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The ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' (; ), published in
Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...
,
Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total l ...
, is one of the largest daily
newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, spor ...
s in Germany. The tone of SZ is mainly described as
centre-left Centre-left politics lean to the left on the left–right political spectrum but are closer to the centre than other left-wing politics. Those on the centre-left believe in working within the established systems to improve social justice. The ...
, liberal, social-liberal, progressive-liberal, and social-democrat.


History

On 6 October 1945, five months after the end of
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
in Germany, the ''SZ'' was the first newspaper to receive a license from the US military administration of Bavaria. Th
first issue
was published the same evening, allegedly printed from the same (repurposed) presses that had printed ''Mein Kampf''. The first article begins with: Declines in ad sales in the early 2000s was so severe that the paper was on the brink of bankruptcy in October 2002. The Süddeutsche survived through a 150 million euro investment by a new shareholder, a regional newspaper chain called Südwestdeutsche Medien. Over a period of three years, the newspaper underwent a reduction in its staff, from 425 to 307, the closing of a regional edition in Düsseldorf, and the scrapping of a section devoted to news from Berlin. In spring 2004, ''SZ'' launched the ''Süddeutsche Bibliothek''. Each week, one of 50 famous novels of the 20th century was made available in hardcover at certain newsstands and in book shops. Later a series of 50 influential movies on DVD followed. In late 2004 the daily also launched a
popular science ''Popular Science'' (also known as ''PopSci'') is an American digital magazine carrying popular science content, which refers to articles for the general reader on science and technology subjects. ''Popular Science'' has won over 58 awards, incl ...
magazine, ''SZ Wissen''. In late 2005 a series of children's books continued this branch of special editions. In early 2015, the newspaper received a 2.6- terabyte data set from an anonymous source. The dataset contained confidential information of a law firm offering the management of offshore companies. The newspaper in conjunction with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists reviewed the data from the ''
Panama Papers The Panama Papers ( es, Papeles de Panamá) are 11.5 million leaked documents (or 2.6 terabytes of data) that were published beginning on April 3, 2016. The papers detail financial and attorney–client information for more than 214,488 ...
'' for over a year before publishing stories from it on 3 April 2016. In the late 2017, the newspaper released snippets from a 1.4- terabyte data set to be known as the ''
Paradise Papers The Paradise Papers are a set of over 13.4 million confidential electronic documents relating to offshore investments that were leaked to the German reporters Frederik Obermaier and Bastian Obermayer, from the newspaper'' Süddeutsche ...
'' containing about 13.4 million documents, throwing light on the financial offshore jurisdictions, whose workings are unveiled, including Bermuda, the HQ of the main company involved, Appleby, corporate services provider Estera, corporate registries in Caribbean and Singapore-based international trust and corporate services provider, Asiaciti Trust. It contains the names of more than 120,000 people and companies. The newspaper called in the ''International Consortium of Investigative Journalists'' to oversee the investigation. BBC Panorama and The Guardian are among the nearly 100 media groups investigating the papers. The leaked data covers seven decades, from 1950 to 2016. In May 2018, the German Press Council opened an inquiry to determine whether a ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' cartoon which depicted Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu (; ; born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who served as the ninth prime minister of Israel from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2009 to 2021. He is currently serving as Leader of the Opposition and Chairman of ...
was anti-Semitic; readers had complained that the image "reminded them of the anti-Semitic language of Nazi times." ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' ended its decades-long collaboration with the cartoonist and apologized to readers, calling the cartoon a mistake.


Profile

In German politics, the term liberalism is different from that in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
, and like other European regions, it is a concept that encompasses both
centre-right Centre-right politics lean to the right of the political spectrum, but are closer to the centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure and the economy, moving away from the nobility and ...
and
centre-left Centre-left politics lean to the left on the left–right political spectrum but are closer to the centre than other left-wing politics. Those on the centre-left believe in working within the established systems to improve social justice. The ...
. Traditionally, '' Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung'' represents the view of right-wing liberals, while ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' represents the view of left-wing liberals. The paper, often abbreviated ''SZ'', is read throughout Germany by 1.1 million readers daily and boasts a relatively high circulation abroad. The editorial stance of the newspaper is progressive-liberal and generally of a
centre-left Centre-left politics lean to the left on the left–right political spectrum but are closer to the centre than other left-wing politics. Those on the centre-left believe in working within the established systems to improve social justice. The ...
orientation, leading some to joke that the ''SZ'' is the only meaningful opposition in the state of
Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total l ...
, which has been governed by the conservative Christian Social Union of Bavaria almost continuously since 1949. In the 2013 elections the paper was among the supporters of the SPD. ''SZ'' is published in Nordisch format.


Contents


Sections

The national edition features four sections: Politics, Culture, Economy and Sports. Editions sold throughout Bavaria include statewide news. Editions sold in Munich and its surrounding counties add local news inserts. The ''SZ'' is well known for its daily frontpage column ''Streiflicht'' (searchlight) of 72 lines, which is published anonymously.


Supplements

*SZ Magazin (Friday), a magazine supplement *Wochenende (Saturday), featuring longer articles and short stories for the weekend. *TV listings (Tuesday) and an event guide (Thursday) are only included in the Bavarian edition.


Articles in English

Between 2004 and 2017, ''SZ'' published a weekly supplement containing articles in English from ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''.


Website

Sueddeutsche.de
is the newspaper's website. It contains articles from the paper's own online staff, articles that originally appeared in the print version of the paper and agency reports. The paper's first incarnation on the web was launched on the paper's 50th anniversary. It was called "SZonNet". The project was directed by Hella Schmitt of the SZ Text Archive (now DIZ - Documentation and Information Center Munich). Initially, it had no journalistic staff of its own, it simply used content from the print edition. Oliver Bantle, from SZ Science came up with ideas for publishing original science content online in 1996. The content went online in the fall of that year with Angelika Jung-Huettl as editor. Editorial responsibility lay with the then leader of SZ Science, Martin Urban. In the spring of 1998, travel-related content began to be published online. Wenke Hess originated the concept and implemented it as an editor. ''Süddeutsche.de'' employs 25 journalists.


Circulation

During the third quarter of 1992 ''SZ'' had a circulation of 397,000 copies. The 1993 circulation of the paper was 304,499 copies. In the period of 1995-96 the paper had a circulation of 407,000 copies. Its 2001 circulation was 436,000 copies and it was one of the top 100 European newspapers. In 2003 ''SZ'' had a circulation of 433,000 copies. In the fourth quarter of 2004, the paper sold an average of 441,955 copies. The circulation of the paper was 429,345 copies in the first quarter of 2006. During the first quarter of 2012 it had a circulation of 432,000 copies.


Editors-in-chief

* Werner Friedmann (1951–1960) * Hermann Proebst (1960–1970) * Hans Heigert (1970–1984) * Dieter Schröder (1985–1995) * Gernot Sittner (1989–2006) * Hans Werner Kilz (1996–2010) * Kurt Kister (2011–2020) * Wolfgang Krach (since 2015) * Judith Wittwer (since 2020)


Notable writers

Some of Germany's best-known journalists either work for the ''SZ'' or spent considerable parts of their careers working for the paper. Heribert Prantl, head of the national desk, is a lawyer by education, a former public prosecutor, and the most cited author of editorial commentaries in German press. Hans Leyendecker is one of Germany's best known investigative journalists. Leyendecker formerly worked for the magazine ''
Der Spiegel ''Der Spiegel'' (, lit. ''"The Mirror"'') is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of 695,100 copies, it was the largest such publication in Europe in 2011. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...
'', unveiling various political and economic scandals, such as the widespread illegal party financing during the 1980s, and that of the CDU in 1999. He also unveiled the smuggling of Russian
plutonium Plutonium is a radioactive chemical element with the symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is an actinide metal of silvery-gray appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, and forms a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exh ...
into Germany with the help of the foreign intelligence service ''
Bundesnachrichtendienst The Federal Intelligence Service (German: ; , BND) is the foreign intelligence agency of Germany, directly subordinate to the Chancellor's Office. The BND headquarters is located in central Berlin and is the world's largest intelligence h ...
'' in 1994, bribery at arms deals, the German Visa Affair 2005 and corruption of the staff council at
Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...
. Another well-known journalist working for the ''SZ'' was Rudolph Chimelli, a political reporter who was working for the paper from 1 January 1957 to his death in 2016. Martin E. Süskind also worked with the ''SZ'' and eventually became the editor of the ''
Berliner Zeitung The ''Berliner Zeitung'' (, ''Berlin Newspaper'') is a daily newspaper based in Berlin, Germany. Founded in East Germany in 1945, it is the only East German paper to achieve national prominence since reunification. It is published by Berliner ...
''.
Giovanni di Lorenzo Giovanni di Lorenzo (; born 9 March 1959) is an Italian-German journalist. Editor-in-chief (since 2004) of German nationwide weekly newspaper '' Die Zeit'' and former editor-in-chief of Berlin's liberal daily newspaper '' Der Tagesspiegel'' ( ...
, who was responsible for the ''SZs full page documentary ''Seite 3'' (Page 3) from 1994 to 1998, and who was later editor-in-chief of the '' Tagesspiegel'', also worked for the paper. He is now editor-in-chief of the weekly German newspaper ''
Die Zeit ''Die Zeit'' (, "The Time") is a German national weekly newspaper published in Hamburg in Germany. The newspaper is generally considered to be among the German newspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles. History Th ...
''. The investigative reporters
Frederik Obermaier Frederik Obermaier (born 1 March 1984) is a German investigative journalist for the Munich-based newspaper, ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'', and author. Together with his colleague Bastian Obermayer in 2016 he initiated and coordinated the Panama Pape ...
and
Bastian Obermayer Bastian Obermayer (born 10 December 1977) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning German investigative journalist with the Munich-based newspaper ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' (SZ) and the reporter who received the Panama Papers from an anonymous source as well ...
in 2016 initiated and coordinated the worldwide
Panama Papers The Panama Papers ( es, Papeles de Panamá) are 11.5 million leaked documents (or 2.6 terabytes of data) that were published beginning on April 3, 2016. The papers detail financial and attorney–client information for more than 214,488 ...
revelations.


See also

* List of newspapers in Germany *
Media of Germany Mass media in Germany includes a variety of online, print, and broadcast formats, such as radio, television, newspapers, and magazines. History The modern printing press developed in Mainz in the 15th century, and its innovative technology spre ...


References


Further reading

* Merrill, John C. and Harold A. Fisher. ''The world's great dailies: profiles of fifty newspapers'' (1980) pp. 298–304


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Suddeutsche Zeitung 1945 establishments in Germany Centre-left newspapers Daily newspapers published in Germany German-language newspapers German news websites Liberal media in Germany Newspapers published in Munich Paradise Papers Newspapers established in 1945 Progressivism in Germany Social liberalism