A brief overview on the development of public relations in Norway

The first associations of public relations in Norway were established after the Second World War. In 1957 The Norwegian Public Relations Club (founded in 1949) had passed 100 members, two of them women. The professionalization of PR in Norway was largely influenced by the trends from the USA.

During the 1970s more and more Norwegian businesses established public relations departments. This changed the attitude towards PR compared to the previous decades because during the 1950s and 60s the internal information was dealt by personnel departments and the external public relations were handled by the marketing department. The change enhanced the democratization at Norwegian workplaces. The government sector also experienced changes at the same time. Because of the Public Information Act (1970), much of the archives of different government bodies were opened which lead to new opportunities to journalists, which in turn created a need for development of the public relations function in both the public and private sector.

Nowadays there are over 30 public relations agencies in Norway, but there is no exact knowledge of how many people work in PR. Guesses vary from 3000 to 5000. The biggest challenges in Norwegian PR now and in the future are related to education. According to Hårsle (2004), Norway has to establish more communication programmes and offer special programmes for Ph.D studies. Nowadays PR agencies have difficulties to find qualified personnel, because the huge growth in the field of PR has bypassed the amount of education.


References:

Ihlen, O. & Rakkenes, K. (2009). Public Relations in Norway: Commucation in a small welfare state. The Global Public Relations Handbook: Theory, Research, and Practice, Expanded and Revised Edition.

Hårsle, P. (2004). Chapter 17. Norway. Public relations and communication management in Europe: A Nation by Nation Introduction to Public Relations Theory and Practice.