Die Tageszeitung (German: [diː ˈtaːɡəsˌtsaɪtʊŋ], "The Daily Newspaper"), stylized as die tageszeitung and commonly referred to as taz, is a German daily newspaper. It is run as a cooperative – it is administered by its employees and a co-operative of shareholders who invest in a free independent press, rather than to depend on advertising and paywalls.[2]

Die Tageszeitung
The 30 October 2018 front page of Die Tageszeitung
TypeDaily newspaper
FormatBerliner
Publishertaz, die tageszeitung Verlagsgenossenschaft eG
EditorBarbara Junge,
Ulrike Winkelmann
Founded1978; 46 years ago (1978)
Political alignmentNew left, green left, new social movements, anti-capitalism, feminism, left-wing[1]
LanguageGerman
HeadquartersBerlin
ISSN0931-9085
Websitetaz.de

Founded in 1978 in Berlin as part of an independent, progressive and politically left-leaning movement, it has focused on current politics, social issues such as inequality, ecological crises both local and international, and other topics not covered by the more traditional and conservative newspapers. It mostly supports the alternative green political sphere and the German Green Party, but Die Tageszeitung has also been critical of the SPD/Greens coalition government (1998–2005).[3] It is one of Germany's most important newspapers and amongst the top seven.[4] It was for a long time described as "alternative-left" and critical of existing current structures (systemkritisch) but became more moderate liberal under the editors in-chief up from 2010.[5][6]

The newspaper's logo, a paw print, derives from the similarity of the name "taz" to a German word for paw, Tatze. Its position in the media landscape varies between the fifth and the sixth most read newspaper of Germany. In 2021 taz overtook for the first time the conservative Die Welt as the fifth most read daily newspaper of Germany.[7]

At the general meeting of the taz publishing cooperative in 2024, the management announced that the daily newspaper will publish its last paper print on October 17, 2025. After that it will only appear online; the columnistic weekend edition will remain in print.[8]

Barbara Junge and Ulrike Winkelmann are editors-in-chief; vice-editor-inchief is Katrin Gottschalk, chief reporter Peter Unfried.

History

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taz, die Tageszeitung's new head office building in Friedrichstraße, Kreuzberg, Berlin, Germany

Die Tageszeitung was established in 1978.[9] From the beginning, Die Tageszeitung was intended to be an alternative to the mainstream press, in its own words: "irreverent, commercially independent, intelligent and entertaining." One expression of its alternative approach to journalism was the payment of unified salaries for all employees until 1991. Nowadays, employees in highly responsible positions receive bonuses. Still, salaries of managers paid by Die Tageszeitung are considerably lower than what is paid in the rest of the industry.[10]

Since 1995, the WOZ Die Wochenzeitung (formerly WoZ) and Die Tageszeitung have included a German-language edition of the monthly Le Monde diplomatique to supplement the newspapers.[11][12] Most of the articles in the monthly supplement are translations of the French-language edition of the Le Monde diplomatique.[12] When it existed, taz also added the Turkish language newspaper of Germany Perşembe.[13]

Since 1992, Die Tageszeitung has been owned by more than 22,214 paying members (as of August 2022).[14] Its circulation has dropped in recent years, with subscriptions including e-paper now down to 42,000.[15] In 1995, it was the first German national newspaper to make all of the content of issue available online. Die Tageszeitung considers to phase out its printed daily edition,[16] but has not (as of December 2023).

 
Former[17] head office of Die Tageszeitung in the Rudi-Dutschke-Strasse in the Berlin district of Kreuzberg

From the beginning, Die Tageszeitung appeared in a nationwide edition as well as in a Berlin local edition. Over the years, local editorial offices for North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), Hamburg and Bremen were added. While the latter two were merged to "taz nord" (North) the NRW offices were closed as of July 2007.

In the 2013 elections the magazine was among the supporters of the Social Democratic Party.[18] Taz was the first and only newspaper to have an independent Turkish-language edition online, known as taz.gazete between 2017 and 2020.[19][20] It also was amongst the first to have articles in simple German for neuro-diverse people.[21] It publishes from time to time in English as taz in English.

At the general meeting of the taz publishing cooperative in 2024, the management announced that the daily newspaper will publish its last paper print on October 17, 2025. After that it will only appear online; the columnistic weekend edition will remain in print.[8]

Structure

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The newspaper is supported by a cooperative under German law. Many readers help finance the newspaper.[22] taz employees are paid under the collective agreement for newspapers in Germany.[23]

Political Stand

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In its founding years, the taz covered the political spectrum of the extra-parliamentary opposition (APO) in the Federal Republic of Germany in its advisory meetings and opinions. Their political stance was mostly close to the The Greens, the SPD and the later the PDS. She identified less with its successor party, The Left. In the 2000s, the newspaper became closer to the than more center A90/Greens and reported a lot of the opportunities and possibilities of green politics.

In 2023, long-time taz-journalist Ulrich Schulte switched sides and became head of the press office of the Federal Ministry for the Environment and Consumer Protection (BMUV), led by Steffi Lemke (A90/Greens).[24]

"Potato Affair"

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On 26 June 2006 Die Tageszeitung published a satirical article on its last page, headlined Die Wahrheit (the truth) that is reserved for satire and nonsense. It was titled "The new potato of Poland. Rogues who want to rule the world. Today: Lech 'Katsche' Kaczynski".[25] This article ridiculed President of Poland Lech Kaczyński and Prime Minister of Poland Jarosław Kaczyński. Lech Kaczyński then cancelled talks that were scheduled between Germany, Poland and France (the Weimar Triangle), officially for reasons of sickness.

Headlines

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The taz is noted for its tongue-in-cheek headlines,[26] such as:

On 5 June 2008, the paper published a picture headlined "Onkel Baracks Hütte" (Uncle Barack's Cabin) with a picture of the White House below the headline as part of an article about then-Senator Barack Obama. That headline, which made reference to the book Uncle Tom's Cabin, was perceived as racist by some of its readership.[27]

taz Panter Foundation

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The taz Panter Foundation is a legally capable foundation based in Berlin. The legal form of a foundation makes it possible to separate non-profit activities from the business activities of taz and to further expand them with the help of supporters. It was established in 2008 to award the taz Panter Prize, which has been presented since 2005 [28] [29]

The taz Panter Foundation is currently working on three goals: Firstly, it´s regularly holds international workshops to qualify foreign colleagues, who mainly come from countries where press freedom is under threat.[30] [31] Secondly, the Panter Foundation provides journalistic trainings and further education programs, especially for younger people.[32] And thirdly, the foundation promotes democracy and civic engagement, for example by awarding the annual taz Panter prize.[33]

See also

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Footnotes

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  1. ^ Ross Beveridge, ed. (2011). A Politics of Inevitability: The Privatisation of the Berlin Water Company, the Global City Discourse and Governance in 1990s Berlin. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 143. ISBN 9783531940564. Archived from the original on 6 August 2022. Retrieved 31 December 2021. Fitch's search of the left-wing newspaper Die Tageszeitung as well as the centre-right Die Welt revealed no articles ...
  2. ^ Patrick, Kingsley (1 October 2012). "The newspaper saved by its readers". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 24 July 2022. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
  3. ^ Brown, Kate; Richter, Christoph (c. 2019). "The anti-press". DW-Learn German. Archived from the original on 6 August 2022. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
  4. ^ "CULTURE & THE MEDIA: Newspapers and magazines". Facts about Germany. Fazit Communication GmbH, Frankfurt/Main, in cooperation with the Federal Foreign Office, Berlin. Archived from the original on 7 April 2022. Retrieved 6 August 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  5. ^ "IFM Mediendatenbank". 4 May 2012. Archived from the original on 3 January 2022. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
  6. ^ "Zeitungen in Deutschland". deutschland.de. 14 August 2012. Archived from the original on 25 September 2020. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
  7. ^ Schröder, Hens (21 January 2021). "Zeitungs-Auflagen: "Zeit" wächst massiv mit Print und Digital, "taz" überholt "Welt"". Meedia. Archived from the original on 8 March 2022. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
  8. ^ a b "taz-Genossen stimmen „Seitenwende" zu: Bloß nicht in Schönheit sterben". Die Tageszeitung: taz (in German). 14 September 2024. ISSN 0931-9085. Retrieved 16 September 2024.
  9. ^ "European News Resources". NYU Libraries. Archived from the original on 28 January 2015. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
  10. ^ "Die niedrigen Gehälter der taz". taz blogs. 6 November 2013. Archived from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
  11. ^ Bernard Degen (20 November 2013). "WochenZeitung (WOZ)" (in German). Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz. Archived from the original on 7 November 2014. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
  12. ^ a b Bolz, Lisa (19 July 2016). "Die deutsche Ausgabe von Le Monde diplomatique zwischen national und international – Rekonfiguration einer journalistischen Alternative". Recherches Germaniques (in German) (HS 11): 231–245. doi:10.4000/rg.857. ISSN 0399-1989. Archived from the original on 18 June 2022. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
  13. ^ Meier-Brown, Karl-Heinz. "Migranten in Deutschland: Gefangen im Medienghetto?" (PDF). Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 6 August 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  14. ^ "taz Genossenschaft". taz Genossenschaft. 6 August 2022. Archived from the original on 9 April 2020. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
  15. ^ "IVW-Blitz-Analyse Tages- und Wochenzeitungen: Zeit gewinnt erneut Auflage, Welt bricht völlig ein | MEEDIA". 22 April 2020. Archived from the original on 6 June 2020. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  16. ^ "Golem.de: IT-News für Profis". Archived from the original on 6 June 2020. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  17. ^ Riedel, Sunny (5 November 2018). "Plüschpinguine, Rotweinflecken und eine halbe Tischtennisplatte" [Plush penguins, stains of red wine and half a ping-pong plate]. Die Tageszeitung (in German). No. 11774. Berlin. p. 2. ISSN 0931-9085. Archived from the original on 6 November 2018. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
  18. ^ Juan P. Artero (February 2015). "Political Parallelism and Media Coalitions in Western Europe" (PDF). Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. Archived from the original (Working paper) on 16 April 2015. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  19. ^ ""taz" startet deutsch-türkisches Internetportal". evangelisch.de. 13 January 2017. Archived from the original on 21 March 2022. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
  20. ^ "Das ende von taz.gazete: Wir sagen Tschüss". taz.gazete. taz.gazete. 31 July 2020.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  21. ^ "taz.die tageszeitung in Leichter Sprache". www.bundesfachstelle-barrierefreiheit.de/. 3 July 2017. Archived from the original on 16 April 2021. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
  22. ^ "taz.Genossenschaft". berlin.imwandel.net (in German). Retrieved 11 November 2023.
  23. ^ "taz, die tageszeitung". eurotopics.net (in German). Retrieved 11 November 2023.
  24. ^ "Ulrich Schulte wird Sprecher im BMUV | KOM - Magazin für Kommunikation" (in German). 16 December 2021. Retrieved 16 September 2024.
  25. ^ Polens neue Kartoffel. Archived 19 May 2007 at the Wayback Machine In: taz, 26 June 2006. (in German) ISSN 0931-9085
  26. ^ "Happy Birthday, taz!". Die Zeit (in German). 17 April 2009. Archived from the original on 18 April 2009. Retrieved 17 April 2009.
  27. ^ Johnson, Dominic (6 June 2008). "Is "Uncle Barack's Cabin" racist?". Die Tageszeitung: Taz. Archived from the original on 6 August 2022. Retrieved 30 October 2008.
  28. ^ "Gemma Terés Arilla leitet taz-Panter-Stiftung - Aktuelle Meldungen - News - newsroom.de". www.newsroom.de (in German). 13 November 2023. Retrieved 9 April 2024.
  29. ^ "taz Panter Stiftung - INVITRUST" (in German). Retrieved 9 April 2024.
  30. ^ e.V, Reporter ohne Grenzen. "Rest & Resilience Fellowship". Reporter ohne Grenzen für Informationsfreiheit (in German). Retrieved 9 April 2024.
  31. ^ Marquardt, Erik (13 May 2022). "African journalists visiting Brussels". Erik Marquardt. Retrieved 9 April 2024.
  32. ^ "Wandelstiftung | Vorstellung der einzelnen Stiftungen | taz panterstiftung". wandelstiften.de. Retrieved 9 April 2024.
  33. ^ Welt, Haus der Kulturen der (5 October 2018). "taz Panter Prize 2008". HKW. Retrieved 17 June 2024.

Literature

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  • taz - die tageszeitung. Die Tageszeitung Verlagsgenossenschaft e. G., Berlin 1.1987,1ff. ISSN 0931-9085
  • Oliver Tolmein/Detlef zum Winkel: tazsachen. Kralle zeigen - Pfötchen geben. Hamburg 1988. ISBN 3-922144-76-4
  • Jörg Magenau: Die taz. Eine Zeitung als Lebensform. München 2007, ISBN 978-3-446-20942-8
  • Nora Münz: Links und liebenswert. Nutzungsmotive von Lesern der tageszeitung (taz). In: Senta Pfaff-Rüdiger / Michael Meyen (Hg.): Alltag, Lebenswelt und Medien. Lit Verlag. Münster 2007. S. 215–235. ISBN 978-3-8258-0897-6
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