Media coverage of Bergen International Festival in Norwegian daily press in historical perspective. How classical music has been presented to the general audience?

Abstract

This study examines the historical changes in the coverage of classical music in Norwegian daily press, through the case study of Bergen International Festival. It shows a deeper change in presentation of material related to classical music that has taken place during the researched period 1953-2012. Both quantitative and qualitative research methods have been used. The units of analysis are newspaper articles, those related to Bergen International Festival and classical music, published in three daily newspapers that are considered in this research: Bergens Tidene, Aftenposten and Dagbladet. The samples are taken from 1953, 1973, 1993 and 2012. The study shows that some trends in development and transformations of cultural journalism are also present in the coverage of Bergen International Festival in newspapers. The findings show that there is a growing interest for the coverage of the festival until 1993, but the interest in the subject significantly declined in 2012. However, classical music still has its own place in daily newspapers, although it is less visible because of the large influence of various popular contents. In this regard editors will be challenged in the following years to preserve classical music and traditional culture on the newspaper's pages.