''Beobachter'' (, ''Observer'') is a

German-language German (, ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family, mainly spoken in Western and Central Europe. It is the majority and official (or co-official) language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. It is a ...

Swiss medium with a focus on law and justice.

History and profile

The magazine was founded in 1926 by Max Ras as ''Der Schweizerische Beobachter'' and first distributed in 1927 as a free newspaper to all households in the German-speaking part of Switzerland. From the beginning, it was a political, but non-partisan struggle sheet, that took a position in favor of economically weakly positioned people. The newspaper fought for equal rights for women, fights rampant bureaucracy, and reveals scandals and hypocrisies. Through its populist style and the high number of readers, which in 1994 was over a million, ''Beobachter'' secured an extensive advertising volume within Switzerland. From 2007 respectively 2010 (against media and political protests), the low-priced subscription magazine was published fortnightly by Axel Springer AG Switzerland. At that time, it had a circulation of 308,000 copies, and in 2013 printed 283,284 copies ( WEMF 2013) and had 918,000 readers (MACH Basic 2013-2) in 2014. In 2023, Ringier acquired Axel Springer's share in Beobachter through the acquisition of the joint venture Ringier Axel Springer Switzerland.

Additional services

''Beobachter'' also provides a particularly well-developed consultancy service for legal questions, information about employment, rental, consumer and family law for its subscribers. It is distributed on the internet, by post and by apps (Android/iOS). The ''Beobachter TV'' series on

SRF 1 SRF 1 (''SRF eins'') is a German-language Swiss television channel, one of three produced by the SRG SSR public-service broadcasting group (the others being SRF zwei and SRF info). The channel, formerly known as SF1, was renamed on 16 Decemb ...

and SRF 2 as well as on radio

DRS 3 Radio SRF 3 is the third radio station from Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF). History The station was launched on 1 November 1983 at 00:01 hours (as DRS 3) in response to the licensing of private radio stations in Switzerland. During its ear ...

also contributes helpful consumer information. The ''Beobachter-Verlag'' publishes non-fiction printed books and

e-books An ebook (short for electronic book), also spelled as e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in electronic form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. A ...

Kinder der Landstrasse

''Beobachter'' got in the even international focus in 1972, as the newspaper's journalists investigated, when the newspaper got hints by affected Jenisch (''Fahrende'') people. Hans Caprez published on 15 April 1972 in the article ''Kinder der Landstrasse'' the facts and the backgrounds of the ''

Kinder der Landstrasse (literally: "the aid organization for the children of the country road"), more commonly known as , was a project implemented by the Swiss foundation Pro Juventute from 1926 to 1973. The project aimed to assimilate the Itinerant groups in Europe, ...

'' scandal, involving about 590 children of the ''Jenisch'' people minority in Switzerland. The newspaper hence actively supports the so-called ''

Wiedergutmachungsinitiative The Swiss children coercion reparation initiative ( German: ''Wiedergutmachungsinitiative'') was a Swiss federal popular initiative. It called for reappraisal and a fund of 500 million Swiss francs for Verdingkinder (forced child laborers) and ...

'' started in April 2014 – on 19 December 2014 the initiative was submitted at the Federal Chancellery (''Bundeskanzlei'').''Tagesschau'' on SRF 1 on 19 December 2014

References

Literature

* Arne Andersen: ''… und so sparsam! Die Geschichte des Massenkonsums und seine Auswirkungen: Veränderung und Mentalitätswandel dargestellt am Schweizerischen Beobachter''. Chronos, Zürich 1998, . * Alfred A. Häsler: ''Stark für die Schwachen. 55 Jahre gelebte Zeitgeschichte des Schweizerischen Beobachter.'' Verlagsgesellschaft Beobachter, Orell Füssli, Glattbrugg/Zürich 1982, .

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Beobachter 1926 establishments in Switzerland Consumer protection magazines Environmental magazines German-language magazines Health magazines Legal magazines Magazines established in 1926 Magazines published in Zurich Political magazines published in Switzerland