Neues Deutschland

Neues Deutschland

The 13 August 1961, front page of Neues Deutschland - the day the Wall went up
Type	Daily newspaper (Monday-Saturday)
Format	Between broadsheet and Berliner
Owner	Neues Deutschland Druckerei und Verlags GmbH and Left Party
Publisher	Lothar Bisky
Editor	Jürgen Reents
Founded	1946
Political alignment	Socialist, Communist
Language	German
Headquarters	Berlin, Germany
Circulation	48,811
Official website	neues-deutschland.de

Neues Deutschland (ND) (English: New Germany) is a national German daily newspaper. It was the official party newspaper of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), which governed the German Democratic Republic (GDR - East Germany), and as such served as one of the party's most important organs. More than the other newspapers in the GDR, ND not only endorsed all policy decisions of the government, frequently changing its editorial position to support the new party line, but it also sought to elevate the prestige of each member of the leadership, perhaps most importantly Erich Honecker. It currently has its headquarters in Berlin and retains a socialist outlook. The newspaper is both politically and financially tied to the The Left (Die Linke) party, a direct heir to the SED, which owns the publishing house and printing presses.

East Germany

ND was formed in 1946 as a Lizenzzeitung after the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) merged to form the SED in the Soviet occupation zone of Germany. The first edition of ND was published on 23 April 1946 in conjunction with the founding of the SED. ND replaced the SPD’s Das Volk and the KPD’s Deutsche Volkszeitung. Before the reunification of Germany in October 1990, ND had a circulation of a million and was second only to the state youth newspaper junge Welt in readership.

ND was one of the most important propaganda tools for the SED and the SED's key piece of media used to maintain their control of the state. ND had a very heavy focus on East German party and government leaders. For example, on 16 March 1987, in the edition produced for the opening of the Leipzig Fair, there were over 41 photographs of SED Secretary-General Erich Honecker. In contrast to other GDR newspapers, ND used high quality paper and printing materials and was not affected by the traditional item deficiencies common in the GDR.

After Reunification

Former Editor's office building at Elsenbrücke

After reunification, ND's readership diminished greatly. In 2006, ND had a circulation of 45,247. Like most large newspapers in Germany currently, ND has a problem in that the majority of its readers are over 60 years old. ND produces both national edition and a regional edition for Berlin and Brandenburg.

Jürgen Reents, who has political roots in both the Party of Democratic Socialism and the Green Party, has been the editor in chief of ND since 1999. One of his major goals has been to transform ND's image from a propaganda leaflet to a more respected newspaper. In October 2005 the editors moved from Elsenbrücke to Franz-Mehring Platz in Berlin. Three months later, Olaf Koppe took over management of the newspaper.

Profile

ND is still oriented towards a socialist viewpoint and is owned partially by The Left party. The twin goals of the newspaper are to give those in eastern Germany a voice and to represent the democratic socialist viewpoint without being the organ of Die Linke or any other political party. While eastern German themes dominate the features and the community pages, the political section looks at leftist politics throughout Germany. Authors and politicians from diverse political backgrounds have also been represented on the pages of the newspaper. For example, Friedrich Schorlemmer, a known critic of Die Linke and the political left in general, has been a guest writer.

Other traditional sections of a newspaper are also included, such as an advice page, a television guide, notifications and classifieds, opinion columns, and theme sections dealing with health, environment, and other issues. The letters to the editor are often cited as examples of viewpoints of the Left party from other media sources. As with most daily German newspapers, ND is published daily Monday through Friday, with a weekend edition published on Saturdays.

In November 2006, the newspaper also started a youth insert called Sacco and Vanzetti. Beginning in March 2007, ND has successfully started publishing online.

See also

• Eastern Bloc information dissemination
• Rudolf Herrnstadt

External links

• Official website (German)