The world’s oldest national newspaper has published its final daily edition, ending a remarkable run of approximately 320 years and marking the conclusion of an era.
Vienna-based daily newspaper, Wiener Zeitung, will no longer be able to print daily editions due to a recent change in the law that classified it as an unprofitable print product.
The law, introduced by the Austrian coalition government in April, abolished the legal requirement for companies to pay for publishing public announcements in the newspaper’s print edition, effectively terminating Wiener Zeitung’s role as an official gazette.
As a result of this legal change, the publisher suffered a loss of approximately €18 million (around $19 million) in revenue, leading to significant downsizing. The editorial staff was reduced from 55 to 20 employees, resulting in the overall layoff of 63 people.
While the company will continue publishing online, it plans to distribute a monthly print edition in the future. However, the specifics of the monthly edition are still being developed.
Wiener Zeitung, owned by the Austrian government but maintaining editorial independence, began its publication in August 1703. Throughout its history, the newspaper witnessed the reign of 12 presidents, 10 emperors, and two republics. Its inaugural edition promised to provide unbiased news “without any oratory or poetic gloss.”
Notably, in 1768, the newspaper featured a report on a concert by a 12-year-old boy described as “especially talented.” That boy was none other than Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
During World War I, the newspaper published a special edition that included the abdication letter of Kaiser Karl, the last emperor of the Habsburg dynasty, when Austria faced defeat.
In its final daily print edition on Friday, the newspaper published an editorial blaming the government’s new law for the discontinuation of its print run. It lamented the challenging times for quality journalism, where serious content competes for attention with fake news, cat videos, and conspiracy theories across various platforms.
In April, the newspaper’s weekday circulation stood at only 20,000 copies, although it doubled on weekends. The final interviews featured well-known figures such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and former Austrian chancellors Franz Vranitzky and Wolfgang Schüssel.
V?ra Jourova, Vice-President of the European Commission, expressed her discontent with the situation at Wiener Zeitung, emphasizing the newspaper’s important role in informing people over the years.
Throughout its three centuries of existence, the newspaper was forced to shut down only once, during Austria’s incorporation into Hitler’s Germany when the Nazis closed it down in 1939. Wiener Zeitung resumed printing in 1945 while Austria was still under Allied occupation.
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