Mass Media
Some principal trends stand out when considering the current mass media situation in Denmark. Firstly, media consumption is steadily increasing. Secondly, the variety of individual media and media types continues to increase, especially within the electronic media. In addition, media content is becoming more diverse; the consumption of media with an international orientation is growing, but so is the interest in media anchored in local communities.
Denmark‘s three large national broadsheets, Berlingske Tidende, Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten and Politiken compete on the newspaper market. Furthermore, they have all tried to extend their activities to other media. Photo: Scanpix Nordfoto/Lasse Mejlvang.
Historical Overview
The oldest Danish mass medium is the newspaper, which dates from 1634. For over 200 years, newspapers were subject to political censorship and therefore almost exclusively covered foreign affairs, trade, murders and curiosities such as mermaids or two-headed calves. With the Constitution of 1849, Denmark gained a free press, which quickly became an opinion-shaping press in close consonance with the major political and social conflicts following in the wake of the change from an agrarian to an industrial society. The newspapers played an important political role in connection with the progressive involvement of an increasing number of social groups in the political decision-making process. First peasants and workers were enfranchised, then in 1915 also women.
The logos of the eight national television stations; from the left the four public service channels DR1, DR2, TV2 and TV2 Zulu, then the four channels broadcast from London, i.e. TvDanmark1 and TvDanmark2, owned by the international media group SBS, and to the far right the Swedish-owned television channels TV3 and TV3+.
Party Press
The opinion-shaping press took the form of party-political organs, the so-called four-paper system. Each of the four major political parties, The Right (Højre), from 1915 The Conservative People‘s Party (Det Konservative Folkeparti), The Social Liberal Party (Det Radikale Venstre), The Social Democratic Party (Socialdemo kratiet) and The Liberal Party (Venstre), established a nationwide network of newspapers, which both mobilised and formed part of the organisation of the various social groups they represented.
With the September Settlement of 1899, employers and employees agreed on a negotiation model for resolving conflicts. Together with the introduction of cabinet responsibility in 1901, this reduced the opinion-shaping role of the press. At the same time, various technological advances had created new opportunities for the press: telephones, typesetting machines, new rotary presses, the spread of the electrical telegraph and so on increased the potential for transmitting and communicating news. Moreover, readers proved to be more interested in being given something to think about than in being told what to think.
Press Reform
The press found its new role in providing more and independent news more quickly. The ‘press reform‘ is normally dated back to Henrik Cavling‘s reorganisation of Politiken in 1905, which introduced all the new trends simultaneously. But the new technology and the much larger number of journalists required to produce the modern newspaper were expensive, and the competition among the newspapers for income from readers and advertisers became keener. This led to newspaper closures in 1925-1938 and again from around 1958 until 1971.
Moreover, the daily newspapers faced competition, partly from the district press, local advertising weeklies which from small beginnings in the second half of the 19th century multiplied in the 1920s, and partly from a different media type: the radio. From around 1920, pioneers broadcast on an amateur basis and during the 1930s, radio captured almost 75% of all households as listeners. The strength of the broadcast medium was and is the speed of its news coverage. Initially, the printed press succeeded in partly controlling the radio news through a state monopoly radio lasting until 1964, but it was no longer the only purveyor of news.
Increased Competition and Television
With the economic boom of the mid 1950s, competition between newspapers again gathered momentum as many new opportunities for consumption and entertainment took up readers’ time and money. Moreover, after World War II the press production apparatus was worn-out or destroyed and required new investment. New technology exerted further financial pressures. The pressure of competition from other media also grew. There were more radio channels – two from 1951 and three from 1963 – and the number of district weeklies increased again. In addition, there was a new medium – television – which could not only bring news, but do so with live pictures.
Newspapers
Number of fully independent newspapers and circulation
Source: Danish Circulation Control.
Monopoly Press
The newspaper closures of the 1960s spelled the end of the four-paper system. It was followed by local monopoly press as the three or four newspapers in each major city were gradually reduced to one. Since such a newspaper must have broad appeal, the press further toned down its political commitment and instead prioritised comprehensive news coverage supplemented by increasing amounts of background and analytical material.
Further Competition
The regional press was subject to particular pressure as the major broadsheets increased their national circulation. In the 1970s, the two Copenhagen tabloids followed suit, resulting in a veritable sales boom in the provinces over the next twenty years. The regional newspapers focused on their true strength – local news – and increased their local coverage significantly. However, from the mid 1980s they faced fresh competition in the form of local radio and television. A new round of newspaper concentration followed in the 1990s, this time in the form of mergers so that the remaining newspapers cover ever larger areas. Another factor was the free district weeklies distributed door-to-door which, during the same period, generally strengthened their editorial content. As a countermove the newspapers bought or started their own district weeklies, both to get the advertising revenue themselves and to prevent further competition.
Current Trends
In 1988, the state monopoly of national television was broken, which together with the growth of satellite and cable television resulted in an explosion of available television channels. This had negative consequences, particularly for the tabloids and weekly entertainment magazines.
With their more serious profile, the three large national broadsheets, Berlingske Tidende, Morgenavisen JyllandsPosten and Politiken, have more easily retained their readers and even increased their circulation, partly because their readership, to a greater extent than the population in general, prefers the more comprehensive and balanced news coverage large newspapers can offer. The same trend is noticeable outside the capital, where four large regional newspapers similarly have had the resources to raise editorial standards. Radio and especially television have experienced a massive audience increase in the period since World War II, alongside a stronger focus on light entertainment in the form of music and television films and series.
A new factor is the growth of Internet media. The major television and radio stations have begun to provide news and other services on the Internet and the major newspapers have set up similar services. This is likely to give media with strong resources further competitive advantages in future.
Daily Newspapers
During the last twenty years or so, the three large national broadsheets have greatly increased their already large market share from about 1/5 to around a third of the total circulation. One of the smaller national broadsheets has disappeared, while the rest have increased their circulation. Over the same period, the tabloids have lost around 50% of their circulation and proportional market shares. Among the regional newspapers the large ones have increased their circulation significantly at the expense of the smaller ones, partly as a result of the mergers in recent years.
An important factor behind the shift in favour of the large national broadsheets is that their contents profile prioritising foreign, national and cultural coverage appeals to well-educated people, who are more likely than the population in general to get their news from newspapers.
Overall the daily press has lost some of its previously unassailable position. A household coverage of over 100% during 1910-1955, i.e. an average Danish household took more than one paper daily, has gradually declined to a coverage of around 60%.
In autumn 2001, a new kind of publication, akin to the daily press, first saw the light of day in the form of free newspapers: dailies with brief news stories distributed at commuter stations, traffic junctions and the like. Originally these free newspapers were only distributed in Copenhagen, but since then they have also become common in the large regional cities.
Circulation
By newspaper type (2001)
Source: Danish Circulation Control.
Main Newspapers (second half of 2001)
District Weeklies
District weeklies are free, advertisement-funded newspapers, distributed door-to-door in a limited area once or at most twice a week. Typically, 20-30% of the content is editorial, normally restricted to local coverage.
The number of district weeklies increased until the mid 1970s and then declined somewhat. Since then, however, circulation figures have continually increased, and average circulation is now greater. An important factor is that most district weeklies now have at least part of their area to themselves and therefore are in a stronger position financially and editorially. Almost 2/3 of the district weeklies are owned by newspapers and these account for just under 3⁄4 of the total circulation.
The household coverage of district weeklies is by and large 100% – several households receive more than one a week – and they are read by 80-90% of the adult population.
Weekly Magazines
The light weekly magazines fall into two groups: family or women’s magazines and illustrated weeklies. The content of family or women’s magazines is dominated by fashion, home and life style copy as well as light reading such as serialised novels and short stories.
The illustrated weeklies contain mainly news from the film, television and entertainment world, much of it celebrity gossip.
More broadly, the magazine press also includes a considerable number of monthly and quarterly publications of a very varied nature. A number of specialist magazines border on actual professional journals.
Specialist Journals
Specialist journals, and the related membership bulletins, periodicals, and so on, constitute a numerically large magazine type difficult to delimit, but with two common characteristics: they deal with specialised subjects and each is very precisely targeted towards a particular readership.
Radio
Radio broadcasting began on an amateur basis around 1920, but already in 1923 three large Copenhagen newspapers began to broadcast news. In 1925 the State Radio (Statsradiofonien, in 1959 renamed Danmarks Radio, DR) was established as an exclusively license fee financed institution and in 1926, broadcasting became subject to a state monopoly. At the same time, the compet ing radio news programmes were re placed by a single radio news service (Pressens Radioavis), which until 1965 was edited by the Danish newspapers. In 1951, DR introduced a second channel and in 1963 a third. Today, the structure is that Programme 1 (P1) offers a broad range of mainly informative and cultural programmes, Programme 2 (P2musik) broadcasts mainly classical music, while Programme 3 (P3) is a music and news channel catering principally for younger listeners. Programme 4 (P4) mainly broadcasts entertainment and regional news.
Since 1983, a considerable number of local radio stations have broadcast programmes of a largely local or specialised nature. These were originally financed by voluntary contributions from organisations etc, but from 1988 sometimes also by advertising. In addition, the commercial Radio 2 has broadcast nationally since 1997.
Television
DR began television transmissions in 1951 and in 1953 added news programmes, replaced in 1965 by regular television news. This state monopoly was broken on 1 October 1988 when a television station partly financed by advertising, TV2, began transmissions. Both stations are subject to public service obligations with regard to news coverage, educational programmes, etc. DR added a second channel in 1996, as did TV2 in 2000. In 2002, it was decided to start preparations for the privatisation of TV2, although it will continue to have public service obligations.
By contrast, the commercial stations are not subject to any such obligations and primarily focus on entertainment in the interest of ratings and associated advertising revenue. The first station of this kind was the London-based TV3, which has broadcast via satellite since 1 January 1988.
Local television trials began in 1983, initially without permission to broadcast advertising and with a ban on networking between local stations. Advertising was permitted in 1988 and networking in 1997, whereupon TvDanmark began broadcasting in eight regions from April 1997. Programming focuses on entertainment and news is regional. Since 2000, TvDanmark has had two channels.
In 2002, an average Danish viewer watched television for 2 hours and 35 minutes a day. The two DR channels accounted for 32%, the two TV2 channels for 39%, the two TV3 channels for 11% and the two TvDanmark channels for 7% (totalling 89%), other channels combined accounting for only 11%.
Advertising
Key figures for advertising expenditure (1999)
Source: Statistics Denmark.
Ritzau
The principal supplier of national and international news to all Danish news media is Ritzau‘s Bureau. It receives material from several foreign agencies, notably Reuters, and itself disseminates Danish news abroad. 86% of its material is news and about 11% general information. The Bureau was established in 1866 and has been owned by the Danish press since 1947.
The Advertising Market
Advertising expenditure has increased rapidly since the economic boom of the 1960s. The printed press accounted for more than half in the 1960s, but its share has since declined. This is partly due to the market shares taken by the electronic media, radio and television, but also to the advance of other, nonmass media advertising methods, notably other printed matter and sports sponsorship.
Jette Drachmann Søllinge
Senior researcher, mag.art.
Further Information
Denmark‘s Official Web Site
www.denmark.dk
Pressens Hus
(The House of the Press)
Skindergade 7
DK-1159 Copenhagen K
(+45) 3397 4000
www.pressenshus.dk
ddf@danskedagblade.dk
Ritzaus Bureau
Store Kongensgade 14
DK-1264 Copenhagen K
(+45) 3330 0000
www.ritzau.dk
ritzau@ritzau.dk
Danmarks Radio (DR)
TV-Byen
DK-2860 Søborg
(+45) 3520 3040
www.dr.dk
dr@dr.dk
TV2
Rugaardsvej 25
DK-5100 Odense C
(+45) 6591 9191
www.tv2.dk (Danish only)
tv@tv2.dk
TV3
Wildersgade 8
DK-1408 Copenhagen K
(+45) 7730 5500
www.tv3.dk (Danish only)
tv3@viasat.dk
TvDanmark
Langebrogade 6A
DK-1411 Copenhagen K
(+45) 7010 1010
www.tvdanmark.dk (Danish only)
info@tvdanmark.dk
Internationalt Presse-Center
(International Press Centre)
Vestergade 2
DK-1456 Copenhagen K
(+45) 3313 1615
www.umipc.dk
ipc@umipc.dk
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