Die tageszeitung

"die tageszeitung" (referred to commonly as taz), founded in 1978 in Berlin, is a cooperative-owned German daily newspaper. Rising out of the midst of a progressive and politically left-leaning movement in the 70's, its main focus has been on current politics and societal issues such as inequality and ecological crises both at the local and global scale and not covered by the more traditional and conservative newspapers at the time. It has often supported the German Green Party, but the "taz" has also been critical of the SPD/Greens coalition government (1998–2005).

From the beginning, the "taz" was intended to be an alternative to the mainstream press, in its own words: "irreverent, commercially independent, intelligent and entertaining." One expression of its alternative approach to journalism was the payment of unified salaries for all employees until 1991. Nowadays, employees in highly responsible positions receive bonuses. Still, salaries paid by the taz are considerably lower than what is paid in the rest of the industry.Fact|date=July 2008

Since 1992, the "tageszeitung" has been owned by over 5000 paying members. It has a circulation of over 60,000, with almost 50,000 subscriptions. In 1995, it was the first German national newspaper to make the whole content of every daily issue available on the internet.

From the beginning, the "tageszeitung" appeared in a nation-wide edition as well as in a Berlin local edition. Over the years, local editorial offices for North Rhine-Westphalia, Hamburg and Bremen were added. The survival of the latter two is highly questionable at the moment and their merger into one office for the whole of north Germany has been delayed only recently, following protests by the local staff.Fact|date=February 2007

The "Potato-Affair"

On 26 June 2006 "die tageszeitung" published an article on its last page, headlined "Die Wahrheit" ("the truth") that is reserved for satire and nonsense. It was titled "Polens neue Kartoffel. Schurken, die die Welt beherrschen wollen. Heute: Lech „Katsche“ Kaczynski" ("Poland's new potatoes. Rogues who want to rule the world. Today: Lech „Katsche“ Kaczynski"). [ [http://www.taz.de/pt/2006/06/26/a0248.1/text "Polens neue Kartoffel."] In: "taz", 26 June 2006. de icon ISSN|0931-9085] This article satirized the Polish politicians Lech Kaczyński and Jarosław Kaczyński. Lech Kaczyński then cancelled talks that were scheduled between Germany, Poland and France (the Weimar Triangle), officially for reasons of sickness.

Barack Obama Coverage

On 5 June 2008 "die tageszeitung" published a picture headlined "Onkel Barack's Hütte" (Uncle Barack's Cabin) with a picture of the White House below the headline as part of an article about Senator Barack Obama becoming the presumptive nominee of the 2008 Democratic nomination which caused consternation among some of its readership, in particular Americans living in Berlin. The headline was in reference to the book Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. The newspaper defended its decision by claiming the headline was meant satirically. [ [http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,557861,00.html "German Newspaper Slammed for Racist Cover"] In "Spiegel Online", 5 June 2008.]

Footnotes

Literature

* "taz - die tageszeitung". Die Tageszeitung Verlagsgenossenschaft e. G., Berlin 1.1987,1ff. ISSN|0931-9085
* Oliver Tolmein/Detlef zum Winkel: "tazsachen. Kralle zeigen - Pfötchen geben." Hamburg 1988. ISBN 3922144764
* Jörg Magenau: "Die taz. Eine Zeitung als Lebensform." München 2007, ISBN 978-3-446-20942-8
* Nora Münz: "Links und liebenswert. Nutzungsmotive von Lesern der tageszeitung (taz)". In: Senta Pfaff-Rüdiger / Michael Meyen (Hg.): "Alltag, Lebenswelt und Medien." Lit Verlag. Münster 2007. S. 215-235. ISBN 978-3-8258-0897-6

External links

* [http://www.taz.de "taz" website] (in German)