Mass media in Germany includes a variety of

online In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity, and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed as "on lin ...

, print, and

broadcast Broadcasting is the data distribution, distribution of sound, audio audiovisual content to dispersed audiences via a electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), ...

formats, such as radio, television, newspapers, and magazines.

History

The modern

printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a printing, print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in whi ...

developed in

Mainz Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...

in the 15th century, and its innovative technology

spread Spread may refer to: Places * Spread, West Virginia Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Spread'' (film), a 2009 film. * ''$pread'', a quarterly magazine by and for sex workers * "Spread", a song by OutKast from their 2003 album ''Speakerboxxx/T ...

quickly throughout Europe and the world. In the 20th century period prior and during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, mass media

propaganda in Nazi Germany Propaganda was a tool of the Nazi Party in Germany from its earliest days to the end of the regime in May 1945 at the end of World War II. As the party gained power, the scope and efficacy of its propaganda grew and permeated an increasing amou ...

was prevalent. Since the 1980s a "dual system of public and commercial" broadcasting has replaced the previous public system. The German Press Council (''Deutscher Presserat'') introduced a Press Code (''Pressekodex'') in 1972. Since 2017 this Code has an amendment (12.1), which says that, „when reporting on crimes, care must be taken to ensure that mentioning the ethnic, religious, or other minority groups of suspects or perpetrators does not lead to a discriminatory generalization of individual misconduct. As a general rule, mention of such groups should not be made unless there is a legitimate public interest. Particular attention should be paid to the fact that mentioning such groups could fuel prejudice against minorities.“

Books

Magazines

Many in Germany read the weekly .

Newspapers

As of 2015, widely read national newspapers include ''

Süddeutsche Zeitung The ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' (; ), published in Munich, Bavaria, is one of the largest and most influential daily newspapers in Germany. The tone of ''SZ'' is mainly described as centre-left, liberal, social-liberal, progressive-liberal, and ...

'', ''

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung The (; ''FAZ''; "Frankfurt General Newspaper") is a German newspaper founded in 1949. It is published daily in Frankfurt and is considered a newspaper of record for Germany. Its Sunday edition is the ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung'' ( ...

'', ''

Die Welt (, ) is a German national daily newspaper, published as a broadsheet by Axel Springer SE. is the flagship newspaper of the Axel Springer publishing group and it is considered a newspaper of record in Germany. Its leading competitors are the ...

'', and ''

Bild ''Bild'' (, ) or ''Bild-Zeitung'' (, ) is a German tabloid newspaper published by Axel Springer SE. The paper is published from Monday to Saturday; on Sundays, its sister paper '' Bild am Sonntag'' () is published instead, which has a differen ...

''. "Germans are voracious readers of newspapers and periodicals.... The economic state of Germany's several hundred newspapers and thousands of periodicals is enviably healthy. Most major cities support two or more daily newspapers, in addition to community periodicals, and few towns of any size are without their own daily newspaper." ''

'' is the largest highest-selling newspaper in Germany. The paper is published from Monday to Saturday; on Sundays, its sister paper ''

Bild am Sonntag ''Bild am Sonntag'' (''BamS'') is the largest-selling German national Sunday newspaper published in Berlin, Germany. History and profile ''Bild am Sonntag'' was first published on 29 April 1956.Helmut Böger, ''Bild'', 8 May 2011Die Story von Ba ...

'' ("''Bild on Sunday''") is published instead, which has a different style and its own editors. ''Bild'' is tabloid in style but

broadsheet A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long Vertical and horizontal, vertical pages, typically of in height. Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner (format), Berliner and Tabloid (newspaper ...

in size. It is the best-selling European newspaper and has the sixteenth-largest circulation worldwide. Bild has been described as "notorious for its mix of gossip, inflammatory language, and

sensationalism In journalism and mass media, sensationalism is a type of editorial tactic. Events and topics in news stories are selected and worded to excite the greatest number of readers and viewers. This style of news reporting encourages biased or emoti ...

" and as having a huge influence on German politicians. Its nearest English-language stylistic and journalistic equivalent is often considered to be the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

national newspaper ''

The Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot Plasma (physics), plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as ...

'', the second-highest-selling European tabloid newspaper.Sex, Smut and Shock: Bild Zeitung Rules Germany

Spiegel Online ' () is a German news website. It was established in 1994 as ''Spiegel Online'' as a content mirror of the magazine ''Der Spiegel''. In 1995, the site began producing original stories and it introduced ''Spiegel Online International'' for artic ...

25 April 2006

Radio

The first "radio program in Germany was broadcast on October 29, 1923, in Berlin."

Television

Video games

The German video gaming market is one of the largest in the world. The

Gamescom Gamescom (stylized as ''gamescom'') is a trade fair for video games held annually at the Koelnmesse in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Gamescom is the world's largest gaming event, with 370,000 visitors and 1,037 exhibitors from 56 ...

in Cologne is the world's leading gaming convention. Popular game series from Germany include ''

Turrican ''Turrican'' is a 1990 video game developed by Manfred Trenz. It was developed for the Commodore 64 by Rainbow Arts, and was Video game port, ported to other systems later. In addition to concept design and character creation, Trenz programmed ' ...

'', the ''Anno'' series, ''The Settlers'' series, the ''Gothic'' series, ''

SpellForce ''SpellForce'' is a real-time strategy and role-playing series created by Phenomic and currently owned by THQ Nordic. The first release was published by JoWooD Productions and Encore Software in 2003 and THQ Nordic in 2017. Setting and plot ...

'', the ''FIFA Manager'' series, ''

Far Cry ''Far Cry'' is an anthology franchise of first-person shooter games published by Ubisoft. The first game, '' Far Cry'', was developed by Crytek to premiere their CryEngine software, and released in March 2004. Subsequently, Ubisoft obtained ...

'' and ''

Crysis ''Crysis'' is a first-person shooter video game series created by Crytek. The series revolves around a group of military protagonists with " nanosuits", technologically advanced suits of armor that give them enhanced physical strength, speed, ...

''. Relevant game developers and publishers are

Blue Byte Ubisoft Blue Byte GmbH (Blue Byte until 2017) is a German video game holding company owned by Ubisoft. It was founded in October 1988 by Thomas Hertzler and Lothar Schmitt as a developer and ís best known for developing the '' Anno'' and ''Th ...

Crytek Crytek GmbH is a German video game developer and software developer based in Frankfurt. Founded by the Yerli brothers in Coburg in 1999 and moved to Frankfurt in 2006, Crytek operates additional studios in Kyiv, Ukraine and Istanbul, Turkey. It ...

Deep Silver Deep Silver is an Austrian video game publisher and a division of Plaion. History Deep Silver was announced in November 2002, with their first release to be '' Anarchy Online: The Notum Wars''. According to Craig McNichol, who ran Koch Medi ...

Kalypso Media Kalypso Media Group is a German video game developer and publisher. Founded in 2006 in Worms, the group comprises four companies in Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States and has studios, including Realmforge Studios, Gaming Minds St ...

Piranha Bytes Piranha Bytes GmbH was a German video game developer based in Essen. It was best known for their ''Gothic (series), Gothic'' and ''Risen (series), Risen'' series of role-playing video games. Piranha Bytes was founded in Bochum in 1997 and bou ...

, Yager Development, and some of the largest

social network game A social network game (sometimes simply referred to as a social media game, social gaming, or online social game) is a type of online game that is played through social networks or social media. They typically feature gamification systems with mu ...

companies like Bigpoint, Gameforge, Goodgame and

Wooga Wooga is a German game software company based in Berlin that develops story-driven casual games for mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets and social networks like Facebook. It has developed mobile games such as ''June's Journey'', ''P ...

References

Bibliography

* * * * * *

External links

* * {{Europe topic, Media of

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...