World’s oldest daily newspaper to cease publication next year – The Irish Times

When the Wiener Zeitung (WZ) first appeared in Vienna in 1703, it promised readers a different kind of newspaper.

Unlike the “editorial fluff” offered by its rivals from Imperial Austria-Hungary, the newcomer would deliver “the absolute truth”.

True to this mission statement, the WZ – considered the oldest daily newspaper in the world – has announced that it will cease publication next year.

“The mood is not good, there is huge disappointment among the editorial staff,” said Mr. Michael Schmölzer, WZ’s foreign editor. “Regardless of what happens now, we’re talking about the death of a newspaper.”

As newspapers across Europe struggle with an uncertain future of dying readership and spiraling costs, some see the end of the WZ as a harbinger of what is to come elsewhere. Others see it as the end of a media unicorn.

The quality newspaper sells around 20,000 copies on weekdays, double that on weekends. It was privately owned until 1857 when, thanks to its enthusiastic anti-imperial editorial line, the government intervened and bought the title. In state hands ever since, the paper has funded its operations and its 40-person editorial staff largely with revenue from the state’s official newspaper.

New media bill

In addition to government notices, Austrian law requires companies to publish public announcements for everything from balance sheets to announcements of shareholder meetings. But all of this will culminate in a new media bill, introduced last week by Austria’s conservative-green government.

The new bill creates a media support fund of 20 million euros, open to all media that meet the criteria of editorial independence and gender equality. In addition, the bill makes the distribution of government and semi-state advertisements more transparent. It’s about ending a previously opaque – and controversial – practice where such spending could make or break a newspaper. Revelations last year that Sebastian Kurz prioritized lucrative state advertising to sympathetic tabloids helped him fall as chancellor.

In addition to funding private media, the bill makes changes to public broadcaster ORF, reducing its text offering on its popular website – long a bone of contention among private Austrian news outlets.

Austrian Media Minister Susanne Raab said the new bill would strengthen the country’s media as “the fourth pillar of democracy and an important corrective”.

The Austrian junior coalition partner of the Greens acknowledged that “without media and journalism, democracy is non-existent”.

“We want to support this contribution to democracy,” said Sigrid Maurer, leader of the Greens parliamentary party. They insist that the SZ will continue to exist – online daily and in print monthly.

The media battle for survival is not limited to Austria. Newspaper companies and printers in neighboring Germany are preparing for one of their harshest winters in decades.

They are grappling with an explosion in the cost of newsprint – the paper used for newspapers – from €450 to €1,000 a ton, in part due to rising energy costs caused by the war in Ukraine.

Storage

Pushing prices even further: a race by companies to stockpile newsprint before the next price hike.

The company that prints the conservative daily Frankfurter Allgemeine and the weekly Die Zeit has set up a tent next to its main factory in Frankfurt to store an additional 1,400 tonnes of newsprint.

Another cost factor is a new minimum wage of €12. Last month, Matthias Döpfner, chief executive of major media group Axel Springer, said rising payrolls had helped push “Germany’s press delivery infrastructure to the brink of collapse”.

Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner told the Association of German Publishers (BDZV) last month that he was open to state aid for the media.

“We want to ensure the national supply of periodical press products and verify which financing options are suitable for this,” he said.

Not all logs last this long. For four years, the left-wing Tageszeitung (taz) has been flirting with the idea of ​​ending its publication on weekdays and keeping only its Saturday weekend edition.

For taz chief executive Andreas Marggraf, rising digital subscriptions and falling print sales – accelerated during the pandemic – meant a clear transformation process was underway. So far, however, he said no firm date has been agreed to end daily printing.

“What is clear is that rising printing and distribution costs cannot be offset by subscriptions,” he told the daily Süddeutsche Zeitung, “and that revenues from printed paper will continue to to lower”.