Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

The 17 September 2010 front page
Type	Daily newspaper
Format	Nordisch
Owner(s)	Fazit-Stiftung
Publisher	Carsten Knop Berthold Kohler Jürgen Kaube Gerald Braunberger
Founded	1 November 1949; 74 years ago (1949-11-01)
Political alignment	Liberal conservatism[1][2] Conservative liberalism[3][4] Centre-right[1][5] Pro-CDU/CSU
Language	German
Headquarters	Frankfurt, Germany
Circulation	201,408 (Print, 2021) 56,000 (Digital, 2020)
ISSN	0174-4909
Website	www.faz.net

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (German: [ˈfʁaŋkfʊʁtɐ ʔalɡəˈmaɪnə ˈtsaɪtʊŋ]; FAZ; "Frankfurt General Newspaper") is a German newspaper founded in 1949. It is published daily in Frankfurt.^[6] Its Sunday edition is the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (pronounced [- ˈzɔntaːksˌtsaɪtʊŋ]; FAS).

The paper runs its own network of correspondents. Its editorial policy is not determined by a single editor, but cooperatively by four editors.

History

Konrad Adenauer reading the FAZ in 1961

The first edition of the FAZ appeared on 1 November 1949;^[7][8] its founding editors were Hans Baumgarten, Erich Dombrowski, Karl Korn, Paul Sethe and Erich Welter.^[9] Welter acted as editor until 1980. Some editors had worked for the moderate Frankfurter Zeitung, which had been banned in 1943. However, in their first issue, the FAZ editorial expressly refuted the notion of being the earlier paper's successor, or of continuing its legacy:

Arising from the fact that some of our colleagues previously were members of the Frankfurter Zeitung, it often has been suggested an attempt was being made here to be the successor to that newspaper. Such an assumption misjudges our intentions. Like everyone, we too admired the high quality of that paper; ...however, showing respect for an outstanding achievement does not imply a desire to copy it.

— FAZ Editorial board, Dohrendorf, 1990.^[10]

Until 30 September 1950, the FAZ was printed in Mainz.

Traditionally, many of the headlines in the FAZ were styled in blackletter format, and no photographs appeared on the title page. Some of the rare exceptions were a picture of celebrating people in front of the Berlin Reichstag on 4 October 1990 (German Unity Day), and two pictures in the edition on 12 September 2001 (one day after the September 11 attacks) showing the collapsing World Trade Center and American president George W. Bush.

In the early 2000s, FAZ expanded aggressively, with customized sections for Berlin and Munich.^[11] An eight-page six-day-a-week English-language edition was distributed as an insert in The International Herald Tribune (which is owned by The New York Times Company); the articles were selected and translated from the same day's edition of the parent newspaper by the FAZ staff in Frankfurt.^[12] However, FAZ group^[which?] suffered a loss of 60.6 million euros in 2002. By 2004, the customized sections were scrapped. The English edition shrank to a tabloid published once a week.^[11]

On 5 October 2007, the FAZ altered their traditional layout to include color photographs on the front page, and replaced blackletter typeface outside the nameplate. Due to its traditionally sober^{[weasel words]} layout, the introduction of color photographs was controversially discussed by FAZ readers, becoming the subject of a 2009 comedy film.^[13]

Currently, the FAZ is produced electronically using the IBM Networked Interactive Content Access (NICA) software and Unisys Hermes.^[14] For its characteristic comment headings, a digital Fraktur font was ordered. This font has since been abandoned, due to the above-mentioned change of layout.

After introducing the new spelling prescribed by German orthography reform of 1996 on 1 August 1999, the paper returned to the old spelling exactly one year later, declaring that the reform had failed to achieve its primary goals of improving language mastery and strengthening the unity of the language.^[15] After several changes had been made to the new spelling, FAZ accepted it and started using it (in a custom version) on 1 January 2007.^[16]

In December 1999, future German Chancellor Angela Merkel published an article in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, lamenting the "tragedy" that had befallen the party (CDU donations scandal), blaming former Chancellor Helmut Kohl and urging a new course.^[17]

Orientation

Its political orientation is liberal-conservative,^[2] occasionally providing a forum to commentators with different opinions.

In the 2013 elections the paper endorsed the CDU/CSU alliance.^[18]

Ownership

The company has the legal form of a GmbH (company with limited liability); the independent Fazit-Stiftung Gemeinnützige Verlagsgesellschaft mbH [de] (Fazit-Foundation) is its majority shareholder, holding 93.7% of shares.^[19] The FAZIT-Stiftung was created in 1959 by the transformation of the then FAZ owner German: Allgemeine Verlagsgesellschaft mbH into a private foundation. It is 'owned' by up to nine persons who can't sell or buy their share but have to transmit it free of charge to a successor which is co-opted by the remaining shareholders. The foundations statute prescribes that only such persons shall be co-opted as new member, who "by their standing and personality" can guarantee the "independence" of the FAZ. The current group of seven is composed of active or former CEOs, company owners, board members, and corporate lawyers. The foundation also owns more than 90% of the shares of the company 'Frankfurter Societät' which in turn is owner of the printing enterprise 'Frankfurter Societätsdruckerei' and the regional paper Frankfurter Neue Presse.

Circulation

Former Editorial department building of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

The F.A.Z. is one of several high-profile national newspapers in Germany (along with Süddeutsche Zeitung, Die Welt, Die Zeit, Frankfurter Rundschau and Die Tageszeitung). In 2011, it counted 40 foreign correspondents among its staff.^[20]

The 1993 circulation of the paper was 391,013 copies.^[21] In 2001, it had a circulation of 409,000 copies.^[22] The 2007 circulation of the daily edition was 382,499 copies.^[23] The 2016 (IVW II/2016) circulation of the daily edition was 256,188 copies.^[24]

Bans

In 2006, the FAZ was banned in Egypt for publishing articles which were deemed as "insulting Islam".^[25] In February 2008, the paper was again banned in Egypt due to the publication of cartoons depicting Muhammad.^[26]

In November 2012, the paper provoked strong criticism in Spain because of its stance against Spanish immigration to Germany during the economic crisis.^[27]

In July 2019, the FAZ website, along with other major German media, including Spiegel Online, was blocked by China's Great Firewall. The reasons for the ban remain unclear, but FAZ believed it was possibly due to its reporting on the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests.^[28][29]

Notable contributors

• Muhammad Asad
• Patrick Bahners [de]
• Hans D. Barbier [de]
• Eleonore Büning (music critic)
• Dietmar Dath
• Marc Degens
• Karl Feldmeier [de]
• Joachim Fest (former editor)
• Friedrich Karl Fromme [de] (former editor)
• Greser & Lenz [de]
• Andrea Petkovic
• Georg Paul Hefty [de]
• Florian Illies
• Daniel Kehlmann
• Barbara Klemm (photographer)
• Carsten Knop
• Christian Kracht
• Karl Lagerfeld (caricaturist)
• Ernst Nolte
• Andreas Platthaus [de]
• Marcel Reich-Ranicki
• Volker Reiche [de] (see Strizz [de])
• Johann Georg Reißmüller (former editor)
• Frank Schirrmacher
• Werner Spies
• Udo Ulfkotte (former editor)

See also

• List of newspapers in Germany
• Media of Germany

References

1. Jordana Silverstein, Rachel Stevens, ed. (2021). Refugee Journeys: Histories of Resettlement, Representation and Resistance. ANU Press. p. 91. ISBN 9781760464196. ... Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), centre-right, liberal conservative • Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ), centre-left, progressive liberalism • Bildzeitung, centre-right, conservative populist tabloid • Frankfurter Rundschau (FR), ...
2. Hans Magnus Enzensberger: Alter Wein in neuen Schläuchen (in German). Deutschland Radio, 16 October 2007
3. W. Spohn; M. Koenig; W. Knöbl, eds. (2015). Religion and National Identities in an Enlarged Europe. Springer. ISBN 9780230390775. Newspapers taken from the highprofile press are the left–liberal Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ), the conservative–liberal Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), and the bourgeois–liberal Die Welt (DW), as well as the Christiansocial ...
4. Heimy Taylor, Werner Haas, ed. (2007). German: A Self-Teaching Guide. John Wiley & Sons. p. 243. ISBN 9780470165515. ... They represent different political opinions—for instance, the Süddeutsche Zeitung (liberal), the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (conservative-liberal), or Die Welt (conservative). Add to that (literally: to that, come) political ...
5. Robert G. Picard, ed. (2015). The Euro Crisis in the Media: Journalistic Coverage of Economic Crisis and European Institutions. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 271. ISBN 9780857727015. ... Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), centre-right, liberal conservative • Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ), centre-left, progressive liberalism • Bildzeitung, centre-right, conservative populist tabloid • Frankfurter Rundschau (FR), ...
6. Georg Hellack (1992). "Press, Radio and Television in the Federal Republic of Germany" (Report). Inter Nationes. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
7. "World Press Trends" (PDF). WAN IFRA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 June 2014. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
8. Sigurd Hess (2009). "German Intelligence Organizations and the Media". Journal of Intelligence History. 9 (1–2): 75–87. doi:10.1080/16161262.2009.10555166. S2CID 154195583.
9. Robert Williams (Dissertation): "Das Freie Wort? The structuring of East and West German Press Culture during the American and Soviet Occupations" American University, Washington D.C., 2013, page 165 f.
10. Rüdiger Dohrendorf (1990) [First published in 1990 as the author's doctoral thesis at the University of Hamburg]. Zum publizistischen Profil der Frankfurter Allgemeinen Zeitung: computerunterstützte Inhaltsanalyse von Kommentaren der FAZ [On the media profile of the Frankfurter Allgemeinen Zeitung: computer-aided text analysis of commentary in the FAZ]. Europäische Hochschulschriften, Reihe XXII, Soziologie; Bd. 204. (in German). Frankfurt am Main: Lang. p. 9. ISBN 978-3-631-43179-5. OCLC 25676477. Aus der Tatsache, daß einige unserer Mitarbeiter früher der Redaktion der ‚Frankfurter Zeitung' angehört haben, ist vielfach geschlossen worden, hier werde der Versuch gemacht, die Nachfolgeschaft dieses Blattes anzutreten. Eine solche Annahme verkennt unsere Absichten. Wie jeder, so haben auch wir die hohen Qualitäten dieses Blattes bewundert; … Aber der Respekt vor einer hervorragenden Leistung bedeutet noch nicht den Wunsch, sie zu kopieren.
11. Landler, Mark (19 January 2004). "MEDIA; Woes at Two Pillars of German Journalism". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
12. "FAZ English Edition Debuts With the IHT". The New York Times. 3 April 2000. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
13. Jakobs, Hans-Jürgen (17 May 2010). "Und sie dreht sich doch" [And she in fact does change]. Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 2 February 2015.
14. "Mit Hermes auf den Spuren der SZ: Die FAZ modernisiert ihr Redaktionssystem". www.computerwoche.de (in German). Retrieved 6 March 2024.
15. "Die "FAZ" ruft zur Konterrevolution auf" (26 July 2000). Der Spiegel. Spiegel.de. Retrieved 28 November 2016.
16. Giersberg, Dagmar (December 2007). "Chronicle of a Long Debate: The Spelling Reform". Translated by Hillary Crowe and Heather Moers. Goethe-Institut. Archived from the original on 18 December 2013. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
17. Smale, Alison (30 October 2012). "The Making of Angela Merkel". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
18. Juan P. Artero (February 2015). "Political Parallelism and Media Coalitions in Western Europe" (PDF). Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. Archived from the original (Working paper) on 16 April 2015. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
19. Annual report of FAZIT Foundation at ebundesanzeiger.de
20. Elsler, Monika (5 September 2011). Die Aneignung von Medienkultur: Rezipienten, politische Akteure und Medienakteure. Springer. ISBN 9783531934716.
21. Peter Humphreys (1996). Mass Media and Media Policy in Western Europe. European Policy Research Unit series. Manchester University Press. p. 82. ISBN 978-0-7190-3196-0. OCLC 33008396. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
22. Adam Smith (15 November 2002). "Europe's Top Papers". campaign. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
23. "Science News? Overview of Science Reporting in the EU" (PDF). EU. 2007. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
24. "About us: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung". EU. 2016. Archived from the original on 28 September 2016. Retrieved 28 September 2016.
25. "The impact of blasphemy laws on human Rights" (Policy Brief). Freedom House. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
26. "Der Spiegel issue on Islam banned in Egypt". France24. 2 April 2008. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
27. "Aumenta el rechazo y temor a la 'avalancha' de españoles en Alemania". El Mundo. 19 November 2012. Retrieved 26 February 2013.
28. Ankenbrand, Hendrik. "Internetzensur: China sperrt die F.A.Z." [Internet censorship: China blocks the F.A.Z.]. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 9 July 2019.
29. "《法兰克福汇报》网站也被中国屏蔽" [F.A.Z. website also blocked in China]. Radio France Internationale (in Simplified Chinese). 8 July 2019. Retrieved 9 July 2019.

Further reading

• Merrill, John Calhoun; Fisher, Harold A. (1980). The World's Great Dailies. New York: Hastings House. pp. 130–37. ISBN 978-0-8038-8096-2.
• Hoeres, Peter (2019). Zeitung für Deutschland (in German). München Salzburg: Benevento. ISBN 978-3-7109-0080-8.

External links

• Official website (in German)
• Explanation for the return to the pre-reform spelling (in German)
• Ketupa.net – Frankfurter Zeitung and F.A.Z. media profile