Rhein newspaper

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Rhein newspaper
Rhein-Zeitung Logo.svg
description Subscription daily newspaper
publishing company Mittelrhein-Verlag GmbH
First edition April 20, 1946
Frequency of publication Monday to Saturday
Sold edition 160,651 copies
( IVW 2/2020, Mon-Sat)
Editor-in-chief Peter Burger
editor Mittelrhein-Verlag GmbH
executive Director Walterpeter Twer (Managing Partner), Thomas Regge
Web link www.rhein-zeitung.de
ZDB 1398909-1

The Rhein-Zeitung ( RZ ) is a regional newspaper in northern Rhineland-Palatinate and an online newspaper ( Rhein-Zeitung.de ). It is published by Mittelrhein-Verlag GmbH based in Koblenz . The sold circulation is 160,651 copies, a decrease of 33.1 percent since 1998.

Distribution area and structure

The Rhein-Zeitung publishing house in the industrial area of Koblenz

The circulation area of ​​the Rhein-Zeitung and its home editions is the entire former administrative district of Koblenz , which comprises almost half of Rhineland-Palatinate and in which around 1.7 million people live in 1,113 municipalities. The paper has almost a monopoly in the north of the state and with a sold circulation of 160,651 copies reaches around 640,000 readers a day (as of 2009).

The Rhein-Zeitung appears in 13 local editions with six different titles: Rhein-Zeitung (published under this name in the city of Koblenz and the districts of Ahrweiler , Altenkirchen (Westerwald) , Cochem-Zell , Mayen-Koblenz and Neuwied ), Kirner Zeitung (Verbandsgemeinde and the city of Kirn ), Nahe-Zeitung ( Birkenfeld district ), Oeffentlicher Anzeiger ( Bad Kreuznach district ), Rhein-Hunsrück-Zeitung ( Rhein-Hunsrück district ), Rhein-Lahn-Zeitung ( Rhein-Lahn district ) and Westerwälder Zeitung ( Westerwaldkreis ). The Mainzer Rhein-Zeitung (city and surrounding area Mainz) was discontinued on December 31, 2013.

In five districts the editions appear district-wide, in the districts Altenkirchen (Westerwald), Bad Kreuznach, Neuwied, Mayen-Koblenz and in the Rhein-Lahn district the Rhein-Zeitung appears with two spatially differentiated editions ("splitting editions").

On February 17th, 2020 it was announced that the Rhein Zeitung will close its local editorial offices.

Edition

The Rhein-Zeitung , like most German newspapers in recent years to rest lost. The number of copies sold has fallen by an average of 2.4% per year over the past 10 years. Last year it decreased by 3.5%. It is currently 160,651 copies. The share of subscriptions in the circulation sold is 90.7 percent.

Development of the number of copies sold

history

publishing company

The Rhein-Zeitung was founded after the Second World War as a completely new newspaper with no direct predecessor. In March 1946 the military government of the French occupation zone gave the then 32-year-old civil engineer Peter Josef Stein from Mayen the license to publish the Rhein-Zeitung. Stein and Wilhelm Nowack founded the Rhein-Mosel-Verlag GmbH for this purpose, based in Koblenz. The Rhein-Zeitung appeared for the first time on April 20, 1946. The new newspaper was set and printed in the Koblenz Görres printing house.

In December 1947 Nowack gave his share in the Rhein-Mosel-Verlag to the publisher Walter Twer (then 43 years old) from Nassau , who was then appointed managing director. In 1948 the Rhein-Zeitung was transferred to Mittelrhein-Verlag GmbH (Koblenz). Mittelrhein-Verlag was founded on April 29, 1948 by the joint licensees: publishing director Walter Twer, editor-in-chief Oscar Richardt and editor-in-chief Michael Weber. They also took on the merchants Erich Schneider and Joachim Ulrich as additional partners. In the May 5, 1948 edition, the new publishing house was first mentioned in the imprint as the publisher of the Rhein-Zeitung. From November 1948, the Rhein-Zeitung was produced in its own printing plant on the grounds of the Koblenz Fort Asterstein. Individual local editions were produced by local printing companies bound by work contracts. In 1951 the Rhein-Zeitung print shop in Koblenz moved from Fort Asterstein to Stegemannstrasse.

In 1966, Mittelrhein-Verlag acquired a 20,000 square meter plot of land in the newly developed "Rheinhafen" industrial area in Koblenz in order to build a new printing house and a new publishing house. In 1968 two new high-pressure rotary machines went into operation there. The publishing house, central editorial office, advertising department and typesetting moved to the new location in August 1969.

In 1969, the Rhein-Zeitung gave itself an editorial statute in which the editors commit themselves to independence from the state and parties and to ward off any influence.

In large parts of its circulation area, the Rhein-Zeitung has a quasi-monopoly position as a regional daily newspaper. However, the publisher is struggling with increasing competition and falling subscription numbers, especially in the peripheral areas.

As one of the first regional newspaper publishers, the publisher had outsourced its local editorial staff, i.e. its core business, for reasons of collective bargaining. In the subsidiaries, salaries that are well below the standard are paid. Numerous publishers have meanwhile followed the Koblenz model. Mittelrhein-Verlag is a member of the Association of Newspaper Publishers in Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland. He is a member of the Federal Association of German Newspaper Publishers (BDZV).

Local editions

Facade advertising in Mainz-Kastel near the Mainz-Kastel train station for the Mainz edition. The red lettering has already faded: The strong points of Mainz .

In the first month after its founding in April 1946, the paper appeared in an edition of 52,000 copies with the local editions Neuwied, Koblenz, Mayen-Andernach, Cochem-Zell, Bad Kreuznach and Westerwald.

In 1947 the Rhein-Zeitung founded five more local sections for the regions of Lahn-Diez, Altenkirchen and Simmern (January), Ahrweiler (March) and Birkenfeld (June).

In 1948 further local editions appeared for the areas Mosel / Bernkastel (January), St. Goar (August) and the administrative district Trier / Eifel (October).

In January 1950, Mittelrhein-Verlag introduced the local Sankt Goarshausen edition. On February 4, 1950 the publishing house took over the title "Westerwälder Zeitung", on April 1, 1950 the title "Lahn-Zeitung". In December 1950, the Betzdorf and Knowledge region received its own local edition with the title "Rhein-Zeitung".

In 1953 the Andernach region received its own local edition. It first appeared on May 9th. On July 31, 1953, the local editions Altenkirchen, Betzdorf and Wissen were merged into one local edition for the entire district of Altenkirchen.

On March 25, 1954, Mittelrhein-Verlag took over the titles "Bernkasteler Zeitung", "Birkenfelder Zeitung", "Idar-Obersteiner Nachrichten", "Stadt- und Landbote" (Baumholder) and the "Public Anzeiger" in the Bad Kreuznach area. On March 27, 1954 the takeover of the title "Hunsrücker Zeitung" followed.

In 1969, on June 2, the local editions "Idar-Obersteiner Nachrichten", "Birkenfelder Zeitung" and "Stadt- und Landbote Baumholder" were combined in the "Nahe newspaper" edition in the Birkenfeld district.

In 1972 the Mittelrhein-Verlag in the Bad Kreuznach district took over the "Kirner Zeitung" on November 2nd.

In 1981, the Mittelrhein-Verlag in the Bad Kreuznach district took over the title “Allgemeine Anzeiger” from the Meisenheim area on January 2nd.

In 1985 the Lahnsteiner edition of the Rhein-Zeitung received the title "Rhein-Lahn-Zeitung" on April 1st.

1986 the Mittelrhein-Verlag took over the title "Bendorfer Zeitung" on September 1st. At the turn of the year 1992/93 this edition was integrated into the Koblenz local edition of the Rhein-Zeitung.

In 1987, the first edition of the Mainzer Rhein-Zeitung appeared on October 14th, and was discontinued on December 31st, 2013. Most recently it had increasing subscriber numbers for 15 consecutive months, but with a circulation of 6,943 copies it was not profitable.

Action help us live

Since 1979 the “Rhein-Zeitung and their home editions” have been involved in the “Help us life” campaign for children and people in need. In 1989, the non-profit association Helft uns Leben eV was founded for this purpose. Thomas Eisenhauer was chairman until 2015, followed by Fred Pretz (today deputy) until 2017. Manuela Lewentz-Twer is currently the chairwoman, the managing director is Hans Kary. The association helps spontaneously when life and limb are threatened by a natural disaster, supports long-term projects and helps people to help themselves so that people in need can take their lives into their own hands again. Since 1979, more than 25 million euros in donations have been received and distributed. The association works with partners in this sector. In 2006 it was the Arbeiterwohlfahrt . In 2008 it was the Maltese Aid Service . In the case of the flood disaster in Pakistan in 2010 , it was World Vision and the “Children's Fund Global Care”. The German Agro Action is the media. The donations received flow 100 percent into the respective projects that are supervised by the volunteer members.

All projects are checked and journalistically monitored so that readers and donors can understand how and where the donations are used.

Internet activities

At the end of 1995, RZ was the first German daily newspaper to offer an online service with its own editorial team. Since 1996 all articles from RZ and RZ-Online have been filed in an Internet full-text archive . In 2001, RZ-Online developed e-paper, the world's first 1: 1 representation of a newspaper based on HTML. Since February 2009, the Rhein-Zeitung has been increasingly active in social media networks, especially on the Twitter and Facebook platforms .

At the beginning of November 2013, the newspaper introduced a payment barrier for parts of its website. According to the concept of a metered paywall , only ten regional online articles per month could be accessed free of charge. This did not affect national reports or those that were accessed via links from Facebook or Twitter. From August 1, 2014, only two articles per month were freely available; from the third article read, registration was required. Supraregional reports and articles that are accessed via Facebook and Twitter are now also subject to a charge. As of January 31, 2015, the two free articles were no longer available, and since then contributions have only been available for a fee. The newspaper justified this with the fact that in the future they no longer wanted to take part in what they saw as a nonsensical competition for reach.

Managing director of the publishing house and editor-in-chief of the Rhein-Zeitung

Managing Director of Rhein-Mosel-Verlag:

  • March 1946 - December 1947: Peter Josef Stein, Wilhelm Nowack
  • December 1947 - April 1948: Peter Josef Stein, Walter Twer

Managing Director of Mittelrhein-Verlag:

  • 1948–1952 Oscar Richardt, Michael Weber, Walter Twer
  • 1952–1956 Michael Weber, Walter Twer
  • 1956–1957 Walter Twer
  • 1957–1964 Erich Schneider, Joachim Ulrich
  • 1964–1970 Erich Schneider
  • 1970–1974 Erich Schneider, Jörn Ulrich
  • 1975–1979 Jörn Ulrich, Werner Theisen
  • 1979–1980 Werner Theisen
  • 1980–1986 Werner Theisen, Walterpeter Twer
  • 1986–2008 Walterpeter Twer
  • 2008–2012 Walterpeter Twer, Thomas Rochel
  • 2012–2016 Walterpeter Twer
  • 2016–2018 Walterpeter Twer, Thomas Regge
  • 2019– 0000Thomas Regge

Editors-in-chief of the Rhein-Zeitung:

  • 1946–1948 Oscar Richardt
  • 1948–1952 Oscar Richardt, Michael Weber
  • 1952–1956 Michael Weber
  • 1956–1967 Fritz Hirschner, Hans Maurer
  • 1967–1969 Hans Maurer
  • 1970–1986 Helmut Kampmann
  • 1986–1993 Hans Peter Sommer
  • 1993–1996 Horst Schilling
  • 1996–1998 Dieter Heitmann
  • 1998-2004 Martin Lohmann
  • 2004–2011 Christian Lindner, Joachim Türk
  • 2012–2017 Christian Lindner
  • 2017–2018 Peter Burger (acting)
  • 2018–– 0000Peter Burger

literature

  • Helmut Kampmann: Koblenz press chronicle. Mittelrhein-Verlag GmbH, Koblenz 1988
  • Special edition of the Rhein-Zeitung: 50 years of the Rhein-Zeitung. Mittelrhein-Verlag GmbH, Koblenz April 20, 1996
  • media-analyze ag.ma 2008 daily newspapers

Web links

Commons : Rhein-Zeitung  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. according to IVW ( details on ivw.eu )
  2. according to IVW , second quarter 2020, Mon-Sat ( details and quarterly comparison on ivw.eu )
  3. according to IVW ( online )
  4. according to IVW , second quarter 2020, Mon-Sat ( details and quarterly comparison on ivw.eu )
  5. according to IVW , fourth quarter in each case ( details on ivw.eu )
  6. On our own behalf. In: rhein-zeitung.de. Mainzer Rhein-Zeitung, September 20, 2013, accessed on December 27, 2013 .
  7. “Mainzer Rhein-Zeitung” closes - Announced for the end of the year / publisher wants to rely on the flagship “Allgemeine”. In: Frankfurter Rundschau , 21./22. September 2013, 69th year; No. 220; P. 38.
  8. ↑ Act and help ( Memento from February 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  9. Activities 2006 ( Memento from April 7, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  10. Malteser International Annual Report 2008 ( Memento from February 3, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  11. Carsten Luther: How reader donations in Pakistan alleviate hardship. In: Rhein-Zeitung of August 28, 2010, page 4.
  12. Media partner support - Welthungerhilfe ( Memento from July 30, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  13. ^ Siegener Zeitung, September 25, 2010: Help for children in Pakistan.
  14. Marcus Schwarze: Rhein-Zeitung.de from today on with payment barrier ( Memento from November 10, 2013 in the Internet Archive ). Rhein-Zeitung, November 4, 2013, accessed on November 18, 2013.
  15. Marcus Schwarze: Please register: Rhein-Zeitung.de will focus more on subscribers in future . Rhein-Zeitung, August 1, 2014, accessed on August 4, 2014.
  16. ↑ No more free. Press release of the Rhein-Zeitung on their website of January 29, 2015. Digital version, PDF, 58kB, accessed on January 31, 2015
  17. Alexander Krei: "Rhein-Zeitung" loses one of its editors-in-chief . DWDL.de , November 10, 2011.
  18. Peter Burger is the new editor-in-chief of Rhein-Zeitung - Region - Rhein-Zeitung Mobil. Retrieved January 27, 2018 .


Coordinates: 50 ° 23 ′ 28 "  N , 7 ° 34 ′ 47"  E