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September – Norway

What’s black and white and red all over? It’s the newspaper mama, newspaper mama.

At no time is freedom of speech more precious than when a man hits his thumb with a hammer ~ Marshall Lumsden, American journalist

The Plan: To work for a Norwegian newspaper, writing an English column about experiencing Norway through foreign eyes.

Norwegian newspapers are cool. Like one called VG. I’ve wanted to work there ever since I heard Eivind Thomsen, a former senior VP of its parent company Schibsted, speak at a function. He told a quirky tale about how one year the paper decided to print a male and female version of the paper on Valentine’s Day – blue for boys and pink for girls. He also spoke about the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami and how, when it hit Asia and Indonesia, VG became the go-between for those caught up in the disaster and those worried about the fate of their loved ones. Norwegian nationals posted photographs, shared their stories and updated their statuses in real time direct to the VG site. Norwegian newspapers are some of the most progressive media organisations in Europe because they aren’t afraid to take chances. I’m hoping a Norwegian newspaper will take one on me despite the fact I cannot write or speak Norwegian and many of their papers have no English content.

Fast Facts:

-Schibsted is a Scandinavian media group with approximately 7,500 employees spread across 26 countries.

-VG was founded after the Second Word War by a group of individuals with close ties to the Norwegian liberation movement.

-Its head office is situated in Oslo.

-The first edition came out on June 23, 1945. Schibsted has owned VG since 1966.

-The newspaper continually works on innovation and has become Norway’s leading provider of news, entertainment and other information of topical interest, 24 hours a day.

-VG combines newspaper, the internet and mobile communication.