Dimmalætting

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Dimmalætting (Faroese for "Dawn") is the oldest and largest newspaper of the Faroe Islands and is based in Tórshavn.

The first edition of the Dimma, as it is commonly known, appeared (after a test issue on December 8, 1877) on January 5, 1878. Today it has a print run of 8,500 copies (in 1991 it was 13,300) and appears five days weekly. As an answer to competing papers, the Tuesday edition has been delivered free of charge to all households since April 5, 2005.

Since the founding of the Unionist Party in 1906, Dimma was the party paper, but it has since declared itself independent 1995. However, as of 2005, the chief has still been an automatic member of the Unionist party leadership.

The name Dimmalætting combines the word dimmi (Darkness) and lætting, from the verb lætta (leave). Dimmið lættir means "it is becoming daytime", or literally, "the darkness is dwindling". The paper's name comes from Venceslaus Ulricus Hammershaimb, the very creator of the modern orthography of Faroese.

The Danish name for the paper was the Amtstidene for Færøerne (Official paper for the Faroese), and the Faroese name was printed in small letters. In its early years, the paper was only published in the Danish language. Then, from 1910 to 1947, it was printed in both languages, and in the years since 1947, Faroese has dominated.

Until 1911, when a Wednesday edition began, the paper only appeared on Saturdays. In the 1920's, the paper expanded to six pages from the previous four. After 1970, the page count rose to eight or more. A third edition was added, and from September 1996, it has appeared five times a week from Tuesday to Saturday. In November 2004, the days were changed to Monday to Friday. Since the middle of March 2005, it has appeared in a smaller format.

The publisher also controls the advertising agency Team 85 and the printer Prentmiðstøðin which is the only newspaper printer in the islands. The agency is one of the largest on the Islands, and Prentmiðstøðin is owned jointly with Sosialurin the competing newspaper. In 2004 Dimmalætting merged its sheetfed printing division with Hestprent to become Føroyaprent, the largest printers on the islands with both local and international ambitions.

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