Aftonbladet
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Aftonbladet (Swedish for the evening-sheet) is a Swedish newspaper, founded by Lars Johan Hierta in 1830, during the liberalization of Sweden. Today the newspaper labels itself independently Social Democrat and it is the largest daily newspaper in Scandinavia (reference needed). While the paper is often classified as a tabloid, its journalism is generally more serious than more extreme members of that genre, such as the British The Sun. 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).
History
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 yellow rubbish paper which had deliberately aimed at affecting 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.
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. Due to its popularity, aftonbladet.se is often used as the Swedish equivalent to pinging yahoo.com.See also
External links
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