Taz, the daily newspaper publishing cooperative

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Taz, the daily newspaper Verlagsgenossenschaft eG

logo
legal form Registered cooperative
founding December 1991 - Entry in the cooperative register of the Berlin-Charlottenburg District Court No. 480 Nz on April 13, 1992
Seat Berlin , Germany
management Pascal Beucker , Andreas Bull, Isabel Lott, Andreas Marggraf, Anja Mierel
Number of employees 250
sales 369,650.23 euros (sales as of December 31, 2015 )
Branch Media company
Website www.taz.de/Genossenschaft
As of April 26, 2018

Taz, the daily newspaper Verlagsgenossenschaft eG (self-reported by taz, the daily newspaper . Verlagsgenossenschaft, often short taz-Verlagsgenossenschaft or taz-Genossenschaft ) is a German media cooperative based in Berlin . It was launched at the end of 1991 by readers and employees of the daily newspaper, which was founded in 1978 , in order to continue to publish and develop the newspaper and its by-products independently of other large media companies . According to its own statements, it aims to “secure the diversity of the press through economic support from the taz”. In April 2020, the cooperative acting as the publisher had 20,020 members.

history

prehistory

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The newspaper has since its foundation in 1979 "more rather than bad durchlavieren". After reunification , the Berlin funding was canceled. At the same time there was a decline in the advertising business, so that she got into an existential crisis. At this point in time, the owner of the "Imperium taz" had been the registered association Friends of the Alternative Daily Newspaper, to which only employees could be accepted. After a "hard, public discussion" the employees decided in the general meeting on November 16, 1991 (with 132 votes to 58 with 6 abstentions) to dissolve the association and sell the newspaper to a newly founded cooperative .

founding

Hans-Christian Ströbele on 25 years of the taz cooperative (2016)

Part of the editorial team originally wanted to set up a GmbH to attract wealthy supporters. Others warned against it. According to Hans-Christian Ströbele, the background to this warning was : “A financier will not accept in the long run that there are no profits.” At that time, Olaf Scholz also recommended the taz to found a cooperative.

2000 readers subscribed to cooperative shares for 3 million marks and saved the taz from the current financial crisis. The statute of the taz, the daily newspaper Verlagsgenossenschaft eG was established on November 27, 1991 and completely revised on April 6, 1992. The cooperative was entered in the cooperative register at the Berlin-Charlottenburg district court on April 13, 1992 under the cooperative register number 480. Business started on June 1, 1992.

Further development

Since 2003, due to the ongoing media crisis, the cooperative has been trying to expand far beyond its own political milieu.

If you subscribe to shares in the taz cooperative, the political return is more important than a financial gain. "The word refund, at the beginning of the cooperative movement still an important engine for development, the taz cooperative is a foreign word." Throughout its history, the cooperative proved to be a guarantee for the survival of the taz and as a financier for major projects, so for the acquisition of new editorial systems or the new building of the editorial house planned for 2015. The taz comrades raised the important new construction financing share of the silent participations from the cooperative with a total of 7 million euros and 1,099 taz sympathizers declared their entry into the cooperative or comrades increased their shares in its capital. In this way, EUR 868,000 new shares were subscribed within three months.

Membership growth will continue in 2018. Over 1,200 new members were won.

statute

The statutes have been revised several times since the first version of November 27, 1991. According to the articles of association, the purpose of the cooperative is the economic promotion and support of the members as employees and readers of the taz , above all with the aim of "guaranteeing independence from large publishers or corporations". "The object of the company is the production and sale of the daily newspaper die tageszeitung and related publications, the renting and leasing of the cooperative's own rooms and facilities, and the provision of other services."

Equity

On 31 December 2015, equity amounted to taz-cooperative (credit balance remaining members) more than 15 million euros .

Corporate structure

The taz cooperative acts as a holding company for the taz group and carries the following sub-companies:

  • Taz Verlags- und Vertriebs GmbH (editing and publishing)
  • Taz Entwicklungs GmbH (Management of Taz Entwicklungs GmbH & Co. Medien KG)
  • Taz Treuhand- und Verwaltungs GmbH (limited partner in trust of Taz Entwicklungs GmbH & Co. Medien KG)
  • Taz Entwicklungs GmbH & Co.Media KG (Taz Northern Division, Databases and Digitaz, Le Monde Diplomatique )
  • Contrapress Media GmbH (advertising agency, trade, management of Contrapress Satz und Druck GmbH & Co. Neue KG)
  • Contrapress Satz und Druck GmbH & Co. Neue KG (production)

Organs of the cooperative

General Assembly

The general assembly of the members is the highest organ of the cooperative. At least once a year, usually in September, the general assembly takes place, in which every member can participate.

Staff meeting

This is formed by employees who have been members of the cooperative and have been employed by the cooperative or a company controlled by it for more than one year and who have been recognized by the board as members of the "Assembly of Employees" (see Articles of Association). The assembly of employees can, among other things, veto the resolutions of the general assembly (Section 16, Paragraph 1 of the Articles of Association), appoint the board of directors and must agree to the editorial statute.

Supervisory board

The supervisory board consists of three members:

Board

The executive board consists of:

  • Elected members:
    • Isabel Lott, photo editor
    • Anja Mierel, advertising department
    • Pascal Beucker, domestic editor
  • Appointed members:
    • Andreas Bull, management taz
    • Andreas Marggraf, Management taz

membership

Age groups of the members of the taz cooperative 2016

Joining the cooperative is completed with a one-off payment of at least € 500 (also payable in 20 installments). Since the amendment to the Articles of Association in September 2010, it has been possible to subscribe for a maximum of 200 shares per person, which corresponds to a deposit of € 100,000. Each member has only one vote, regardless of the amount deposited.

Member administration

The taz Geno team, headed by Kornelia (Konny) Gellenbeck, is responsible for member administration and prepares the annual general meeting of the taz cooperative. In the course of 2020, Gellenbeck will hand over management to Rebecca Finke and Stefanie Baumeister.

Members newspaper

At least once a year, the cooperative publishes the member's newsletter, Members' Info, which, in preparation for the general meeting of the taz cooperative, includes the annual financial statements. The magazine Genossenschaftsinfo appears once or twice a year and deals with current issues relating to the cooperative.

Additional payment obligation

There is no obligation to make additional contributions (Section 33, Paragraph 3 of the Articles of Association).

criticism

In 2014, the Berlin Labor Court sentenced the daily newspaper taz to pay three months' salary to a man from Ukraine because it had previously violated the General Equal Treatment Act (AGG) with a job advertisement (Ref .: 42 Ca 1530/14). The man had previously filed a lawsuit against the newspaper, as it had specifically searched for a "trainee with a migration background" with an advertisement without the plaintiff being given a chance to apply to the editorial team.

gallery

  • Entrance at Rudi-Dutschke-Straße 25

  • Rudi-Dutschke-Haus (entrance below left)

  • Rudi Dutschke memorial plaque

  • Editorial and publishing sign

  • Editorial and publishing house

  • Shop in the taz café

  • Management Board and Supervisory Board (2014)

  • Model of the new building project

  • View of the construction site of the new building (2014)

Web links

Commons : Taz.genossenschaft  - collection of images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Report of the board of directors on the business year 1992. In: tazMitgliederInfo (No. 2) on the general assembly of the tazVerlagsgenossenschaft on September 18, 1993, summer 1993, page 10. The foundation was therefore based on a resolution of the general assembly of the Friends of the Alternative Daily Newspaper on April 16. November 1991, who had previously published the daily newspaper .
  2. ↑ Extract from the commercial register for Germany. Unternehmens24.info (Unternehmens24 eU, Vienna ), accessed on December 2, 2018 .
  3. ↑ a b Imprint. Editor. taz.de, accessed on December 2, 2018 .
  4. ↑ a b c Member Info No. 26. (PDF) Pages 10 (sales), 11 (capital) and 14 (“Holding”). taz.de, accessed on December 2, 2018 .
  5. ↑ The point was only adopted from the logo of the core product (formerly "taz, die tageszeitung . ") In the cooperative's own spelling from the end of 2011 , as shown on the front pages of the cooperative and member information. Abbreviations are also found inconsistently with spaces instead of hyphens or with inner major .
  6. ↑ The essence of the cooperative. taz.de, accessed on December 2, 2018 .
  7. ↑ Cooperative. In: taz.de. Archived from the original on April 9, 2020 ; Retrieved on April 9, 2020 (content of the original page not persistent; information is based on archive version).
  8. ^ A b Johannes Greiner: Engaged communities . Ed .: Central Association of German Consumer Cooperatives . Taz , Berlin 2006, ISBN 978-3-937683-08-9 .
  9. ↑ Claudia Bioly: taz, the daily newspaper publishing eG. (PDF; 4 pages) Portrait of cooperatives, International Year of Cooperatives 2012. In: ethikbank.de. EthikBank, November 2012, accessed December 2, 2018 .
  10. ↑ Konny Gellenbeck (Kornelia Gellenbeck): The history of the cooperative, buy the taz! taz.de, accessed on February 1, 2015 .
  11. ↑ a b Hanna Gersmann , Ulrike Winkelmann: “A hard discussion”. 20 years of the taz cooperative (interview with Hans-Christian Ströbele , Johannes Eisenberg and Karl-Heinz Ruch ). taz.de, September 15, 2012, accessed December 27, 2014 .
  12. ↑ Comrade Ströbele at the Geno Assembly 2016. (Video; at 14:26 min. Or from 17:46 min.) Accessed December 2, 2018 .
  13. ↑ Götz Aly : drafts of reality. taz.de, January 8, 2013, accessed December 27, 2014 .
  14. ↑ Ulrike Herrmann : Controversy as strength. On Saturday the taz cooperative invited to the general assembly. The taz is doing well, there were still arguments. taz.de, September 19, 2016, accessed on September 19, 2016 .
  15. ↑ Olaf Scholz in an interview with Jan Feddersen: Olaf Scholz on cooperatives: “This model fits taz”. You have to get by with your money, says Olaf Scholz, today mayor of Hamburg. 20 years ago he advised the taz to found a cooperative to survive. www.taz.de, March 23, 2012, accessed on January 27, 2019 .
  16. ↑ a b taz. The daily newspaper: Die Zeitung. The cooperative. The project . 9th edition. Berlin 2014, 52 pages.
  17. ^ Konny Gellenbeck: The taz cooperative - a success story since 1992. (PDF) (No longer available online.) Formerly in the original ; accessed on August 10, 2015 : “Three phases of the cooperative - The cooperative as a company model of the taz has now existed for over 20 years. Founding phase 1992: 3000 readers save the taz from a sale (poverty model). From 1998 to 2003: phase of prosperity for the formerly moving. (Franz Walter) teachers. Doctors and a. participate in the taz cooperative. Since then, the taz cooperative has been continuously promoting it. Since 2003, due to the ongoing media crisis, expansion far beyond one's own political milieu. "
  18. ↑ Off to the future! Brief information on the new taz building. taz.de, accessed on February 1, 2015 .
  19. ^ Karl-Heinz Ruch: Moor lenses and pagoda trees. taz.de, December 20, 2014, accessed February 1, 2015 .
  20. ↑ Ines Pohl, Konny Gellenbeck (Kornelia Gellenbeck): For the love of journalism. taz.de, accessed on December 2, 2015 .
  21. ↑ a b The Supervisory Board. The members. taz.de, accessed on January 25, 2015 .
  22. ↑ a b c d The articles of association of the cooperative. (PDF) taz.de, April 4, 2011, accessed on December 2, 2018 .
  23. ↑ Publishing cooperative EG. An overview of the business areas (organizational chart). taz.de, accessed on December 2, 2018 .
  24. ↑ # 3 The Supervisory Board: The Members . In: The daily newspaper: taz . February 22, 2013, ISSN  0931-9085 ( taz.de [accessed on September 16, 2019]).
  25. ↑ Jan Feddersen: When an election turns into a crime thriller . In: The daily newspaper: taz . September 16, 2019, ISSN  0931-9085 , p. 5 ( taz.de [accessed on September 16, 2019]).
  26. ↑ Ulrike Herrmann : Report on the cooperative assembly: A simple comrade. Bundeswehr reports, taz Ultras and the history of 25 years of cooperative society. taz.de, September 18, 2016, accessed on September 18, 2016 .
  27. ↑ Cooperative Information 2/2016. (PDF) taz.de, accessed on November 15, 2016 .
  28. ↑ taz.genossenschaft. taz.de, accessed on February 2, 2014 .
  29. ↑ Margarete Stokowski: We are many. In: taz.de. September 20, 2010, accessed December 6, 2013 .
  30. ↑ Successor to Konny Gellenbeck: New management at Geno and Foundation . In: The daily newspaper: taz . January 15, 2020, ISSN  0931-9085 ( taz.de [accessed January 17, 2020]).
  31. ↑ Anja Maier: Congratulations, dear comrade: inside! In: The daily newspaper: taz . January 25, 2020, ISSN  0931-9085 , p. 31 ( taz.de [accessed on January 31, 2020]).
  32. ↑ Member Information No. 24. (PDF) taz.de, accessed on December 28, 2014 .
  33. ↑ Cooperative Information 2/2014. (PDF) taz.de, accessed on December 28, 2014 .
  34. ↑ DER SPIEGEL: Job advertisement for women only: taz must not discriminate against men - DER SPIEGEL - Job & Karriere. Retrieved June 22, 2020 .

Coordinates: 52 ° 30 '24 "  N , 13 ° 23' 29.5"  E