- I have also held a talk for a group of managers called Top Dog. They were full of praise. So now I’ve been there two days in a row. I have to say it’s been a good start.
Some adjustments
- Are you happy with the current newspaper?
- I haven’t had time to see it yet, I’ve been in a meeting with Top Dog since 8.30. I did see the front page though, and I have to say I agree with the priority. Not that I have had anything to do with it, emphasizes Pedersen before leaving for his first VG meeting as director, at 2 p.m. on the second day of his new job.
After leaving the Norwegian School of Business Administration as a graduate economist in 1980, things have mainly revolved around journalism for Torry Pedersen (pictured). First as a freelancer, then as a journalist with Fredrikstad Blad and Dagbladet, as news editor in Fredrikstad and head of reporting, head of the politics department and news editor with VG. Before he became editor and director of VG Multimedia.
Now he needs to adjust. - I probably need to practice biting my tongue when a poor editorial judgment is made, he says.
Fun years
- I had a great time at VG Nett. They were the best years of my professional career, but I’m looking forward to new challenges. I can lift my sights a bit now, he says. - Changing jobs wasn’t something I was considering on a daily basis. It just happened that the VG position became available, and my superiors wanted me to take it. It was a good time to try something new, says Pedersen (pictured).
As managing director and editor in chief of VG Multimedia, Torry Pedersen has gained a reputation as one of Norway’s foremost media heads. Just two months ago he was named editor of the year by the Oslo section of the Association of Norwegian Editors. He commented the award in the following way: - This was nice, and it’s fun for VG Nett. Everyone who works at VG Nett has a share in the award. This has been teamwork for several years. It is also recognition of the Internet as a news medium, he said after receiving the award.
Three million users
Only a month later he could confirm with satisfaction that VG Nett for the first time had three million unique users during the course of one week. - This shows that VG Nett is where people go to find information when big news events take place, was Pedersens comment on the figures.
He can look back on phenomenal growth for VG Nett. When Pedersen took over in 2000, the Internet newspaper had a deficit of NOK 20 million. In 2007 revenues were NOK 119 million.
During his tenure as head of VG Nett, Pedersen has been behind a success story that is impressive in international terms. VG Nett is one of the world’s biggest Internet successes and probably the Internet newspaper in the world with the greatest proportional readership in terms of population. One of the reasons for its success was that Torry Pedersen and editor Bernt Olufsen decided that VG Nett should be spilt off into a separate company. Pedersen still believes that this is the right organizational model for the future
A popular VG figure
Even though he is switching to the world of paper, he will not become an advocate for merging the media. - No-one has ever won the hundred meter dash and the marathon in the same Olympics. I feel that you have to concentrate on newspapers to make a best possible newspaper, and vice versa for producing the best possible website. But both have to use the same roadmap. I believe I can contribute in that respect, he says.
- The most important thing is that everyone in VG works towards stopping the drop in circulation and continuing the digital growth, says Pedersen.
It’s a popular man in the VG building that now enters the “one-man office landscape” on the ninth floor. - Welcome back, Torry. We are very satisfied that it’s a real VG man who is the new boss. Expectations are already high, said Anne-Lise von der Fehr on behalf of the editorial office at VG.