Espen Egil Hansen is the Editor-in-Chief of Aftenposten, Norway’s most esteemed and influential newspaper. Hansen joined Aftenposten after more than 20 years at VG, Norway’s most-read newspaper. His final job at VG was heading VG Nett, the newspaper’s online arm, Norway’s most-visited news destination.

In September, 2016, Hansen made worldwide headlines when he openly challenged Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg on the issue of censorship. Facebook had taken the controversial decision to remove Nick Ut’s iconic photograph, “The Terror of War”, which depicts a naked and burning Kim Phuc fleeing her firebombed village. Hansen’s, and Aftenposten’s principled stand led Facebook to relent and allow the photo, and contributed to an ongoing discussion of their role as an editor of information.

Hansen began his career as a journalist in 1985, working for seven years as a photojournalist. He correctly understood that the Internet would reshape the media business, which led him to be one of the founding employees in VG’s digital departments.

As and editor for more then 15 years Hansen has marked himself as a strong advocate for journalistic innovation – working across traditional silos to renew editorial working methods, storytelling and business models.