Lögberg-Heimskringla - 15.01.2008, Síða 9

Lögberg-Heimskringla • 15. janúar 2008 • 9
120
years of
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the newspaper kept its readers
up to date on the meetings of
the Icelandic Liberal associa-
tion at the Good Templar Hall
in Winnipeg, and whenever an
election loomed, whether fed-
eral or provincial, subscribers
would find many articles on the
candidates of Icelandic descent
and also the chief platform pol-
icies of the Liberal party.
Occasionally the rivalry
between the two newspapers
took a sharp tone; one example
was in 1907 during a provin-
cial election in Manitoba when
a “scandal” erupted. Lögberg
picked up a story from the Win-
nipeg Tribune that an election
pollster speaking to a voter
asked whether the voter would
be supporting Conservative
candidate Thomas Sharpe, and
upon inferring this would be the
case, commented that the per-
son would “at any rate not be
voting for an Icelander.” Heim-
skringla pounced on Lögberg’s
account, asserting that it could
not be verified and said — on
its front page — that Lögberg
had lied. Lögberg shot back
that the source was reliable
and that Heimskringla ought to
look more closely into the mat-
ter before making accusations.
Lögberg also reviewed the
performance of its preferred
party, such as in 1957 when
looking at the past nine years
of government under Liberal
Canadian Prime Minister Louis
St. Laurent.
Aside from politics, Lög-
berg tried to provide world
news to the Icelandic commu-
nity, as well as keep in touch
with the widespread Icelandic
settlements in North America.
Articles about events in Utah,
Saskatchewan, North Dakota,
Alberta and Washington State
appeared alongside the regular
coverage of Manitoban events.
The decades saw Lögberg
shrink from a broadsheet to a
smaller-sized paper, princi-
pally in the 1930s, though this
was not consistent. Times were
tough, and as the Icelandic
community assimilated more
into Canadian and American
societies, English became more
commonplace and the need for
two Icelandic-language news-
papers may have been less
— people of Icelandic descent
could just as easliy get their
world and local news from
English-language newspapers.
(Lögberg and Heimskringla
were by no means the only Ice-
landic newspapers, either — a
number of others sprang up,
such as Baldur in Manitoba’s
Interlake.)
One of the longest-serving
editors of Lögberg was Einar
Páll Jónsson. He had been as-
sistant editor from 1917 to
1927, and was editor from
1927 to 1932 and then from
1934 until 1959. He had been
born and educated in Iceland
and was a literary-minded edi-
tor, as well as actively involved
in politics.
His wife, Ingibjörg Jóns-
son, who had been fjallkona
at Íslendingadagurinn in Gimli
in 1951, began writing a popu-
lar column, Áhugamál Kven-
na (“Of Interest to Women”)
in the 1950s. She discussed
ideas, trends, and news about
women, but aimed at a general
readership.
The question of how both
Lögberg and Heimskringla
would survive, given that the
Icelandic community might no
longer be able to support two
newspapers, was brought into
sharp relief with Einar Páll
Jónsson’s death in May 1959.
Ingibjörg Jónsson took over as
editor of Lögberg on June 25,
and continued when the two
newspapers amalgamated later
that year as Lögberg-Heim-
skringla. The first issue was
published on August 20. Ingib-
jörg set a precedent of talented
female editors at Lögberg-
Heimskringla, and in 1969 she
was given an honorary mem-
bership by the Icelandic News-
paper Association.
Today the story of Lög-
berg, which began in the 19th
century, continues in the 21st
century, as part of Lögberg-
Heimskringla. While sharp po-
litical and religious divisions
no longer characterize the Ice-
landic newspaper, it still aims
to bring together the Icelandic
community together — a 120-
year work in progress.
Displaying the proud patrio-
tism of the Icelandic descen-
dants, Lögberg devoted a full-
colour front page to Canada’s
60th anniversary.
The final issue of Lögberg. Coverage of the upcoming Íslend-
ingadagurinn fills the front page. Annual special issues such as
this one and the Christmas issue were typically the largest, at
more than 24 pages and sometimes in more than one section,
as opposed to the regular eight- or even four-page issues.
Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt
dominate the front page of this
issue, announcing Germany’s
surrender and the end of the
Second World War.
Einar Páll Jónsson was editor
from 1927 to 1959. When he
died in 1959, his wife Ingib-
jörg took over as editor.
The invasion of France com-
petes for coverage space on the
front page with June 17 cel-
ebrations — Iceland gained its
independence in 1944.