Type Daily newspaper Owner(s) Bonnier AB Political alignment Independent liberal | Format Tabloid Editor-in-chief Thomas Mattsson | |
Founded 1944; 73 years ago (1944) | ||
Expressen ("The Express") is one of two nationwide evening tabloid newspapers in Sweden, the other being Aftonbladet. Expressen was founded in 1944; its symbol is a wasp and slogans "it stings" or "Expressen to your rescue".
Contents
Overview
The first edition of Expressen was released on 16 November 1944. A main feature that day was an interview with the crew members of a British bomber who were successful in sinking the German ship Tirpitz.
The editor in chief of Expressen is Thomas Mattsson. The paper is owned by the Bonnier Group. As of 2005 the paper had a liberal stance, but it declared its independent leaning in 1995.
Through mergers, the Gothenburg edition of Expressen is titled GT (originally Göteborgs-Tidningen) and the Malmö edition is titled Kvällsposten, but the three share half of the content. Expressen (with GT and Kvällsposten) maintains a centre-right political profile, describing its editorial position as "independent liberal", while the competitor Aftonbladet is social-democratic. Ownership of Expressen (and Sweden's largest morning newspaper Dagens Nyheter) is controlled by the Bonnier family, while Aftonbladet is owned jointly by Swedish trade unions and the Norwegian publishing family Schibsted.
Circulation
In 1998 the circulation of Expressen was 316,000 copies on weekdays and 396,000 copies on Sundays. The paper had a circulation of 334,000 copies in 2001. The 2004 circulation of the paper was 335,000 copies. It was 339,400 copies on weekdays in 2005. The 2010 circulation of the paper was 270,900 copies.
Criticism
In September 2016, Expressen published a column in which columnist Cecilia Hagen called political opponents "rats", proceeded to ask how to get rid of them, and then suggested using poison. The column drew heavy criticism; the editorial of another major Swedish newspaper, Göteborgs-Posten, strongly condemned the column while a number of media personalities, human rights activists and lawyers published a call in Svenska Dagbladet saying that Expressen's column "comparing humans to rats and expressing a wish to kill them" was "deeply worrying",
Kvällsposten
Kvällsposten is an edition of Expressen distributed in southern Sweden. Its editorial offices are in Malmö and the editor in chief is Martin Kroon.
GT
Göteborgs-Tidningen or GT was a tabloid newspaper founded in Gothenburg in 1902 and distributed in Western Sweden. GT was owned by Göteborgs Handels- och Sjöfartstidning, but in 1973 acquired by Göteborgs-Posten. In 1998, Bonnier AB bought the newspaper and since then it has become a local edition of Expressen.
GT's headquarters in Gothenburg and its editor in chief is Frida Boisen.