Arne O. Holm says Trine Jonassen is the New Editor-in-Chief of High North News
Former News Editor Trine Jonassen (52) is High North News' new Editor-in-Chief as of January 2024. (Photo: High North News)
Commentary: High North News prepares for the future. Today, News Editor Trine Jonassen takes over as Editor-in-Chief of the newspaper. However, that does not mean that I plan to quit the newspaper.
Ten years have passed since I launched High North News as an international newspaper for and about the High North. The ambitions were high. In my first commentary, on January 22nd, 2014, I wrote about the need for increased knowledge about what is happening in the North.
"We know little about each other. Others know less about us," I wrote.
Eight Arctic states were to be enveloped in a newspaper. And not only that. From a standpoint in the North, the aim was to school an international business sector, international organizations, and political institutions with a greater appetite than knowledge about us who live in the North.
Eight different states
Eight different Arctic states, which at the time comprised a sort of community, stand on opposite sides of democracy and human worth today. Back then, the Arctic was a peace project; today, it is an arena for increased militarization.
At the same time, a continued geographical community where the people, whether they live under despots, presidential candidates without respect for democratic elections, or in free democracies, are connected across country borders.
Indigenous peoples, climate change heading north with great precision, a healthcare system at the far edge of what urban calculations can calculate home, borderless knowledge institutions, and a business sector at land and at sea that is crucial for the future of the world.
The editorial collective is what matters most.
We wanted to open doors to decision-makers for people with almost boundless stubbornness in combination with a love of the North.
After ten years, we stand firm. We have readers all over the world—active readers who daily tell us that we are making a difference.
The collective is most important
This is not a day for story-telling. We are looking and moving onward. Thus, with a light heart, I leave the responsibility to my colleague Trine Jonassen, today. No one is better equipped to take the next steps.
Yet, in a small editorial staff, the collective has mattered and will matter the most. I have felt that every single day for the past ten years. We will continue to lift this newspaper forward with today's editorial staff: Hilde-Gunn Bye, Astri Edvardsen, Birgitte Annie Molid Martinussen, and Malte Humpert.
In the spring, we will also create a science journalist position. We will strengthen our coverage of the work done in the Arctic universities to bring the knowledge out to the rest of the world.
I will continue as editor, with a wish to immerse myself further in commentaries and analyses. I will continue to hold lectures and lead debates.
In addition to spending more time on the best aspect of journalism: Meeting Arctic people where they live.
And perhaps have some more time to ride my motorcycle.
