Lögberg-Heimskringla - 01.02.2012, Side 5

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Lögberg-Heimskringla • 1. febrúar 2012 • 5
It was a question raised by an L-H writer. “How long should an article be?” No, I
won’t respond with “as long as
it needs to be.” The question is
a little more complex than that.
Let’s start with Charles
Dickens. Rumours fly that he
was paid a penny a word and,
in order to make any money, he
padded – adding unnecessary
words, sentences and details –
to his novels. Not so, say mod-
ern experts. But the truth also
points to a real possibility of
padding.
Seems that Dickens’ nov-
els were initially published as
serials, a 20-part formula that
served many purposes. Each in-
stallment created a demand for
the next one. Publishers could
use part of the profits from one
installment to pay for the next.
People who could not afford to
buy books – much of the popu-
lation – could find the money
for the installments, each 32
pages long, wrapped in flimsy
paper covers. Best of all, the
author was paid on a regular
basis.
But here’s the question. If
Dickens had to produce exact-
ly 32 pages each month, how
tempting would it have been
to stretch the text to fill those
32 pages? A thousand writers
would shout together, “You just
betcha.”
L-H writers, of course,
aren’t paid, so there is no temp-
tation to pad for cash. That just
leaves the constant question:
“When do I stop?” The easy
answer is, “When the writer has
given the reader all the neces-
sary facts, plus enough colour
to make the article an interest-
ing read.”
Sometimes, in fact, a whole
story can be told with one great
photo and a long cutline. Think
of a crowd of fascinated kids
wondering whether or not they
want to get any closer to Grýla.
The slightly tense childish
faces tell the story better than
text does. All that is needed is
a description of the occasion,
the location, and the name of
the organization that invited
Iceland’s most famous troll to
visit some North American
community.
The director of journalism
when I was going to Ryerson
was very specific. A picture is
not worth a thousand words, he
would say. However, a photo
with a really good caption is. So,
if you, as the reporter, are not
sure whether there are enough
details for a story that runs
more than a couple of hundred
words, go with the 200 and one
or two storytelling photos. The
combination can be compel-
ling - consider this issue’s front
page, with the Crown Princess
of Norway kneeling down to
the level of the youngster who
is presenting the flowers. The
photo tells us more about the
personality of the Crown Prin-
cess than any thousand words
could do.
On the other hand, if the
story is a profile of an historic
site or the story of a person
with an unusual background,
the reader is going to want to
savour the background infor-
mation and will enjoy some
Dickensesque attention to de-
tail. And L-H does look for-
ward to those historic articles,
with photos and lots of detail.
They serve a purpose beyond
the initial interest. Collectively,
they form the basis for the story
of Icelanders in North America,
saved in L-H archives. And, to
produce enough details, quotes,
or genealogical information,
those history pieces can easily
be 1,000 words.
There is one column that
does have a fairly fixed word
length. L-H welcomes think
pieces for the Op Ed page,
personal opinions on any sub-
ject reflective of the Icelan-
dic community, issues that, in
some way, affect Icelanders,
or a piece of person nostalgia.
Those pieces should be from
600 to 700 words. Longer
doesn’t work, because the Op
Ed page is a popular spot with
advertiser, which limits the
amount of available space.
There is one trick to helping
decide whether a piece is too
long or too short. Read it aloud
to yourself. You will hear when
there are important facts that
are missing, and you will also
hear places where you have re-
peated material, or added detail
that really doesn’t fit or spoils
the flow of what you want to
say.
One final thought. While
you are considering how long
the article will be, check out
the photos. In order to make the
layout of the paper visually ap-
pealing, L-H uses large photos
when they have the power to
engage the reader, and to tell
a story. That generally means
photos with people interacting
with one another – as in the
Crown Princess photo – will be
larger than a formal photo of a
presentation.
THE EDITOR’S CORNER
Op-Ed:
Long, short and reading out loud
Joan Eyolfson Cadham
Can one man be held accountable for the economic collapse of
an entire nation? This is what
the Landsdómur, the special
High Court established in
Iceland in 1905 to try members
of cabinet, will determine in
the coming months as former
Prime Minister Geir H.
Haarde has been charged with
negligence in the prelude of the
economic crash in 2008. Those
are serious allegations and you
can rest assured that they are
controversial as well. In fact,
the term political persecution
has been used more than once
and more than twice in the
public debate.
There is no doubt that
the two different cabinets led
by Mr. Haarde were caught
off guard and there are signs
that even after the cabinets
knew where the economy was
heading, they simply ignored
this information. Keep in
mind that even in early 2008,
both Mr. Haarde and foreign
minister Ingibjörg Sólrún
Gísladóttir went on road trips
to reassure foreigners that both
the Icelandic banking system
and financial market were
completely sound. Further,
there is no doubt that in May
2008, Mr. Haarde was warned
by Professor Robert Z. Aliber, a
vetern American economist, of
what was about to happen. In a
lecture, given by Prof. Aliber, he
provided a road map about how
the economy would collapse if
no action was taken and he also
met with Mr. Haarde during his
visit to Iceland.
There are mitigating factors
as well. Shortly before the
collapse of the banks, they had
been given a clean bill of health
by the international rating
agencies, Standard & Poor’s,
Moody’s and Fitch Ratings.
Furthermore, in August 2008,
only three months before the
crash, the financial supervisory
authority conducted stress tests
on all the banks. Apparently,
the results of these tests gave
no reason for concern nor did
Seðlabanki, the central bank,
raise any alarm concerning
the liquidity of the banks.
According to the Special
Investigating Committee,
however, the government was
aware of the problems faced by
the banks.
unique proceedings
The proceedings before
Landsdómur will be unique
in Icelandic history as it is the
first time the court convenes.
Only Alþingi, the parliament,
can decide to charge former
ministers and this decision
was made in the autumn
of 2010, by 33 votes to 30.
Despite recommendations
from the Special Investigative
Committee, Mrs. Gísladóttir,
Árni M. Mathiesen (minister
of finance) and Björgvin
G. Sigurðsson (minister of
commerce and banking) were
not charged. The fact that the
majority of the parliament
voted no to charging the
above mentioned ministers has
fuelled the political persecution
debate, especially as both Mrs.
Gísladóttir and Mr. Sigurðsson
represent Samfylkingin, the
Social Democratic Alliance,
the party leading the current
cabinet.
Chances are that the
proceedings will be cancelled.
Bjarni Benediktsson, the current
leader of Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn
(Haarde’s party) recently
proposed to Alþingi, a motion
of dismissal of the charges.
Last week this was replied
with a motion to dismiss the
motion to dismiss but the latter
motion did not pass a vote so
Mr. Benediktsson’s motion will
be discussed and voted on. If it
passes, Mr. Haarde will go free.
If not, Mr. Haarde will be tried
and the unique proceedings
might be prolonged, as his
defender has already submitted
his witness list and it contains
the names of almost every high
ranked public servant of the
pre-crash years.
Important implications
The question remains
unanswered. Can one man
be held accountable for
the economic collapse of
an entire nation or are the
charges unfounded, a political
persecution? Only time will
tell, or rather the High Court.
Mr. Haarde was undoubtedly
the head of the cabinet that
seemingly ignored the vital
early signs of the economy
crashing. On the other hand
it is far from clear whether
or not any reaction from the
government would have had
any effect to prevent the crash.
This must be proven by the
prosecutor.
The collapse of the Icelandic
economy is unprecedented
in Icelandic history. So is the
Haarde-affair. If he is convicted,
it may have important
implications for the future.
One of these implications is
that whenever there is a shift
of power in the Icelandic
parliament, the parties that gain
power have a precedent for
charging former ministers.
Case dismissed
G Sverrir Þór
Uppsala, Sweden
Government of Iceland
ScholarShIp
North American students studying language and literature are invited to
apply for a Scholarship to study Icelandic language and literature at the
University of Iceland in Reykjavík for the 2012 - 2013 term.
Scholarship covers registration fees at the University and a monthy stipend of ISK 114,000
(approx. $994 CDN/mo.) Sept/12 - April/13. A dorm room will be available for rent.
Deadline for submissions of all application material is
March 1, 2012
Application forms & further information available on the INL website
www.inlofna.org
Under scholarships – Iceland, Ministry of Education
INL of NA offIce:
Gwen Grattan, executive Secretary
IceLANdIc NAtIoNAL LeAGue of North AmerIcA
#103 - 94 1st Ave, Gimli, mB, canada r0c 1B1
Phone: 204-642-5897
email: inl@mymts.net