Die Tageszeitung

Die Tageszeitung (German: [diː ˈtaːɡəsˌtsaɪtʊŋ], “The Daily Newspaper”), stylized as die tageszeitung and commonly referred to as taz, is a cooperative-owned German daily newspaper administrated by its employees and a co-operative of shareholders who invest in a free independent press, rather than to depend on advertising and, these days, pay-walls.^[2] Founded in 1978 in Berlin as part of an independent, progressive and politically left-leaning movement, it has focused on current politics, social issues such as inequality, ecological crises both local and international, and other topics not covered by the more traditional and conservative newspapers. It mostly supports the alternative green political sphere and the German Green Party, but Die Tageszeitung has also been critical of the SPD/Greens coalition government (1998–2005).^[3] It is counted as being one of modern Germany's most important newspapers and amongst the top seven.^[4] It is being described as alternative-left and critical of existing current structures (systemkritisch).^[5][6]

Die Tageszeitung

The 30 October 2018 front page of Die Tageszeitung
Type	Daily newspaper
Format	Berliner
Publisher	taz, die tageszeitung Verlagsgenossenschaft eG
Editor	Barbara Junge, Ulrike Winkelmann
Founded	1978; 45 years ago (1978)
Political alignment	New left, Green left, New social movements, Anti-capitalism, Feminism, Left-wing^[1]
Language	German
Headquarters	Berlin
ISSN	0931-9085
Website	taz.de

The newspaper's logo, a paw print, derives from the similarity of the name "taz" to a German word for paw, Tatze. Its position in the media landscape varies between the fifth and the sixth most read newspaper of Germany. In 2021 taz overtook for the first time the conservative Die Welt as the fifth most read daily newspaper of Germany.^[7]

History

Die Tageszeitung was established in 1978.^[8] From the beginning, Die Tageszeitung was intended to be an alternative to the mainstream press, in its own words: "irreverent, commercially independent, intelligent and entertaining." One expression of its alternative approach to journalism was the payment of unified salaries for all employees until 1991. Nowadays, employees in highly responsible positions receive bonuses. Still, salaries paid by Die Tageszeitung are considerably lower than what is paid in the rest of the industry.^[9]

Since 1995, the WOZ Die Wochenzeitung (formerly WoZ) and Die Tageszeitung have included a German-language edition of the monthly Le Monde diplomatique to supplement the newspapers.^[10][11] Most of the articles in the monthly supplement are translations of the French-language edition of the Le Monde diplomatique.^[11] When it existed, taz also added the Turkish language newspaper of Germany Perşembe.^[12]

Since 1992, Die Tageszeitung has been owned by more than 22,214 paying members (as of August 2022).^[13] Its circulation has dropped in recent years, with subscriptions including e-paper now down to 42,000.^[14] In 1995, it was the first German national newspaper to make all of the content of issue available online. Die Tageszeitung has announced that it will phase out its printed daily edition until 2022.^[15]

From the beginning, Die Tageszeitung appeared in a nationwide edition as well as in a Berlin local edition. Over the years, local editorial offices for North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), Hamburg and Bremen were added. While the latter two were merged to "taz nord" (North) the NRW offices were closed as of July 2007.

In the 2013 elections the magazine was among the supporters of the Social Democratic Party.^[16] Taz was the first and only newspaper to have an independent Turkish-language edition online, known as taz.gazete between 2017 and 2020.^[17][18] It also was amongst the first to have articles in simple German for neuro-diverse people.^[19] It publishes from time to time in English as taz in English.

"Potato Affair"

On 26 June 2006 Die Tageszeitung published a satirical article on its last page, headlined Die Wahrheit (the truth) that is reserved for satire and nonsense. It was titled "The new potato of Poland. Rogues who want to rule the world. Today: Lech 'Katsche' Kaczynski".^[20] This article ridiculed President of Poland Lech Kaczyński and Prime Minister of Poland Jarosław Kaczyński. Lech Kaczyński then cancelled talks that were scheduled between Germany, Poland and France (the Weimar Triangle), officially for reasons of sickness.

Headlines

The taz is noted for its tongue-in-cheek headlines,^[21] such as:

• Oh mein Gott! (Oh my god!) – On the election of Joseph Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI
• Es ist ein Mädchen (It's a girl) – On the election of Angela Merkel as the first female Chancellor of Germany
• Oops – they did it again! – On the re-election of George W. Bush as President of the United States

On 5 June 2008, the paper published a picture headlined "Onkel Baracks Hütte" (Uncle Barack's Cabin) with a picture of the White House below the headline as part of an article about then-Senator Barack Obama. That headline, which made reference to the book Uncle Tom's Cabin, was perceived as racist by some of its readership.^[22]

See also

 

taz, die Tageszeitung's new head office building in Friedrichstraße, Kreuzberg, Berlin, Germany.

 

Former^[23] head office of Die Tageszeitung in the Rudi-Dutschke-Strasse in the Berlin district of Kreuzberg

• List of newspapers in Germany
• Friede sei mit Dir
• Die Datenschleuder
• Bascha Mika

Footnotes

1. Ross Beveridge, ed. (2011). A Politics of Inevitability: The Privatisation of the Berlin Water Company, the Global City Discourse and Governance in 1990s Berlin. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 143. ISBN 9783531940564. from the original on 6 August 2022. Retrieved 31 December 2021. Fitch's search of the left-wing newspaper Die Tageszeitung as well as the centre-right Die Welt revealed no articles ...
2. Patrick, Kingsley (1 October 2012). "The newspaper saved by its readers". The Guardian. from the original on 24 July 2022. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
3. Brown, Kate; Richter, Christoph (c. 2019). "The anti-press". DW-Learn German. from the original on 6 August 2022. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
4. "CULTURE & THE MEDIA: Newspapers and magazines". Facts about Germany. Fazit Communication GmbH, Frankfurt/Main, in cooperation with the Federal Foreign Office, Berlin. from the original on 7 April 2022. Retrieved 6 August 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
5. "IFM Mediendatenbank". 4 May 2012. from the original on 3 January 2022. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
6. "Zeitungen in Deutschland". deutschland.de. 14 August 2012. from the original on 25 September 2020. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
7. Schröder, Hens (21 January 2021). "Zeitungs-Auflagen: "Zeit" wächst massiv mit Print und Digital, "taz" überholt "Welt"". Meedia. from the original on 8 March 2022. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
8. "European News Resources". NYU Libraries. from the original on 28 January 2015. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
9. "Die niedrigen Gehälter der taz". taz blogs. 6 November 2013. from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
10. Bernard Degen (20 November 2013). "WochenZeitung (WOZ)" (in German). Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz. from the original on 7 November 2014. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
11. Bolz, Lisa (19 July 2016). "Die deutsche Ausgabe von Le Monde diplomatique zwischen national und international – Rekonfiguration einer journalistischen Alternative". Recherches Germaniques (in German) (HS 11): 231–245. doi:10.4000/rg.857. ISSN 0399-1989. from the original on 18 June 2022. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
12. Meier-Brown, Karl-Heinz. (PDF). Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 6 August 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
13. "taz Genossenschaft". taz Genossenschaft. 6 August 2022. from the original on 9 April 2020. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
14. "IVW-Blitz-Analyse Tages- und Wochenzeitungen: Zeit gewinnt erneut Auflage, Welt bricht völlig ein | MEEDIA". 22 April 2020. from the original on 6 June 2020. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
15. "Golem.de: IT-News für Profis". from the original on 6 June 2020. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
16. Juan P. Artero (February 2015). (PDF). Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. Archived from the original (Working paper) on 16 April 2015. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
17. ""taz" startet deutsch-türkisches Internetportal". evangelisch.de. 13 January 2017. from the original on 21 March 2022. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
18. "Das ende von taz.gazete: Wir sagen Tschüss". taz.gazete. taz.gazete. 31 July 2020.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
19. "taz.die tageszeitung in Leichter Sprache". www.bundesfachstelle-barrierefreiheit.de/. 3 July 2017. from the original on 16 April 2021. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
20. Polens neue Kartoffel. 19 May 2007 at the Wayback Machine In: taz, 26 June 2006. (in German) ISSN 0931-9085
21. "Happy Birthday, taz!". Die Zeit (in German). 17 April 2009. from the original on 18 April 2009. Retrieved 17 April 2009.
22. Johnson, Dominic (6 June 2008). "Is "Uncle Barack's Cabin" racist?". Die Tageszeitung: Taz. from the original on 6 August 2022. Retrieved 30 October 2008.
23. Riedel, Sunny (5 November 2018). "Plüschpinguine, Rotweinflecken und eine halbe Tischtennisplatte" [Plush penguins, stains of red wine and half a ping-pong plate]. Die Tageszeitung (in German). No. 11774. Berlin. p. 2. ISSN 0931-9085. from the original on 6 November 2018. Retrieved 6 November 2018.

Literature

• taz - die tageszeitung. Die Tageszeitung Verlagsgenossenschaft e. G., Berlin 1.1987,1ff. ISSN 0931-9085
• Oliver Tolmein/Detlef zum Winkel: tazsachen. Kralle zeigen - Pfötchen geben. Hamburg 1988. ISBN 3-922144-76-4
• Jörg Magenau: Die taz. Eine Zeitung als Lebensform. München 2007, ISBN 978-3-446-20942-8
• Nora Münz: Links und liebenswert. Nutzungsmotive von Lesern der tageszeitung (taz). In: Senta Pfaff-Rüdiger / Michael Meyen (Hg.): Alltag, Lebenswelt und Medien. Lit Verlag. Münster 2007. S. 215–235. ISBN 978-3-8258-0897-6

External links

• taz website (in German)