''Bieler Tagblatt'' is a
Swiss Standard German
Swiss Standard German (SSG; ), or Swiss High German ( or ; ), referred to by the Swiss as , or , is the written form of one (German language, German) of four languages of Switzerland, national languages in Switzerland, besides French language, Fr ...
language
daily newspaper
A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, 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 poli ...
, published by Gassmann AG in
Biel/Bienne
Biel/Bienne (official bilingual wording; German language, German: ''Biel'' ; French language, French: ''Bienne'' ; Bernese German, locally ; ; ; ) is a bilingual city in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. With over 55,000 residents, it is the ...
,
Canton of Bern
The canton of Bern, or Berne (; ; ; ), is one of the Canton of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. Its capital city, Bern, is also the ''de facto'' capital of Switzerland. The bear is the heraldic symbol of the c ...
. It was founded in 1850 as the ''Seeländer Bote'', which merged in 1904 with two other papers, the ''Tagblatt für die Stadt Biel'' and the ''Seeländer Nachrichten'', to form the current title. It is the sister newspaper of the French-language paper ''
Journal du Jura
The () is a French-language Swiss newspaper published in Biel/Bienne, Canton of Bern. It was founded in 1871, the successor to two prior papers; in this period it served as an outlet for the Jura Liberals. In 1956, it took over its rival paper ...
''.
History and operations
It was established in 1850 under the name ''Seeländer Bote'' by printer
Franz Wilhelm Gassmann Franz may refer to:
People
* Franz (given name)
* Franz (surname)
Places
* Franz (crater), a lunar crater
* Franz, Ontario, a railway junction and unorganized town in Canada
* Franz Lake, in the state of Washington, United States – see Fran ...
.
Early on, it was published three times a week.
It is published by Gassman AG, owned by the Gassman family. They also publish the French-language newspaper ''
Journal du Jura
The () is a French-language Swiss newspaper published in Biel/Bienne, Canton of Bern. It was founded in 1871, the successor to two prior papers; in this period it served as an outlet for the Jura Liberals. In 1956, it took over its rival paper ...
'', its sister paper. In doing this they brought together links between Francophone and German-speaking Switzerland.
In June 1904, the ''Seeländer Bote'' was merged with two other papers, the ''Tagblatt für die Stadt Biel'' and the ''Seeländer Nachrichten'', to form the ''Bieler Tagblatt''.
The new paper had its first issue 7 June 1904; the paper continued to use ''Seeländer Bote'' as its subtitle until 1998. A separate edition of the paper was titled ''Seeländer Bote - Bieler Tagblatt'', published from 1904 to 1919.
It switched to daily publication in 1904.
While initially conservative, it began to lean more politically liberal in the 1970s.
The paper switched from
Fraktur
Fraktur () is a calligraphic hand of the Latin alphabet and any of several blackletter typefaces derived from this hand. It is designed such that the beginnings and ends of the individual strokes that make up each letter will be clearly vis ...
typeface to
Antiqua, which was more legible, in 1954.
The next year, it took over the ''Express'' paper.
It has been the only German-language paper in Biel since 1966, following the cessation of publication of the ''Seeländer Volkszeitung'', a social democrat paper.
Gassman AG was bought out by
Fredy Bayard, an entrepreneur from
Valais
Valais ( , ; ), more formally, the Canton of Valais or Wallis, is one of the cantons of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of thirteen districts and its capital and largest city is Sion, Switzer ...
, in 2020. He had previously bought out the publishing company that owned the ''
Walliser Bote'' two years prior.
In 2004 the paper's circulation was 32,134 copies.
The newspaper's estimated readership in 2013 was 54,000 according to
WEMF AG.
The paper's archives from 1905–1995 were made available through the archival service
e-newspaperarchives.ch in 2022.
See also
*
List of newspapers in Switzerland
The number of newspapers in Switzerland was 406 before World War I. It reduced to 257 in 1995 and 197 in 2010. Prior to the 18th century, the Swiss press market was small, being limited to the elites who were literate, though development varied b ...
References
External links
Official website*
{{Authority control
1850 establishments in Switzerland
Mass media in Biel/Bienne
Daily newspapers published in Switzerland
German-language newspapers published in Switzerland
Newspapers established in 1850