''Die Presse'' is a

German-language German ( ) is a West Germanic language mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Italian province of South Tyrol. It is also a ...

daily broadsheet

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 ...

based in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. It is considered a

newspaper of record A newspaper of record is a major national newspaper with large circulation whose editorial and news-gathering functions are considered authoritative and independent; they are thus "newspapers of record by reputation" and include some of the ...

for Austria.

History and profile

''Die Presse'' was first printed on 3 July 1848 as a liberal (libertarian)-

bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) is a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper middle class. They are distinguished from, and traditionally contrasted with, the proletariat by their affluence, and their great cultural and financial capital. ...

newspaper within the meaning of the

revolutions of 1848 The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Europ ...

by the entrepreneur August Zang. Its staff split in 1864 under the leadership of Max Friedländer, Michael Etienne and Adolf Werthner to form the '' Neue Freie Presse'', which later was aryanized by the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in N ...

in 1938 and effectively closed in 1939. In 1946, after the

Second World War 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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, resistance fighter Ernst Molden, who had been vice-editor-in-chief of the ''Neue Freie Presse'' from 1921 until 1939, reestablished the newspaper as ''Die Presse''. The ''"Presse"'' had been struggling for financial survival for a long time, until during the 1960s, the Austrian

Chamber of Commerce A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to ...

became the main shareholder. Since 1999 it has been owned by the Styria Medien AG, a conservative-liberal media group founded by the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

. Its publisher is Die Presse Verlag GmbH. The paper covers general news topics. It is frequently quoted in international media concerning news from Austria. Since March 2009 it has also been operating a

weekly newspaper A weekly newspaper is a general-news or current affairs publication that is issued once or twice a week in a wide variety broadsheet, magazine, and digital formats. Similarly, a biweekly newspaper is published once every two weeks. Weekly ne ...

under the name ''"Die Presse am Sonntag"''. The daily covers half-page science news each day. The political position of the ''"Die Presse"'' can be described as

classical liberal Classical liberalism is a political tradition and a branch of liberalism that advocates free market and laissez-faire economics; civil liberties under the rule of law with especial emphasis on individual autonomy, limited government, econom ...

, with a strong emphasis on

free-market economy A market economy is an economic system in which the decisions regarding investment, production and distribution to the consumers are guided by the price signals created by the forces of supply and demand, where all suppliers and consumers are ...

and small government, traditionally opposing Austria's

grand coalition A grand coalition is an arrangement in a multi-party parliamentary system in which the two largest political parties of opposing political ideologies unite in a coalition government. The term is most commonly used in countries where there are ...

and its neocorporatist tendencies. It therefore stands in contrast to other Austrian newspapers of quality including the more

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

Wiener Zeitung ''Wiener Zeitung'' is an Austrian newspaper. It is one of the oldest, still published newspapers in the world. It is the official publication used by the Government of the Republic of Austria for legally-required announcements, such as company r ...

'' and the social-liberal ''

Der Standard ''Der Standard'' is an Austrian daily newspaper published in Vienna. History and profile ''Der Standard'' was founded by Oscar Bronner as a financial newspaper and published its first edition on 19 October 1988. German media company Axel Sprin ...

''. Emphasis is put on the 1848 revolutions as the beginning of its tradition as a liberal newspaper, citing it in its slogan "''Free since 1848''". Despite its liberal free-market orientation,

Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

and

Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ,"Engels"
'' American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...

for ''Die Presse'' in the early 1860s, which were later collected into the book '' The Civil War in the United States''. In 2007 the editor-in-chief of ''Die Presse'' was Michael Fleischhacker who had been appointed to the post in 2004. Next year the paper was named Best Editorial Team in Austria.

Circulation

In 2002 ''Die Presse'' was one of four quality daily newspapers with nationwide distribution along with ''

'', '' Salzburger Nachrichten'', and ''

''. The same year its circulation was 120,000 copies. In 2004 the paper had a circulation of 115,000 copies. The 2007 circulation of ''Die Presse'' was 121,000 copies. The circulation of the daily was 120,363 copies in 2008 and 102,598 copies in 2009. It was 97,091 copies in 2010. The paper had a circulation of 74,032 copies in 2011. Its circulation was 80,000 copies in 2013.

CIA involvement

In 2009, reports claimed that the long-time editor Otto Schulmeister had been working for the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

in the 1960s and the 1970s, and the CIA already described it internally as “CIA-subsidized” as early as 1951, when the CIA used it to distribute '' Animal Farm'' in the Soviet Zone of Vienna.

Notes

References

External links