''Jaunākās Ziņas'' () was a newspaper published in

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

from 1911 to 1940 and was the largest and most influential paper of its era.Terzis, Georgios. ''European Journalism Education''. Intellect Bristol, UK/Chicago USA. 2009. The newspaper was owned by the Benjamiņi couple, initially begun with

Emīlija Benjamiņa Emīlija Benjamiņa (sometimes transcribed Emilija Benjamina) (10 September 1881 – 27 September 1941) was a Latvian businesswoman. Acknowledged as the "Press Queen" in her home country, she became one of the wealthiest women in Europe at the t ...

as publisher and Antons Benjamiņš as editor-in-chief. The editorial office of the paper also published a weekly magazine entitled ''

Atpūta ''Atpūta'' () was a weekly illustrated magazine which was published in Latvia between 1911 and 1912 and then from 1924 and 1940. It was the most read popular magazine in the 1920s and in the 1930s. The magazine was one of the publications which ...

''. While at first an inexpensive newspaper for the general public, it became a leading daily paper for the democratic center and liberal movements, with the largest circulation and a reputation for reliability.Švābe, A. ''Latvijas Enciklopēdija'', vol. 1. Trīs Zvaigznes, Stockholm. 1950-1951. Following Antons Benjamiņš' tenure as editor-in-chief, Jānis Kārkliņš assumed the position in 1921; Ernests Runcis-Arnis in 1928; and Pēteris Blaus in 1937–40. ''Jaunākās Ziņas''′ printing run on workdays was approximately 160,000 copies; on Sundays, 200,000. The paper's popularity was attributable to its mix of timely information on current events and publication of serialized popular novels, such as

Tarzan Tarzan (John Clayton, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, a feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer. Creat ...

, and debuts of new literature, including the poetry of

Rainis Jānis Pliekšāns (11 September 1865 – 11 September 1929), known by his pseudonym Rainis, was a Latvian Poetry, poet, playwright, Translation, translator, and politics, politician. Rainis' works include the classic plays ''Uguns un nakts'' ('' ...

.''J. Rainis, Kopoti Raksti 30. sējumos'' (J. Rainis, Collected works in 30 volumes). Zinātne, 1983. The newspaper ceased to exist with the Soviet occupation of Latvia. Emīlija Benjamiņa was subject to the 1941 Soviet deportations from Latvia and died in the

Usollag Usollag, full name: Usolye Corrective Labor Camp () was a Gulag forced labor camp established on February 5, 1938 and functioned after the dissolution of Gulag, until 1960. It was headquartered in Solikamsk, now in Perm Krai, Russia, and it had nu ...

Gulag The Gulag was a system of Labor camp, forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, Soviet secret police that was in charge of runnin ...

forced labor camp.

References

External links

Issues of ''Jaunākās Ziņas'' 1911–1940
Defunct newspapers published in Latvia Latvian-language newspapers Mass media in Riga {{Latvia-newspaper-stub