The ''Neue Zürcher Zeitung'' (''NZZ''; "New Journal of Zürich") is a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland *Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri *Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia *Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports * Swiss Internation ...

, German-language

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 ...

, published by NZZ Mediengruppe in

Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Z ...

. The paper was founded in 1780. It was described as having a reputation as a high-quality newspaper, as the Swiss-German

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 ...

, and for objective and detailed reports on international affairs.

History and profile

One of the oldest newspapers still published, it originally appeared as ''Zürcher Zeitung'', edited by the Swiss painter and poet

Salomon Gessner Salomon Gessner (1730–1788) was a Swiss painter, graphic artist, government official, newspaper publisher and poet; best known in the latter instance for his ''Idylls''. Biography His father, Hans Konrad Gessner (1696–1775), was a printer, ...

, on 12 January 1780, and was renamed as ''Neue Zürcher Zeitung'' in 1821. According to Peter K. Buse and Jürgen C. Doerr many prestige German language newspapers followed its example because it set "standards through an objective, in-depth treatment of subject matter, eloquent commentary, an extensive section on entertainment, and one on advertising." Aside from the switch from its

blackletter Blackletter (sometimes black letter), also known as Gothic script, Gothic minuscule, or Textura, was a script used throughout Western Europe from approximately 1150 until the 17th century. It continued to be commonly used for the Danish, Norwe ...

typeface in 1946, the newspaper has changed little since the 1930s. Only since 2005 has it added color pictures, much later than most mainstream papers. The emphasis is on international news, business, finance, and high culture. Features and lifestyle stories are kept to a minimum. Politically, the newspaper has been positioned close to the liberal

Free Democratic Party of Switzerland french: Parti radical-démocratique it, Partito Liberale Radicale rm, Partida liberaldemocrata svizra , logo = Free Democratic Party of Switzerland logo French.png , logo_size = 200px , foundation = , dissolution = ...

since its early period. It has a liberal and

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 ...

orientation. The appointment of Eric Gujer as editor-in-chief in 2015 and René Scheu as head of the feature section in 2016, as well as almost half of all contributing editors leaving the newspaper between 2015 and December 2017, marked a noticeable shift to the right, according to critics.

Circulation

The circulation of ''Neue Zürcher Zeitung'' was 18,100 copies in 1910. It rose to 47,500 copies in 1930 and 66,600 copies in 1950. In 1997, the ''Neue Zürcher Zeitung'' had a circulation of 162,330 copies. Its circulation was 169,000 copies in 2000. The circulation of the paper was 166,000 copies in 2003. The 2006 circulation of the paper was 146,729 copies. Its circulation was 139,732 copies in 2009. In 2010, the paper had a circulation of 136,894 copies.

Weekend edition

In 2002, the newspaper launched a weekend edition, ''NZZ am Sonntag'' (''NZZ on Sunday''). The weekend edition has its own editorial staff and contains more soft news and lifestyle issues than its weekday counterpart, as do most Swiss weekend newspapers. Its circulation was 121,204 copies in 2006. ''NZZ am Sonntag'' was awarded the European Newspaper of the Year in the category of weekly newspaper by the European Newspapers Congress in 2012.

NZZ Libro

''NZZ Libro'' is the book publisher of the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ). Books have been published since 1927; since 1980, the publishing house has been run as a separate profit centre. Since 2006 the publishing house has been operating under the name NZZ Libro. The publishing programme of specialist and non-fiction literature includes, among other things, political, cultural, historical and economic books, as well as biographies and illustrated books, predominantly with a Swiss reference.

Award

The ''Neue Zürcher Zeitung'' was the recipient of the 1979 Erasmus Prize."Erasmus Prize"
''The Age'' (via Google News). 21 September 1979. Retrieved 23 August 2012. "The 1979 Erasmus Prize for outstanding contribution to European culture was presented jointly yesterday to the Swiss daily newspaper 'Neue Zuercher Zeitung' and the West German weekly 'Die Ziet'."

Notes and references

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Neue Zurcher Zeitung 18th-century establishments in the Old Swiss Confederacy 1780 establishments in Europe Daily newspapers published in Switzerland German-language newspapers published in Switzerland Newspapers published in Zürich Newspapers established in 1780 Swiss news websites Liberal media