Aftonbladet
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Aftonbladet | |
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| Type | Daily newspaper |
| Format | Tabloid |
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| Owner | LO (50.1%), Schibsted (49.9%) |
| Editor | Jan Helin |
| Founded | December 6, 1830 |
| Political allegiance | Independently Social Democratic |
| Headquarters | Arenavägen 63, Globen City, Stockholm |
| Circulation | 420 800 (march 2006) |
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| Website: www.aftonbladet.se | |
Aftonbladet (Swedish for The Evening Sheet) is a Swedish tabloid founded by Lars Johan Hierta in 1830 during the modernisation of Sweden. Today the newspaper labels itself as independent Social Democrat and is the largest daily newspaper in Nordic countries (according to Tidningsstatistik AB, a Swedish statistics company). Aftonbladet is owned by the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (LO) and Norwegian media group Schibsted. In 2006 the paper had 1,425,000 daily readers (Orvesto research 2005:2), circa 15% of the Swedish population.
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[edit] History
When it was first published in 1830 by Lars Johan Hierta, it was a tabloid that reported news and also criticised the new Swedish king Charles XIV John. The king stopped Aftonbladet from being printed and banned it, this was answered by starting the new newspaper "Det andra Aftonbladet" (The second Aftonbladet), which was subsequently banned, followed by new versions named in similar fashion until the newspaper had been renamed 26 times, after which it was allowed by the king. [1]
During its existence, Aftonbladet has leant in different political directions. Initially liberal, it drifted towards conservatism under Harald Sohlman, Editor in Chief from 1890 to 1921. During World War I, a majority holding was sold to the German government in a secret arrangement.
In 1929 the newspaper came under the control of the Kreuger family, when a majority of the shares was bought by Swedish Match, at that time the heart of Ivar Kreuger's corporate empire. Aftonbladet was labelled "neutral". In 1932 it backed Per Albin Hansson's new Social Democratic government. Just a few years later it realigned with the Liberal Party and turned to advocate liberal politics. Heavily influenced by pro-German staff members, the newspaper supported Germany during World War II.
The Kreuger era came to an end on October 8, 1956. Despite interest from both the Liberal Party and the Centre Party, Torsten Kreuger sold Aftonbladet to the Swedish Trade Union Confederation. The ownership change was first followed by a slight drop in circulation. In the 1960s, however, the newspaper saw its circulation surge rapidly, peaking at 507,000.
As reported by Ingmar Bergman, Aftonbladet was the main media force behind echoing his alleged finance misdeeds, which finally led to Bergman's self-imposed exile to Munich in 1970s. In his memoir book Laterna Magica, Bergman called Aftonbladet a rubbish yellow paper which had deliberately aimed at tarnishing his reputation.
By the early 1990s Aftonbladet had run into economical problems, and many had begun to question the competence of the trade union movement as a media owner. On May 2, 1996, the Norwegian media group Schibsted acquired a 49.9 percent stake in the newspaper. The Swedish Trade Union Confederation kept the remaining 50.1 percent of its shares, and retains full control of the political direction of Aftonbladet's editorial page. The same year, its circulation passed that of long-time tabloid rival Expressen.
[edit] Internet publishing
Aftonbladet adopted Internet publishing early on. It has been published on the world wide web since August 25, 1994, and the main news service is free. Since its inception, aftonbladet.se has consistently been rated as one of the top five most visited Swedish web sites in various surveys. Aftonbladet.se is also, according to themselves, the most visited news site in Europe.
[edit] Criticism
The journalistic quality of Aftonbladet has sometimes been questioned. In late 2006, the papers own journalist Peter Kadhammar directed criticism at the fact that his own paper appears to treat the love life of Swedish tabloid celebrity Linda Rosing as equally important to the war in Iraq. Also in 2006, Lonely Planet listed the very low quality of the Swedish evening press as one of the main drawbacks of Stockholm.[citation needed]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Aftonbladet blev starten för den fria pressen i Sverige from aftonbladet.se, accessed on 11 July, 2007.
[edit] External links
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