaper format as well as with traditional and idealistic owners. We hope to be able to be a body for idealistic and left-wing environments, says Herbjørnsrud, who emphasizes that the newspaper has poor finances after all the turbulence.

Avisa has long been controversial, though not as much as when Ny Tid was raided by the police in 1977. The recent years' nominations of Kohinoor, Maria Amelie, Bjønnulv Evenrud and Neda (12) for Norwegians of the Year have set minds on fire and brought threats against the newspaper. It was also not graciously mentioned among many that Ali Farah was allowed to speak in a column in 2008. Issues such as the revelation of Norwegian arms sales to Gaddafi's Libya and of the Halden reactor's nuclear cooperation with Brazil's military industry have set the agenda in Norwegian politics over the past few years. .

In recent months, the editorial staff has also been able to digitize everyone Orienteringthe vintages from 1952 to 1975, something subscribers according to the plan will soon have access to, the editor states.

New Time and Orientering

• Trial edition in December 1952, with former Labor politician Jakob Friis as editor. First ordinary edition 19 December 1953, with the author Sigurd Evensmo as first editor.

• OrienteringThe circle had its origins in the radical and NATO-critical milieu in the Labor Party. From the start, he stood for a third position between the blocs, with the goal of being critical of the great powers in the east and west. Became an "open space in the ice" during the Cold War.

• OrienteringThe circle was excluded from the Labor Party in the spring of 1961. Finn Gustavsen and several others founded the Socialist People's Party (SF), which changed its name to SV in 1975.

• Simultaneously with the transition from SF to SV in 1975, was Orientering incorporated into the newly created Ny Tid from 13 August 1975. Avisa was formally affiliated with SV, which continued as the main owner until 1998.

• From 24 January 2006, SV withdrew completely from the newspaper. Since then, Damm, Mentor Medier, Dagsavisen and an international group have all had operational responsibility for the newspaper, which has tried to remain in the tradition. From the turn of the year 2013/2014, employees and idealistic individuals associated with the newspaper have regained responsibility for the operation of Ny Tid.