Sørlandet (lit. "Southern Norway") was a Norwegian newspaper, published in Kristiansand in Vest-Agder county.
Sørlandets Social-Democrat was started on 5 January 1907, after a trisal issue on 21 December 1906, as a Labour Party newspaper. It was weekly from the start, but daily from 1909. The name was changed to Sørlandet from 30 April 1923.[1] The change followed a letter in 1922 from the Comintern Executive which stated that no newspaper should have "Social Democrat" or "Democrat" in its title.[2] The breakthrough came in 1927, when, after years of turbulence in the labour movement, the Labour Party absorbed the Social Democratic Labour Party. Four years later a former Communist became the newspaper's editor. Notable editors were Ole Øisang (1920–1925), Olav Scheflo (1931–1939) and Odd Lien (1956-1977). Jakob Friis also contributed.[1] Olav Brunvand (not to be confused with the newspaper's first editor) was a journalist from 1934 to 1939.[3]
During the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany, Sørlandet was stopped between 28 January 1941 and 8 May 1945. It was then revived, and retained its Labour connection until 1986. It then struggled financially, with a circulation of 5,721 compared to 8,129 in 1965.[1] The last editor under Labour flag was Arne Tumyr from 1984 to 1986.[4] Trygve Hegnar owned the newspaper for two years until 1988 without managing to breathe life into it. It went defunct after its last issue on 7 February 1990.[1]
. Per Maurseth. Gjennom kriser til makt 1920-1935. 1987. Volume three of Arbeiderbevegelsens historie i Norge. Tiden. Oslo. Norwegian. 82-10-02753-0. 269.