Visit to a Newspaper in Kungsbacka

Martyna Minik,
Gimnazjum nr 2 im. św. Walentego w Bieruniu
 
On October, 13th together with other participants of the exchange we went to premises of the newspaper "Norra Halland". The newspaper was found in 1921, when their first issue was released. Now it is published twice a week, on Monday and Friday mornings. A team of 17 people works there.





The two-story building has got a well-equipped, modern offices where editors can work efficiently. The building from the outside does not look like an editorial office. If not for a small sign I'm afraid it is not to specifically marked. The interior is modern in design, white colour dominates there, which gives the impression of a very clean and neat interior.
We listened to a remarkable lecture of Ms Elisabeth Blide, who told us a bit about the history of the place and showed us around the whole building. She explained us also the problems they have to cope with. We didn’t realize what kind of difficulties a magazine or a daily paper may struggle with.

     Nowadays a lot of newspapers are forced to compete with the Internet. As readers have an access to free sources of information online, they are no longer eager to buy printed newspapers. It is a common trouble to those editors who release paper issues. But without the printed version newspapers wouldn’t survive, as the advertisings is their main source of income. They gain profits from all kind of announcements and advertisements.

On the other hand “Norra Halland” has got a facebook account and a website because the journalists want to attract as many readers as they can and it’s hard to imagine,  in present days,  a good newspaper without an online version.  They have to put some information online, but at the same time they need to keep the balance  between attracting the readers and encouraging them to buy a paper issue. The journalists release some of the articles on the Internet, the more attention-grabbing they are, the more enthusiastic are readers to buy traditional version. But the problem is they can’t write everything online, and have to keep some good articles to paper issues, otherwise some of the readers would feel disappointed.   

      We were surprised that in such a small space, so large office can fit, and so much happens. We really liked this tour. We have learned a lot of things and we would like to know more. Perhaps, in near future we will do the same work in a newspaper similar to “Norra Halland”. On the whole, this short trip really showed us that appearances can be deceiving and with the little things you can achieve a lot