A Long Tradition Of Reporting In A Delicate Situation

Michael Hedges April 6, 2021 Follow on Twitter

So many forces compete for attention. Each have their own purpose. The news business - particularly the newspaper - was built on chronicling the times. In the digital era the purpose has been reduced to piercing the moment. The most shrill tend to win out. The rest slip away.

In desperate straits is Vienna, Austria daily newspaper Wiener Zeitung. It has been continuously published since 1703 making it, arguably, the oldest in the world. It is highly regarded for reporting. Spirits of the digital times are aligned against it.

Last week managing director Martin Fleischhacker distributed an email to staff indicating a “delicate situation,” reported Austrian news agency APA-OTS (April 1). “The financial framework will no longer make it possible to continue a daily newspaper in its current form.” Wiener Zeitung has been the official publication of the Austrian government since the early 1800s, an Official Journal insert posts everything from government job vacancies to commercial legal announcements. Wiener Zeitung is compensated for this, not an insubstantial portion of its revenue stream.

Two years ago the Austrian government indicated it would withdraw from this arrangement. Both commercial and political pressure led to the decision. Some of this intertwined. Negotiations between the Austrian Chancellery, legal owner of the newspaper, and the newspapers’ supervisory board seem to be drawing to a close with the Chancellery indicating no operational changes before the end of 2022. At best, which is not good for branding, Wiener Zeitung will be relegated to online distribution.

“In the already very small daily newspaper market in Austria with only 14 titles, a special medium such as the Wiener Zeitung, which stands for high-quality and balanced reporting, cannot simply be lost,” said Reporters sans Frontieres (RSF) Austria executive president Rubina Möhring, quoted by horizont.at (April 2), who added to criticism of Herr Fleischhacker for apparently throwing in the towel. “He's leaving the editorial staff in the rain. You have to be able to expect more willingness to fight from a managing director.”

Journalist and press freedom advocate Presseclub Concordia was equally blunt. “The threatened termination of this quality newspaper would be an irretrievable loss for Austria as a media location, for media diversity and for democratic discourse in our country,” said its statement (April 2). “Especially in times when the political parties create ‘alternative media’ for the purpose of uncritical reporting of their politics on online platforms, critical quality journalism is more important than ever, also as a counterpoint to the tabloidization that - promoted by politics - has occurred on the domestic media market.” Presseclub Concordia is the world’s oldest press club in continuous operation, founded in 1859.

The 2020 Media-Analyse Austrian national readership estimates, released March 25, show right-wing populist tabloid Kronen Zeitung leading with 25% reach. Regional daily Kleine Zeitung posted 10.2% reach. Free-sheet Heute followed with 9.5% reach. Conservative tabloid Österreich and free-access oe24 had a combined 7.5% reach. Socially liberal Der Standard showed 7.0% reach. Due to coronavirus lockdowns the Media-Analyse methodology was modified preventing comparisons with the previous years’ data.

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