es, Vienna, 08 October, 2022
Funded in 1703, the historic liberal daily Wiener Zeitung has survived censorship, obliteration of the Austrian Empire, civil war, 1914-18, and 1939-45. The world’s 
oldest daily is now threatened with extinction, as the international AEJ warned last year, by simply cancelling its role – and therefore its income – as the Amtsblatt, the journal in which state and other official notifications must be published.
The Austrian Section of the AEJ has joined widespread protest about the proposed extinction of the paper’s reliable and unbiased reportage, arguing in a statement that such a “valuable and historically significant cultural asset unquestionably needs to be maintained. The AEJ fears that switching to a monthly publication could be a first step towards a complete cessation.
“This would seriously damage the diversity of the press, media, and opinion as well as the quality of journalism in this country. Of course, online media correspond to the zeitgeist, but the value of print journalism cannot be underestimated.
“In a country like Austria and a cultural city like Vienna, serious and high-quality daily journalism should not simply be buried after 320 years. With the appropriate publishing skills, it must be possible to develop a business model that guarantees the existence of the daily print edition of the Wiener Zeitung.”
Cui Bono?
- Wiener Zeitung 08/10/22 How paper survived every time it was said to be dead.
- Wiener Zeitung 07/10/22 Editorial by Walter Hämmerle, Editor, on eve of presidential elections tomorrow, 09/10/22 – About Journalism on why plan to eliminate the paper is a crucial mistake.
- Concordia Press Club, Vienna 06/10/22 : Govt. handling of Wiener Zeitung affair “almost schizophrenic”
- Der Standard, Vienna 05/10/22 Sets out details of govt move in re future state advertising in the media, finance for journalists’ training, and future of the Wiener Zeitung: inter alia as a training center and a kind of federal government content agency. Standard says paper likely to appear only monthly, but continuously online.
- Statement by Wiener Zeitung staff, 05/10/22: What began in 1703 must not end in 2023