As you might have heard from the local gossip, there was a bit of a verbal confrontation at the Nokk Club. The kingdom’s only private ladies’ and gentlemen’s haunt, the Club isn’t a place for the stuffy jarldom or even the royal family. This is where Arendelle’s ascendant captains of industry, managerial and professional classes, and politicians and journalists congregate.
It was our usual inter-outlet meeting, where we debate and negotiate how we’ll frame the news and stake out our territory. My fellow press barons and I got a bit more heated than usual about Queen Anna, probably due to her recent political accomplishments. It climaxed with the owner of the Snow Herald throwing a bottle of fine aged wine against the wall, screaming an obscenity against Her Majesty. Meanwhile, the proprietor of the Fjord Times threatened to sic thugs on me to rough me up a bit. I guess I also floated the idea of sending reporters to rummage through her garbage. Not exactly our most noble moment of journalism.
You might be surprised at how high the stakes are in our small kingdom. In this editorial, I want to come clean and tell you all about Arendelle’s newspapers, from our constituents and readership to our power base and beliefs.
The Arendelle Guardian
“Long Live the Queen”
The paper founded, owned, and edited by yours truly. We are the only newspaper to host the columns of what our journalists affectionately call “the triad” – Her Majesty, the Snow Queen Elsa, and Honeymaren.
We emerged during the reign of Agnarr as the premier pro-monarchy paper, rallying behind Elsa and helping her make up for lost time by rapidly rebuilding the royal family’s political networks (which had collapsed after Agnarr and Iduna’s deaths). We specialised in making – and breaking – political careers and wielding our inside knowledge of the royal family and government to build up Elsa and Anna’s allies… and monster those who tried to manipulate or oppose them.
With Queen Anna now reigning, we are staunchly anti-colonial and anti-imperial, pro-business via our connection to royal consort Kristoff, and most of all, supportive of an eventual re-integration between Arendelle and Northuldra.
The Fjord Times
“Wealth and Power”
The commerce paper of Arendelle, the Fjord Times is unique for its cross-industry ownership: its executive board is stuffed with some of the richest shippers, traders, and importers in the kingdom. Their reporters have old friends in the Chamber of Commerce, the kingdom’s largest lobby of merchants, and are well-connected with other corporations beyond Arendelle.
Luckily, we’ve managed to offset their wealth with Kristoff’s support, which is no small feat since Bjorgman House is the kingdom’s largest ice exporter. But aside from Her Majesty’s beau, the hard truth is that the majority of large trading houses in Arendelle hold stocks in the Fjord Times, and actively lobby for business-friendly policies through the paper’s journalists.
Largely neutral in the ideological feud between my paper and the Snow Herald, the Fjord Times will support any politician, noble, or royal that backs its wealthy financiers.
The Snow Herald
“Let the Old Ways Reign”
Ah, my nemesis, the Snow Herald. It’s the oldest paper in the kingdom. Editorship is held jealously by its founding family: the ancient Mundilfari clan, which sees itself as upholding the Viking ways. Vicious and xenophobic, the Mundulfaris celebrate Runeard’s imperialism and desire to see the Northuldra forest burned to the ground. It urged Agnarr to divorce Iduna. They nurse a virulent hatred for Anna and Elsa and have published articles calling the sister-queens “Northuldran blood-caskets.”
The Herald backed Runeard’s campaign up north, and suppressed news of the army’s deceit against the Northuldra. Their editorial board was most distressed when Anna guided the Earth Spirit to destroy Runeard’s dam, and have never forgiven her re-integration agenda for Northuldra. The paper has unsurprisingly supported most of the old guard, legacy ministers and jarls in the Great Assembly, many of whom oppose Anna’s policies.
The Arendelle Guardian 