Hallands Nyheter
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Hallands Nyheter is a Swedish newspaper, founded by Artur Lagerihn in 1905. The newspaper is published in Falkenberg. It has a daily circulation of 31,600 and is owned by Stampen. The editorial page supports Centerpartiet. It is printed six days a week, all days except Sunday.
The paper employs about 150 people and has an annual turnover of 130 million Swedish kronor. Bengt Wendle holds the post as CEO, while Kristian Alm is chief editor. It is mainly distributed in the municipalities of Falkenberg and Varberg, where over 70% of the households subscribe. The paper has editiorial offices in Falkenberg, Varberg, Kungsbacka, Halmstad and Ullared. It is distributed as a talking magazine as well.
Stampen bought it from Centertidningar AB in 2005. Originally published under the label Falkenbergs-Posten, it changed its name to Hallands Nyheter in 1919.
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[edit] History
The newspaper started as Falkenbergs-Posten and was initially an advertising broschure. It was set up by a printer, Artur Lagerihn, who published the first number October 2, 1905. Before that, he had printed three specimen copies, startin September 13. The paper changed form to become an usual newspaper after just a few copies. It was then printed three times a week: Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The paper had four pages. It was distributed by post on the countryside, while townspeople could either get it at specified places, or pay a bit extra and get it delivered. Falkenbergs-Posten was a liberal paper, in opposition to its competitor, the large Falkenbergs Tidning, which was conservative.
Nils Bierke become joint owner at December 18. He was the chief editor of the paper during two periods, until 1909. The paper suffered from bad financies, and in 1907 it become a corporation. Several of the town's businessmen bought shares and become board members. During 1908 Artur Lagerihn got sick and Gustav Adolf Janson (usually written Gustav Ad. Janson) took over the authorization to issue the newspaper. Nils Bierke left the paper. At January 4 it started to use modern Swedish spelling. The financial problems were however still there. In 1909 it issued preference shares, that was however not enough, and the paper had to declare bankruptcy
[edit] Reconstruction
The paper was reconstructed by three of its former owners; A T Törngren, Julius Månsson och A Andersson. The first copy emerged from the press November 26, 1909. Filip Pärsson hold the post as chief editor, and would continue to do so until 1927.
In November 1911, Filip Pärsson's wife, Tekla Pärson took over as owner together with Gustav Ad. Jansson. Filip could himself not stand as owner as he had been involved in an earlier bankruptcy. From 1912 the paper would be published at Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The reason for the change was that it fitted better with the post distribution, and the days were thos on which Falkenbergs Tidning was published as well.
[edit] The farmer's movement gets involved
The recently formed National Farmers Union (Jordbrukarnas Riksförbund) want a newspaper in Halland. At the annual meeting, May 28, 1919, it was decided that the possibility of getting a mean of influencing the press in Halland should be investigated. As a consequence a company, owned by individuals within the farmer's movement, bought the paper. The goal was to make it a paper of the entire county.
In December 1919, the paper therefore changed its name to Hallands Nyheter (News of Halland). The paper had until then been a paper of the countryside of Falkenberg Municipality. It would take considerable time before that would to start to change. In the town Falkenbergs Tidning stil ruled.
A few years after the takeover, it became formally owned by the Farmers' League, a successor of the National Farmers Union. By becoming owned by the farmer's movement the paper not only got more money put into the company, it could also gain from the contact net of the movement to receive news.
The financial situation did however continue to be worrying. They did not succeed in widdening is distribution area. As of 1926 it had a circulation of 2,000. This lead the Farmer's League to sell the paper back to its CEO and former owner, Gustaf Adolf Janson. Jansson did not only get the ownership of the paper, he did become the new editor in chief as well!. A deal was struck between Jansson and the farmer's movement. The movement promised to continue to support the paper by subscribing, advertising etc. if the paper continued wear their stamp.
The company saw a turn to the better when the printer was commissioned to print Halländska Lantmannatidningen the same year. Although small in size it had, in the 1940s, a circulation of 20,000, hence giving the company a much needed stable source of income. The financial situtation was brightened further when it was commissioned to print SLU-bladet in 1930. SLU-bladet was the membership paper of the Farmer's League's youth organisation.
[edit] The paper establish itself in Varberg
Starting August 12, 1930 the paper was printed by a new printer, replacing one used from the foundation. In 1931 it started printing at Mondays, hence printing four editions a week. The move was caused by a similar move being taken by Falkenbergs tidning a year earlier.
Another, just as important, change occurred the same year. The paper established a new editorial office in the neighboring town of Varberg. It would, after a tough start, grow. Of much importance for the growth was the local editor in chief, Axel E Blixt, a man with good connections with the farmer's movement. Pressure from the farmer's movement had been the deciding factor behind the expansion.
The Hallands Nyheter, as well as the farmer's movement, had been offered to buy one of the newspapers in the town, Norra Hallands Tidning Vestkusten. Neither the paper, nor the movement, were however interested. The new office did however have some tough first years, as the Union of Merchants boycotted the new paper until 1937. The paper did however continue to grow, especially on the surrounding countryside. It has held a dominating position in Varberg since the 1970s.
The paper was distributed six days a week from 1939. The paper switch from mid day to morning publication in response to the same move by Falkenbergs Tidning . The circulation increased, as of 1939 it was 7,295 copies, six years later it was 10,825.
The paper bought a new printer in 1943. The purchase fueled some controversy, as it orginially belonged to a Norweigan paper, Bergens Aftenblad. Göteborgs Handels- och Sjöfartstidning, Göteborgsposten and Falkenbergs Tidning all hinted that they had been able to buy the printer at a too low price, as Norway was occupied by Germany.
The old one was sold to Laholms tidning. A close cooperation between the papers was established, much due to the shared connection with the farmer's movement. The papers shared came to share a lot of their content with other.
While Hallands Nyheter did well during the war, and the years that followed, the same was not true for its competitors. Norra Hallands Tidning Vestkusten and Varbergs Posten, located in Varberg, as well as Falkenbergs Tidning, were all shut down and replaced by another conservative paper, Hallands Dagblad. That paper did in turn shut down in 1959. The growth of Hallands Nyheter meant that the political profile was softened.
