A handful of the newspapers currently published in Denmark, and of which the Library holds more recent copies, were established during the period of absolutism, namely from 1754.The Gazette was aimed at the Danish élite, and for this reason it was published in French rather than Danish or German.
After 1950, the number of independent newspapers once again began to decline outside of the big cities, leaving only the most popular regional newspapers.
From the 1960s and 1970s, increasing competition from news broadcasts via radio and television further added to the decline.
In the resultant "four-paper system," - term derived from the influence of the four dominating political parties - most of the pre-1849 newspapers aligned with the Conservatives (Højre), including , began a reform of his paper inspired by British and American broadsheet-style newspapers.
This led to a greater focus on professional reporting in lieu of party politics and opinion pieces.
The Library has in its collections a gift by Jean Hersholt, containing issues of such underground periodicals.
Furthermore, the Library has holdings of the newspapers , which were both started as illegal publications and continued as dailies after the end of the occupation. Nielsen, Carsten: århus: Institut for Presseforskning og Samtidshistorie, 1975.
For the purposes of this list, the term "newspaper" is applied in a broad sense.
Thus any title that is published on newsprint or that a reader generally would consider to be a newspaper is included.
By the 1830s and 1840s newspapers had become a very important part of the political debates that finally culminated in the 1848 demands for democratic reform that led to the abolition of absolutism the following year.
After the establishment of the Danish Constitution and freedom of the press, a rapid growth in the publication of newspapers followed in mid- and late 19th century.
However, this was in German, a language known to educated Danes of that time.