Western Viking, the oldest and
largest Norwegian newspaper in
North America, presents itself as
“a weekly bilingual ethnic
newspaper bringing the latest news
from Scandinavia to America.” The
newspaper has been in existence
since May 17, 1889, the
anniversary of Constitution Day,
and it is credited with attracting
many immigrants to the Puget Sound
region in the late 1800s and early
1900s.
Currently under the editorship of
Kathleen Knudsen, who succeeded
her father, Alf Knudsen,
Western Viking has a
readership that spans from Midwest
to Europe. With more than twenty
thousand subscribers, with
correspondents in many European
countries, with good relations
with the Norwegian Foreign
Minister, Western Viking
“provides a link between the
Norwegian communities – a link to
each other and back to Norway,”
Kathleen Knudsen says, and it also
offers “learning resources about
modern day Norway,” she says.
Although it has been
around for 117 years, the
subscription-based Western
Viking feels the pressure
that
the entire industry shares
these days, when the Internet news
is ubiquitous and people expect
information to be free. For a
paper targeted to a specific
audience, every subscriber counts.
However, the Western Viking
gets passed around a lot, among
neighbors and friends. Also, the
word of mouth goes only so far,
and the paper has to keep getting
the news out that it exists,
Knudsen explains.
Western Viking
keeps itself fresh and interesting
by providing news from a multitude
of sources, being
a hub
of information. It attends
the big ethnical gatherings,
Knudsen says, covers the events,
and places ads in the national
papers that reach the
Norwegian-American readers.
Providing coverage for the local
communities’ events brings ads for
future events in its pages. The
ties with Norway brought the
opportunity of covering the visits
of the Norwegian Royal Family to
the United States, in 1995 and
1999. That got the word out.
Still, there is a continuous
effort to reach new people, to
attract new volunteers and to
bridge the generation gap.
Many
Norwegian-American organizations
are active in the Seattle area and
they meet regularly at Leif
Erikson Lodge in Ballard to
celebrate their cultural heritage.
The abundance of Norwegian groups
looks very impressive, but,
Knudsen says, it has a downside.
“Norwegians don’t always play well
together,” she says. Western
Viking has a role in getting
the groups to be “mutually
supportive,” and in “developing
cooperation” among them.
As
recently as March 11, 2006,
Western Viking covered “The
Tastes of Norway – Norwegian
Cultural and Heritage Day,”
organized by The Sons of Norway in
Seattle.
On June 30, 2006, at the Benaroya
Hall, The Sons of Norway in
Seattle will be the host of the
Annual Summer Festival with
choruses coming from all over the
country, from the Canadian to the
Mexican border. Western Viking
publicizes and covers that as
well. “The ethnic heritage we
bring to this country is so
important,” Knudsen says. “We have
to be careful about it because, if
we take it for granted, it’s going
to disappear.”
The
question is how to enlarge your
volunteer group, and not just talk
to your existing membership,
Knudsen says. Since not only
Norwegians read the newspaper, but
many
Scandinavians,
the paper is on all Scandinavian
flights out of Seattle, and it is
available at the International
Media Hub in Copenhagen.
In the
early 1990s, when the paper
reintroduced the bilingual
columns, people were skeptic about
the initiative. But soon, the
bilingual articles were adopted as
teaching tools: for students
learning Norwegian and for
Norwegians learning English.
Many
European readers are exchange
professors and students, or
researchers, Knudsen says. Once
they leave the United States, they
cancel their subscriptions, but
invariably call back to renew them
because “Norwegian-America has a
different approach to the news
than Norway,” Knudsen says. It has
a “unique perspective that they
don’t get anywhere else,” she
says.
“They
say America is a melting pot,”
Knudsen says. “The way I see it,
it is not a melting pot, but a
kaleidoscope.” Any way you turn
it, you see different colors and
images. It is important “to
maintain your ethnicity and bring
your color to your corner of the
world,” she says. And that is what
Western Viking does best.
©
2006 All content property of European Weekly unless where otherwise
accredited
