- VILNIAUS ZINI0S (The Vilnius News), the
first newspaper published in the Lithuanian language after the repeal
of the press ban (April 24, 1904). The license to publish the daily
was obtained from the Russian government by Petras Vileisis, a
financially capable industrialist in Vilnius. As the founder and
publisher, he considered himself as the editor in chief, but in fact
the editors were Povilas Visinskis, Jonas Kriauciunas, Pranas
Klimaitis, Kazys Puida, and Rev. Juozas Tumas-Vaizgantas, who edited
the daily for shorter or longer periods. With the change of editors it
was hoped to gain a wider appeal among the ideologically different
groups of Lithuanian society. The intelligentsia, which was not large
at the time, was dominated by Catholic priests and lay persons mostly
of left wing socialist orientation. Unable to satisfy these opposing
groups, the daily found itself in financial difficulties and in the
summer of 1907 Petras Vileisis transferred it to a shareolding
company, founded for the purpose of publishing the newspaper and
headed by his brother Jonas Vileisis. Stasys Matulaitis, Gabriele
Petkevicaite, and Mykolas Birziska joined the editorial staff, and
politically the daily now followed a clearly defined socialist trend.
But these measures did not help the newspaper's circulation, which had
dropped from about 6,000 (1905) to 2,000 (1907). Adding to its
problems were the Russian administration fines imposed on the daily.
In 1908 its editor was sentenced to two weeks' imprisonment and a 100
ruble fine for printing articles demanding the right to use the
Lithuanian language in primary schools, as had been allowed the Poles
and Jews in Vilnius. The first issue of Vilniaus zinios
appeared on December 10, 1904, and the last on March 4, 1909, in all
1,175 issues.
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- Literature:
ENCYCLOPEDIA LITUANICA I-VI, 1970-1978, Boston
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