Klassekampen

Klassekampen (English: The Class Struggle) is a Norwegian daily newspaper. It describes itself as "The newspaper of the Left."

Klassekampen
TypeDaily newspaper
Owner(s)Red Party (Norway) (20%)
Foreningen Klassekampens venner (17%)
Norwegian Union of Municipal and General Employees (15%)
Mater AS (5%)
Oktoberstiftelsen (5%)
Industri Energi (5%)
Others
Founder(s)Pål Steigan
EditorMari Skurdal
Founded1969
Political alignmentMaoism (formerly)
Socialism
HeadquartersOslo, Norway
Circulation32,000 (2020)
Websitewww.klassekampen.no

It was founded by a group of communists with Pål Steigan as a key figure in 1969 and was originally a monthly periodical that promoted the positions of the Workers' Communist Party and its predecessors. During Steigan's leadership the party's developed the periodical into a daily newspaper from 1977. Its circulation is 32,000 (2020). Since the year 2000, Klassekampen has more than tripled its circulation. Klassekampen's current owners include Norway's Red Party, the association Klassekampens venner ("Friends of Klassekampen"), several trade unions and smaller shareholders.

Traditionally it had a Maoist political platform, but it has later described itself as "revolutionary socialist."[1] The paper has been criticized by Norway's mainstream newspapers for an uncritical attitude towards Vladimir Putin's Russia and for publishing pro-Russian conspiracy theories.[2][3] The paper is controversial in the LGBT community for its coverage of transgender people,[4][5][6] but has denied the accusation that it is transphobic.[7] The newspaper's founder Pål Steigan also founded the "anti-globalist" website Steigan.no that has been cited as an example of "red-brown convergence" with links to the alt-right[8] and where several of Klassekampen's current and former regular writers also contribute.

History and profile

Pål Steigan co-founded Klassekampen as a monthly periodical in 1969 and during his leadership the Workers' Communist Party developed it into a daily newspaper in 1977

Klassekampen was founded as a monthly Maoist periodical in 1969 by a group of communists with Pål Steigan as a key figure. It promoted the positions of the predecessors of the Workers' Communist Party and became the official weekly periodical of the Workers' Communist Party when the party was established in 1973. During Steigan's leadership of the party the periodical was developed into a newspaper in 1977. Today the paper describes itself as "revolutionary socialist."[1]

The paper is based in Oslo.[9] Ownership is shared by the Workers' Communist Party's successor, the Red Party, as well as Fagforbundet, OktoPax, Industri Energi, and smaller shareholders.

Klassekampen's editors have been Jon Michelet, Bjørgulv Braanen and Mari Skurdal (from 2018). Columnists include Olaug Nilssen, Torgrim Eggen, Åsa Linderborg, Sandra Lillebø, Arild Rønsen, and Sylfest Lomheim. Comedian Knut Nærum contributes as a cartoonist on Saturdays. Former columnists include Trond Andresen (2000–2016), Hans Olav Brendberg, Helga Pedersen and Kajsa Ekis Ekman.

On Saturdays, the newspaper also features a book magazine. Editors of this section have been Bendik Wold (2006–2008) and Karin Haugen (2008–present).

Coverage of transgender people

From the 2010s the newspaper has published articles, including articles by regular columnist, anti-gender activist and vice chair of Women's Declaration International (considered a hate group by FRI[10]) Anne Kalvig, attacking so-called "gender ideology" and the rights of transgender people; in 2021 journalism lecturer Jon Martin Larsen criticized the newspaper for its coverage of transgender people and wrote that he fears editor Mari Skurdal's articles contribute to "incitement and hatred against transgender people;"[4] in 2022 Larsen wrote that Klassekampen "tramples on" transgender people and said that he cautions his journalism students against the paper's editorial practices.[5] Aleksander Sørlie, president of the transgender rights organization PKI, has criticized Klassekampen for consistently promoting transphobia.[6] Klassekampen's editor Mari Skurdal has denied the allegation that the paper is transphobic.[7] The columnist Kajsa Ekis Ekman, who also writes for Steigan.no and who is also affiliated with Women's Declaration International, has been criticized e.g. by Morgenbladet for her "abhorrent" anti-trans rhetoric.[11]

Coverage of Russia

The political editor of Dagbladet Geir Ramnefjell wrote that Klassekampen got its coverage of Russia's aggression against Ukraine "most consistently wrong" and that the paper continued to publish "third rate conspiracy theories" of the "crackpot left" even after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[2] The paper was described as "Putin's Norwegian followers" by Andreas Slettholm of Norway's largest newspaper Aftenposten.[3] In 2022 Kajsa Ekis Ekman was fired as a columnist from the Swedish newspaper ETC for promoting Russian propaganda.[12]

Internet

KK-forum was established by Trond Andresen in 1996 and became the semi-official Internet forum of Klassekampen from 1997; it was linked from the newspaper's Internet frontpage.[13] Andresen was also a regular columnist in the printed newspaper from 2000 to 2016.

In 2008 Klassekampen launched its official online forum, also moderated by Trond Andresen.[14]

The newspaper's founder Pål Steigan also founded the "anti-globalist" website Steigan.no, where several of Klassekampen's current and former regular writers contribute, including Trond Andresen, Hans Olav Brendberg, Kajsa Ekis Ekman and others. According to extremism researcher John Færseth Steigan.no is a platform of conspiracy theories and pro-Kremlin disinformation and propaganda.[15][16] Steigan.no has been described as an example of "red-brown convergence" with links to the far right and alt-right.[8] The secretary-general of Red Benedikte Pryneid Hansen said the party views Steigan as a platform of "onesided Russian war propaganda, conspiracy theories, racism and transphobia."[17]

Chief editors

Jon Michelet, chief editor 1997–2002

Circulation

Circulation 1980–2015
  • 1980: 7219
  • 1981: 7633
  • 1982: 7920
  • 1983: 7920
  • 1984: 8008
  • 1985: 7780
  • 1986: 8020
  • 1987: 8110
  • 1988: 8185
  • 1989: 8449
  • 1990: 8206
  • 1991: 9232
  • 1992: 10042
  • 1993: 9692
  • 1994: 9822
  • 1995: 9103
  • 1996: 7796
  • 1997: 8087
  • 1998: 6506
  • 1999: 6477
  • 2000: 6557
  • 2001: 6648
  • 2002: 6929
  • 2003: 7178
  • 2004: 7512
  • 2005: 8759
  • 2006: 10109[18]
  • 2007: 11386[19]
  • 2008: 12109[20]
  • 2009: 13265[21]
  • 2010: 14390
  • 2011: 15390
  • 2012: 16353
  • 2013: 17648
  • 2014: 19253
  • 2015: 21648
  • 2016: 23414
  • 2017: 25019
  • 2018: 27855
  • 2019: 30076

See also

References

  1. "Formålsparagrafen til avisa Klassekampen" [Mission statement of the newspaper Klassekampen]. Workers' Communist Party (Norway). Archived from the original on 2020-04-30. Retrieved 6 April 2022.
  2. Ramnefjell, Geir. "Krigen sett fra koko-venstre" [The war seen from the crackpot left]. Dagbladet. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  3. Slettholm, Andreas. "Putins norske etterplaprere må gå i seg selv" [Putin's Norwegian followers must make amends]. Aftenposten. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  4. Larsen, Jon Martin. "Jeg håper du vet hva du gjør, Mari Skurdal" [I hope you know what you do, Mari Skurdal]. M24. Retrieved 31 December 2021.
  5. Larsen, Jon Martin. "Hvorfor fortsetter Klassekampen å tråkke på mennesker?" [Why does Klassekampen continue to trample on people?]. M24. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  6. Sørlie, Aleksander. "Klassekampen". Archived from the original on 2 April 2022. Retrieved 2 April 2022.
  7. Skurdal, Mari. "Er Klassekampen en transfobisk avis? På ingen måte" [Is Klassekampen a transphobic newspaper? Absolutely not]. Klassekampen (in Norwegian Bokmål). Retrieved 2022-01-19.
  8. "Bonzo goes to Oslo: Christian fundamentalists and the far-right strike a new pose". Retrieved 19 March 2022. Although there’s not much English-language material on Pål Steigan and the Mot Dag conference he organised, it is documented that Steigan has a long history on the anti-imperialist left, including having met with Pol Pot and Enver Hoxha. His current project appears to be a sort of “red-brown convergence squared”, as his conference brought the anti-trans axis represented by Keen-Minshull together with Eva Bartlett, Vanessa Beeley and Patrick Henningsen, three figures who’ve played a high-profile role in the international pro-Assad conspiracy theorist milieu.
  9. Gisle Andersen (2012). Exploring Newspaper Language: Using the Web to Create and Investigate a Large Corpus of Modern Norwegian. John Benjamins Publishing. p. 197. ISBN 978-90-272-0354-0. Retrieved 21 May 2016.
  10. "Kjønnsvurderinger". Klassekampen. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
  11. "Kan diskuteres om boken i det hele tatt fortjener omtale" [It is debatable whether this book deserves any discussion at all]. Morgenbladet. 16 July 2021.
  12. Carlsson Tenitskaja, Alexandra (11 April 2022). "Dagens ETC avslutar samarbete med Kajsa Ekis Ekman". Dagens Nyheter. Retrieved 14 April 2022.
  13. "Klassekampen". Klassekampen. 2001-04-18. Archived from the original on 2001-04-18.
  14. Braanen, Bjørgulv (19 April 2008). "Klassekampen med nytt debattforum på nett". Klassekampen. Archived from the original on 2011-09-29. Trond Andresen, som tidligere har drevet debattlista KK-forum, blir moderator for et nytt debattforum på nettet som Klassekampen lanserer i dag
  15. Færseth, John (2021). Fyrtårnet i øst: Putins Russland og vestlige ekstremister. Humanist forlag. ISBN 9788282821704.
  16. "Flere norske alternativmedier fungerer som «kanaler» for russisk desinformasjon og propaganda". Journalisten. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  17. "Ikke alle liker at Moxnes tar oppgjør med Steigan.no". Aftenposten. Retrieved 3 May 2022.
  18. «Avisenes leser- og opplagstall for 2006» Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine from Mediebedriftenes Landsforening, 12 February 2007
  19. «Avisenes leser- og opplagstall for 2007» Archived 2011-07-17 at the Wayback Machine from Mediebedriftenes Landsforening, 14 February 2008
  20. «Avisenes leser- og opplagstall for 2008» Archived 2011-07-17 at the Wayback Machine from Mediebedriftenes Landsforening, 17 February 2009
  21. «Avisenes leser- og opplagstall for 2009» Archived 2011-07-17 at the Wayback Machine from Mediebedriftenes Landsforening, 16 February 2010
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