Presseabteilung

Last updated

The Presseabteilung was a press department created shortly after the German occupation of Norway in April 1940. Through the department, Germans controlled the content of Norwegian newspapers.

Both the Norwegian fascist party Nasjonal Samling and the Norwegian Ministry of Culture and Enlightenment wanted to control newspapers, but the German occupants used the press department to get the final power of decision. The department consisted of bureaus for general press policy, daily newspapers, illustrated press, culture and economy journalism, news and information.

The work was based on political control of the press, meaning direct interference, closing, firing of editors and journalists, and even arrests.

Oslo papers that were being published got the messages of what to print through the daily press conferences, other papers got classified daily orders by telephone or teleprinter, the latter an innovation brought to Norwegian newspapers by the Germans. Orders went into detail about how the occupant power wanted each piece of news handled, as well as what events were not to be covered at all. NS papers were also established. The largest and best known was Fritt Folk ("Free People"), which took over the offices of Arbeiderbladet after this Oslo paper was closed down in August 1940.

Several papers that refused to follow guidelines were shut down for longer or shorter periods. Some were made subject to prior restraint rather than the normal censorship after the fact. However, perhaps the most effective sanction was paper rationing.

The department managed to reduce the number of publications, which made its censorship work easier. Towns that had more than one newspaper before the war, were usually left with one.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vidkun Quisling</span> Norwegian politician, Nazi collaborator (1887–1945)

Vidkun Abraham Lauritz Jonssøn Quisling was a Norwegian military officer, politician and Nazi collaborator who nominally headed the government of Norway during the country's occupation by Nazi Germany during World War II.

<i>Verdens Gang</i> Norwegian daily newspaper

Verdens Gang, generally known under the abbreviation VG, is a Norwegian tabloid newspaper. In 2016, circulation numbers stood at 93,883, declining from a peak circulation of 390,510 in 2002. Nevertheless, VG is the most-read online newspaper in Norway, with about 2 million daily readers.

<i>Dagbladet</i> Norwegian daily newspaper

Dagbladet is one of Norway's largest newspapers and is published in the tabloid format. It has 1,400,000 daily readers on mobile, web and paper. Traditionally Dagbladet it was considered the main liberal newspaper of Norway, with a generally liberal progressive editorial outlook, to some extent associated with the movement of cultural radicalism in Scandinavian history.

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. It has borne several names, and was called Arbeiderbladet from 1923 to 1997. Eirik Hoff Lysholm is editor-in-chief. The newspaper depends on economic support from the Norwegian Government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Printed media in the Soviet Union</span>

Printed media in the Soviet Union, i.e., newspapers, magazines and journals, were under strict control of the CPSU and the Soviet state. The desire to disseminate propaganda was believed to had been the driving force behind the creation of the early Soviet newspapers. Newspapers were the essential means of communicating with the public, which meant that they were the most powerful way available to spread propaganda and capture the hearts of the population. Additionally, within the Soviet Union the press evolved into the messenger for the orders from the CPSU Central Committee to the party officials and activists. Due to this important role, the Soviet papers were both prestigious in the society and an effective means to control the masses; however, manipulation initially was not the only purpose of the Soviet Press.

Thailand has a well-developed mass media sector, especially by Southeast Asian standards. The Thai government and the military have long exercised considerable control, especially over radio and TV stations. During the governments of Thaksin Shinawatra and the subsequent military-run administration after the 2006 coup and military coup of 2014, the media in Thailand—both domestic and foreign—have suffered from increasing restrictions and censorship, sometimes subtle, sometimes overt.

The history of journalism spans the growth of technology and trade, marked by the advent of specialized techniques for gathering and disseminating information on a regular basis that has caused, as one history of journalism surmises, the steady increase of "the scope of news available to us and the speed with which it is transmitted". Before the printing press was invented, word of mouth was the primary source of news. Returning merchants, sailors, travelers brought news back to the mainland, and this was then picked up by pedlars and traveling players and spread from town to town. Ancient scribes often wrote this information down. This transmission of news was highly unreliable and died out with the invention of the printing press. Newspapers have always been the primary medium of journalists since the 18th century, radio and television in the 20th century, and the Internet in the 21st century.

As of the early 2000s, Sudan had one of the most restrictive media environments in Africa. Sudan's print media since independence generally have served one of the political parties or the government in power, although there occasionally were outspoken independent newspapers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gulbrand Lunde</span> Norwegian politician (1901–1942)

Gulbrand Oscar Johan Lunde was a Norwegian chemist and politician of the Nasjonal Samling party who became a minister in the collaborationist government of Vidkun Quisling during World War II. His 1942 death was deemed accidental, although a 2012 biography of Lunde concluded that he was assassinated because his cultural views clashed with those of the government of Nazi Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of newspaper publishing</span>

The modern newspaper is a European invention. The oldest direct handwritten news sheets circulated widely in Venice as early as 1566. These weekly news sheets were full of information on wars and politics in Italy and Europe. The first printed newspapers were published weekly in Germany from 1605. Typically, they were censored by the government, especially in France, and reported mostly foreign news and current prices. After the English government relaxed censorship in 1695, newspapers flourished in London and a few other cities including Boston and Philadelphia. By the 1830s, high-speed presses could print thousands of papers cheaply, allowing low daily costs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mass media in South Korea</span> Overview of mass media in South Korea

The South Korean mass media consist of several different types of public communication of news: television, radio, cinema, newspapers, magazines, and Internet-based websites.

Deutsche Zeitung in Norwegen was an Oslo-based daily newspaper published in Norway during the Second World War. It was published by the subsidiary Europa-Verlag of the Nazi-controlled Franz Eher Nachfolger, and had a circulation of about 40,000 copies. The paper served as a model for the Amsterdam-based Deutsche Zeitung in den Niederlanden.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda</span> Nazi government agency

The Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, also known simply as the Ministry of Propaganda, controlled the content of the press, literature, visual arts, film, theater, music and radio in Nazi Germany.

The print, broadcast and online mass media in Burma has undergone strict censorship and regulation since the 1962 Burmese coup d'état. The constitution provides for freedom of speech and the press; however, the government prohibits the exercise of these rights in practice. Reporters Without Borders ranked Burma 174th out of 178 in its 2010 Press Freedom Index, ahead of just Iran, Turkmenistan, North Korea, and Eritrea. In 2015, Burma moved up to 144th place, ahead of many of its ASEAN neighbours such as Singapore, as a result of political changes in the country.

<i>Deutsche Zeitung in den Niederlanden</i> German-language newspaper in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands

The Deutsche Zeitung in den Niederlanden was a German-language nationwide newspaper based in Amsterdam, which was published during almost the entire occupation of the Netherlands in World War II from June 5, 1940 to May 5, 1945, the day of the German capitulation in the "Fortress Holland". Its objective was to influence the public opinion in the Netherlands, especially the one of the Germans in this country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quisling regime</span> Collaborationist government of Norway (1942–45)

The Quisling regime, or Quisling government are common names used to refer to the fascist collaboration government led by Vidkun Quisling in German-occupied Norway during the Second World War. The official name of the regime from 1 February 1942 until its dissolution in May 1945 was Den nasjonale regjering. Actual executive power was retained by the Reichskommissariat Norwegen, headed by Josef Terboven.

<i>Fritt Folk</i> Norwegian newspaper

Fritt Folk was a Norwegian newspaper, published in Oslo. It was the official organ of the fascist party Nasjonal Samling, and came to prominence during the Second World War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kristian Laake</span> Norwegian military officer

Kristian Kristiansen Laake was a Norwegian military officer. He is best known for having commanded the Norwegian Army in the first days after the German invasion of Norway on 9 April 1940, and for having been replaced because of what was seen by the leading Norwegian politicians as passive leadership.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of French journalism</span>

Newspapers have played a major role in French politics, economy and society since the 17th century.

<i>Krakivski Visti</i> Ukrainian newspaper headquartered in Vienna (1940–1945)

The Krakivs'ki Visti, was a Ukrainian newspaper based in Vienna, published from 1940 to 1945. Historian John-Paul Himka described it as "vehemently antisemitic." Himka described it as a Nazi propaganda daily, published during World War II in the Ukrainian language with the German financial aid, and with exposure orchestrated by Joseph Goebbels himself.

References