Wiener Zeitung, the world's oldest national newspaper, has ceased its daily print editions after nearly 320 years of publication. The Vienna-based newspaper had to adapt to a recent law change that made it financially unsustainable to continue as a print product, The Guardian reports.
The law, passed by Austria's coalition government in April, eliminated the requirement for companies to pay for publishing public announcements in Wiener Zeitung's print edition, thus ending its role as an official newspaper. This change resulted in a significant loss of income, estimated at €18mn, and forced the newspaper to downsize its staff from 55 to 20 employees, cutting 63 jobs in the process. While Wiener Zeitung will continue publishing online, there are plans to explore a monthly print edition in the future.
Wiener Zeitung, owned by the Austrian government but maintaining editorial independence, has a rich history since its inception in 1703. Throughout its long existence, it has chronicled notable events and figures, including featuring a concert by a young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1768 and publishing the abdication letter of the last Habsburg emperor, Kaiser Karl, during Austria's defeat in World War I.
In its final daily print edition, the newspaper attributed the end of its print run to the government's new law and highlighted the challenges faced by quality journalism in an era dominated by fake news, viral videos, and conspiracy theories across various platforms.
Despite its historical significance, Wiener Zeitung's circulation had declined to 20,000 on weekdays as of April, though it doubled on weekends. The newspaper's last interviews featured Arnold Schwarzenegger, former Austrian chancellors Franz Vranitzky and Wolfgang Schüssel, and received attention from EU Commission Vice-President Věra Jourová, who expressed her dissatisfaction with the situation and praised the newspaper's informative role over the years. Wiener Zeitung had faced an interruption during its publication history only once when it was shut down by the Nazis in 1939, but it resumed printing in 1945 during the Allied occupation of Austria.
While the claim for the world's oldest newspaper title is contested, with contenders like Gazzetta di Mantova and the London Gazette, the surviving national newspaper with the longest history is currently believed to be the German publication Hildesheimer Allgemeine Zeitung, which was first published in 1705.
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