Norway is by and large a sparsely populated country, with high mountains and deep valleys, especially along the Western and North coast. Geographic distribution of news has thus always posed challenges – at least outside the heavily populated areas. Radio and television broadcasting networks are built and maintained with the state indirectly taking a key role through the public service broadcaster NRK and formerly public telecom Telenor, and their subsidiaries. Television distribution is divided between cable/fiber (58%), Satellite (20%) and terrestrial 26%)[1]. Broadcasting networks cover the whole country, and broadband penetration is also high. By 2018, 98% had access to Internet at home[2].
Most municipalities remain well-covered by local news provision, and a recent mapping found only a minority of rural municipalities to experience the problem of “blind spots” – in addition to noting that the capitol of Oslo is ill-served by strictly local journalism[3].
There are also media policy schemes in place to support distribution of newspapers in the far north. The latter region should be given special attention since it is a strong base for the Sami population.
[1] http://medienorge.uib.no/statistikk/aspekt/tilgang-og-bruk/123
[2] http://medienorge.uib.no/statistikk/medium/it/347
[3]https://www.regjeringen.no/contentassets/ca60acaaece1479ab5ed8008e82c48da/blindsoner_i_avislandskapet_host_endelig_versjon.pdf
