The Media & Their Narratives.

[EndtheMadnessNow]

In Vienna, the end of the oldest newspaper in the world...

Judit Belfkih has a particularly sad task for a journalist: closing her own newspaper. The serious-looking 47-year-old interim co-editor-in-chief of the Austrian daily Wiener Zeitung is currently busy wrapping up the very last edition of this veteran paper, a relic of printed media. Published in Vienna since 1703, Wiener Zeitung will print its final issue on June 30, after more than 300 years of existence.

"We used to say that we were the oldest newspaper in the world published without interruption and still in business," said Ms. Belfkih as she showed the already half-empty desks in her editorial office. There's a rising melancholy in the corridors as the deadline approaches. Even though the title of oldest newspaper in the world is contested by other publications in Italy, it's clear that the WZ's demise will make its mark in the history of the printed press. And its decline.

Founded under the Austrian monarchy with the name Wienerisches Diarium, the daily newspaper remained a pillar of the Viennese media landscape even though its paid circulation had fallen below 8,000 copies. The end of its print publication is a consequence of the announced abolition of its main source of financing: its monopoly on the publication of legal notices.

The WZ has a nearly unique model in the Western press. Owned by the Austrian state since the mid-19th century after being nationalized by Emperor Franz Joseph Habsburg, who was dissatisfied with its coverage of the 1848 revolutions, the newspaper has remained under government control ever since. Even the price of a copy – only €1 – had to be approved by parliament.

"We've always tried to remain equidistant and neutral," said Ms. Belfkih, who emphasizes her willingness to give space to all, including the far right. In an article published on the 250th anniversary of the WZ's publication (in 1953!) Le Monde noted that "the most curious thing" about "this monument to Austrian history," is precisely that "many readers prefer it to any other for its impartial and objective character." For the writer Elfriede Jelinek, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, who took up her pen in defence of the paper, "the Wiener Zeitung is a quiet and calm newspaper, which ignores the torments that lead only to great emptiness, in favor of other projects: informing us and – as the oldest newspaper in the world – enlightening us since before the Enlightenment."

Le Monde (61.3% archived)

Moving to the digital propaganda sphere for better or worse Habsburg jawing influence...

On April 27, 2023, Wiener Zeitung announced an end to its daily print run. Going forward, the paper will be printed a minimum 10 times a year depending on available funds. The paper also announced plans to establish a media hub, a content agency and a training centre for journalists. At this time, the paper had a 20,000 weekday circulation, with about twice as much on weekends. Almost half of the newspaper's over 200 employees, 40 of whom are journalists, could be laid off due to the change, according to its trade union. After the announcement, several hundred people took to the streets in Vienna to protest the government's move.