Berengere Courty, Javier Vicente García
Among the seven most read daily newspapers in the Kingdom of Denmark, only one is led by a woman as editor-in-chief —and she shares the position with a man.
This is the case of Ms. Mette Østergaard, who took over the conservative daily Berlingske as co-editor-in-chief on 1 January 2018. Previously, Mr. Tom Jensen was the editor-in-chief of the newspaper, as he still is today, alongside Ms. Østergaard.
It is not the first time that Berlingske, Denmark’s oldest newspaper, is led by a woman. Ms. Lisbeth Knudsen ran the newspaper from November 2007 to October 2015 and was at the same time CEO of the newspaper’s publishing group, Berlingske Media. And, even before that, Ms. Anne E. Jensen was editor-in-chief of the newspaper from 1996 to 1998.
Regarding the rest of Danish newspapers, the influence of women seems to have been more limited, at least at the top position. Reference can be made to the case of Ms. Dorthe Carsen, who has lead, as editor-in-chief, the Midtjyske Medier group, which published around 20 titles in Denmark, or Ms. Ida Ebbensgaard, recently appointed as editor-in-chief of the media company Zetland, succeeding another woman, Ms. Lea Korsgaard. But these designations of a corporate nature have not been translated into greater representation of women as editors-in-chief at the country’s largest daily newspapers.