Rethinking Mass Communications in Norway

The present article discusses the importance of the early years of mass communicationsin order to understand the shaping of them – the power of creating mass media for wholenations. It begins with references to scholars studying large nations and asks whether theirresults can be generalized to smaller countries. Therefore, it uses Norway as a case study.To what degree were Norway’s four major mass media – press, film, radio and television –formed institutionally in their early years? And if they were formed in this way, how longdid the consequences of such a formation last? These questions have been neglected topicsin research, so in order to answer them we also need to rethink the connections betweenthe different media.