Based in 1703 in the course of the Austrian Habsburg Empire, the Wiener Zeitung is certainly one of solely 14 dailies left in Austria, and one of many final remaining high quality titles. It has, argue its supporters, a significant place in a “media scene swamped by mass-circulation tabloids.
Mouthpiece of the courtroom within the 18th century, the Wiener Zeitung is now owned by the Republic of Austria and publishes official authorities and compulsory firm bulletins in a weekly complement – together with cigar costs, since tobacco stays a state monopoly. Most of its contents within the every day newspaper are high-quality, unbiased reportage, with common articles about debates about basic points such because the rule of legislation.
It additionally covers occasions just like the annual, world-renowned Alpbach Discussion board, with its personal Web dialogue teams.
The federal government cites EU Directive (2019/1151) on digital instruments in firm legislation as a justification for closing down the paper. However the Austrian Supreme Court docket has dominated that the Directive under no circumstances requires the printed official gazette be discontinued – the EU itself continues to print its personal Official Gazette. Nor wouldn’t it imply that half the Wiener Zeitung’s turnover of €18m a 12 months would out of the blue disappear if official bulletins had been discontinued.
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Closing the Wiener Zeitung would imply the lack of some 100 jobs at an particularly tough time for everybody working within the media, and when Austria has slipped to 18th place by way of media freedom in line with the Reporters With out Borders index.
The Viennese mental and professor of journalism Fritz Hausjell argues that the Wiener Zeitung serves as a possible public service, what he calls a “improvement laboratory”. It’s, he argues, well-placed to check how journalism within the trendy age can discover its viewers each digitally and in print. That additionally advantages different newspapers.
The worth of public service media reportage, not least as a counterweight to media focus, is explicitly set out within the Council of Europe advice of 2018 – signed by the Austrian authorities.
In contrast, previously 12 months alone the three tabloids, Kronen Zeitung, Österreich, and Heute acquired 60 million euros in promoting from the federal government and corporations and establishments near the state.
The Affiliation of European Journalists (AEJ) is asking for rescuing a significant high quality newspaper with the intention to keep vigorous and pluralistic media in Austria. The AEJ helps finding out and if vital selling and funding the Hausjell proposal.