Vienna newspaper war

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The so-called Vienna Newspaper War refers to a journalistic, judicial and personal dispute between several Austrian newspaper publishers , which reached its absurd climax in March 1958 with great attention from the international media.

The main actors in the newspaper war were the newspaper editors Fritz Molden and Ludwig Polsterer as well as the journalists Hans Dichand and Gerd Bacher . The Viennese newspapers involved were the press by Fritz Molden, the courier by Ludwig Polsterer and Hans Dichand and the tabloids Bild-Telegraf and Bildtelegramm .

In the course of the month-long mud fight at the newspaper stands, it turned out that the dispute was a power struggle between the two major Austrian parties, the ÖVP and the SPÖ .

Preconditions

The first newspaper foundations

After the end of the Second World War , 1945, the Austrian media landscape was completely paralyzed and destroyed by years of Nazi propaganda and censorship . The first start-ups on the newspaper market were issued by the Allied occupying powers, which also operated radio stations. The three founding parties of the Second Republic were allowed to publish daily newspapers ( party newspapers ): the Arbeiter-Zeitung ( SPÖ ), the Volksblatt ( ÖVP ) and the Volksstimme ( KPÖ ). The three parties jointly published the daily newspaper Neues Österreich . In view of the shortage of paper and the difficult economic situation, independent newspapers were only able to establish themselves very slowly, and the parties initially had no interest in their existence.

The development of an independent daily press in Vienna began particularly late. It was not until 1948 that the publisher Ernst Molden managed to publish the first independent daily newspaper in Vienna: Die Presse , based on the traditional Neue Freie Presse . After Ernst Mold's death in 1953, his son Fritz Molden continued to run the newspaper. The paper was designed as a quality newspaper and still is today.

The discovery of the boulevard

At the beginning of the 1950s, party newspapers and the occupation media began to lose importance across Austria, after which two tabloids were founded in Vienna .

The first was the New Courier (today: Courier ). It emerged in 1954 from the US occupation newspaper Wiener Kurier , which had been the most widely read newspaper in the country in the first post-war years. When the Americans put the newspaper up for sale, Fritz Molden , head of the press , had also applied for it. But Ludwig A. Polsterer, an Austrian industrialist, who bought the newspaper together with the lawyer and ÖVP politician Alfred Maleta , was awarded the contract. The New courier was henceforth regarded as independent, even though the lawyer Maleta on behalf of ÖAAB acted (Austrian Workers 'and Employees' Federation), an agency of the ÖVP. The Styrian journalist Hans Dichand was as editor of the until now in Graz appearing Kleine Zeitung lured away.

The second Viennese tabloid, the image-Telegraph , was also in 1954 by the three media professionals Gustav Canaval (editor of the daily Salzburger Nachrichten ), Joseph Stephan Moser (publisher of today in Innsbruck appearing Tiroler Tageszeitung ) and Hans Behrmann founded. Gerd Bacher became editor-in-chief .

Front formation - the momentous printing contract

In 1955 the press was in dire financial straits. Fritz Molden therefore makes a daring decision. He leases the “ Pressehaus ” on Vienna's Fleischmarkt , one of the most important printing companies in Austria, and can thus significantly reduce the printing costs for his daily newspaper. However, the capacity of the print shop goes far beyond what his newspaper needs, and so Molden is looking for partners.

He signs a printing contract with the Bild-Telegraf . Since the tabloid itself is in poor financial shape due to the tough competition with the Neuer Kurier , Molden has a special clause built into the contract: As soon as the debts of the Bild-Telegraf exceed two million schillings , Molden has the right to publish a "similar newspaper".

The suspicion that the ÖVP was interested in the bankruptcy of Bild-Telegraf , a competitor of the ÖVP-related Neuer Kurier , and therefore intrigued against the newspaper on all channels has not been proven, but it is also not absurd. In any case, Molden sensed a conspiracy: In truth, the ÖVP wanted to buy the picture telegraph via straw men in order to get into possession of both of the city's most important tabloids.

Molden had fallen out with the powerful ÖVP politician Julius Raab because of numerous articles critical of the ÖVP, especially the corruption affair surrounding state party chairman Fritz Polcar , and now entered into political ties with the SPÖ . On behalf of the party, the later Justice Minister Christian Broda assured him financial support in the event of an emergency (bankruptcy or the sale of the Bild-Telegraf to the ÖVP).

The “hot” phase - March 1958

On March 12, 1958 the time had come. Bild-Telegraf's debts at Molden exceed the agreed two million schillings. Several creditors (including Molden) file for bankruptcy . The management of the Bild-Telegraf, on the other hand, claims that Molden simply refused payments and had the Bild-Telegraf removed from the press house more or less for no reason. It was only about 500,000 schillings, with which the picture telegraph at Molden was in debt. This amount could have been paid without further ado.

On March 13, 1958, instead of the Bild-Telegraf, the Bildtelegram , edited by Fritz Molden, appeared for the first time in a layout that was barely distinguishable . The newspaper is designed to trick readers into believing that it has merely been renamed. The new newspaper has the same price, the same columns in the same places and the same advertising slogan . Even the editor's phone number was modeled on the old one. It differed from that of the Bild-Telegraf only in one number . Molden brought almost the entire editorial team of the former Bild-Telegraf, including editor-in-chief Gerd Bacher, to the new newspaper.

Molden claims that the managing directors of Bild-Telegraf asked him to take over the editing of his new paper. Thereupon the managing directors went to the said editorial office to explain to the staff: "We're finished, go to Molden."

The Bild-Telegraf reappeared on March 17, 1958 . The editor is Ludwig A. Polsterer, who took over the newspaper with funds from the ÖVP. The money was made available to him by Fritz Polcar . The editorial staff of the Neuer Kurier suddenly has to produce two newspapers instead of one.

Now the confusion at the newspaper kiosk is perfect. Two newspapers with similar titles and almost substitutable layout and content are available. In the next few days, both newspapers will be populistically focusing on their front pages on the mutual war and trying to discredit and blacken their respective opponents. Other media also join the conflict in journalism. Above all, the press and courier , who are directly involved in the newspaper war, take a clear position. A battle ensues between several newspapers, which skillfully highlight and hide facts in order to convey the most favorable image to their readership. As soon as the matter later becomes political, the ÖVP-affiliated Kleine Volksblatt and the SPÖ- Arbeiter-Zeitung intervene and polemicize .

Due to the numerous criminal charges brought by the various parties to the dispute for theft , defamation , credit damage and other crimes, the criminal court intervened on March 20, 1958. The printing plates with the title picture telegram are confiscated.

SPÖ Vice Chancellor Bruno Pittermann finally proposes to ÖVP Chancellor Julius Raab what the newspapers are longing for - an examination of the financial complications by the Austrian Court of Auditors . The SPÖ admits to supporting Molden and the Bildtelegram financially. The ÖVP admits participation in the Bild-Telegraf .

The recent editions of the controversial newspapers are confiscated by the criminal court. The image telegram is prohibited from appearing under this name. So from now on the newspaper will be continued without a name: Where the logo was previously to be seen, the slogan "Our title has been confiscated."

The Vienna Newspaper War ends on March 25, 1958. The former telegram ceases to appear. Instead, the Express newspaper appears with the same editorial team.

On July 23, 1958, the Bild-Telegraf , which until then was still produced by Hans Dichand and the editorial staff of the Neuer Kurier , ceased its publication without replacement.

Consequences of the newspaper war

Amazingly, the immediate consequences of March 1958 were limited. There was neither a coalition crisis between the SPÖ and the ÖVP, nor a lasting crisis on the Austrian newspaper market. Molden stayed with the press , Dichand founded the Neue Kronen Zeitung on April 11, 1959 with a loan from the ÖGB ( Olah affair).

The Vienna Newspaper War is indirectly classified on the one hand as a kind of Sturm und Drang of Austrian tabloid journalism and, on the other hand, as a final riot for the major Austrian political parties; as an attempt to secure their influence in the print media in the face of the slow extinction of party newspapers. This attempt failed.

literature

  • Peter Muzik: The newspaper makers. Austria's press: power. Opinion and billions . Vienna 1984
  • Hans Dichand: In the forecourt of power . Vienna 1996
  • Andy Kaltenbrunner: Print media in Austria . Vienna 1993