Vienna newspaper publishes final edition after 320 years
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Austria's Wiener Zeitung, one of the oldest newspapers in the world, will solely publish online after a recent legislation reform made print publication unprofitable.
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The Wiener Zeitung was first published in 1703. (APA)
Austria’s Wiener Zeitung, the world's oldest newspaper will only publish online after a recent law change makes it unprofitable as print.
The first edition of the paper was originally published in 1703, nearly 320 years ago.
The measure, enacted by Austria's coalition government in April, repealed a legal requirement that firms pay to make public notifications in the print version of the newspaper, thereby ending Wiener Zeitung's status as an official gazette.
According to Der Spiegel, this adjustment resulted in an estimated €18 million (£15 million) loss of income for the publisher, forcing the publication to lose 63 employees, including lowering its editorial team from 55 to 20.
It will continue to publish online and hopes to issue a monthly print edition, but that idea is said to be in the works.
The journal, which is controlled by the Austrian government but has editorial independence, first appeared in August 1703 and has witnessed 12 presidents, ten kaisers, and two republics.
It promised in its initial issue to deliver a clear report of the news "without any oratory or poetic gloss."
It reported about a concert featuring a "especially talented" 12-year-old in 1768 who later became known as Mozart.
When Austria was conquered in World War I, the publication issued a special edition including the abdication letter of Kaiser Karl, the last Habsburg ruler.
On Friday, it posted an editorial blaming the government's new law for the end of its print run, saying, "These are stormy times for quality journalism … On more and more platforms, serious content vies for attention with fake news, cat videos and conspiracy theories."
In April, its daily circulation was about 20,000, but it more than quadrupled on weekends.
Arnold Schwarzenegger and previous Austrian chancellors Franz Vranitzky were among the paper's final interviewees.
The Vice-president of the EU Commission, Věra Jourová, expressed unhappiness to the Austrian news agency APA, adding that she believes the Wiener Zeitung played a critical role in informing people through the years.
The Nazis shut down the paper in 1939 after Austria was integrated into Hitler's Germany. It resumed printing in 1945.
The Gazzetta di Mantova, a local newspaper founded in 1664, vies for the distinction of being the world's oldest newspaper. The London Gazette, a non-news official gazette of the United Kingdom government, goes back to 1665.
The Hildesheimer Allgemeine Zeitung, which was originally published in 1705, is currently regarded to be the world's oldest surviving national newspaper.
