"die tageszeitung": Last print edition appears on Friday

The last weekday print edition of the “tageszeitung” (“taz”) was published on Friday. The newspaper, founded in 1978, will only appear as an e-paper during the week starting Monday. The monthly supplement of the German-language “Le Monde Diplomatique” will also be available digitally then.

The last printed edition on Friday features guest articles by international authors, including T.C. Boyle, Sibylle Berg, and Feridun Zaimoglu.

Only the weekend edition “wochentaz” will remain available as a print edition in the future. Those who wish to continue receiving “Monde Diplomatique” in print can do so by taking out an additional subscription as a taz subscriber.

Digital Pioneer taz

The taz is the first national daily newspaper in Germany to take this radical step. Otherwise, printing is still actively done in Germany. The obituaries sung by certain Berlin blogger circles as early as 2007 probably came a bit too soon.

The transition, described by the editorial team and the publisher as a “paradigm shift,” is the result of a multi-year transformation process. According to the publisher, around 60 percent of daily subscribers already read the newspaper exclusively digitally. Only about 14,000 readers still receive the taz as a pure print edition.

Printing and distributing a daily newspaper in only 18,400 copies is no longer economically viable, according to the publisher. “While printing and distribution costs have continued to rise in recent years, reading habits have changed significantly,” says Managing Director Andreas Marggraf, pointing to the already high proportion of digital readers.

Furthermore, according to the publisher, 45,000 people participate in the voluntary payment model “taz zahl ich.” This accounts for about two-thirds of the revenue. “Our numbers prove us right,” says Ulrike Winkelmann, one of the paper's three editors-in-chief.

Trendsetter taz

The taz was founded in 1978 as a decidedly left-wing newspaper project and can therefore be considered a trendsetter for the currently widespread “Haltungsjournalismus” (journalism of conviction). It is now published by a cooperatively organized publishing house.

The decision for digital transformation was made at a cooperative assembly in September 2024, when 77 percent of the approximately 800 assembled cooperators voted for digitalization. 13 percent were against it, and 10 percent abstained.

The taz is not the first newspaper worldwide to take this step. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is considered a pioneer, which ceased printing in March 2009 after almost 150 years in print. Shortly thereafter followed the Boston daily newspaper Christian Science Monitor. The French daily newspaper France Soir also stopped its daily print and for a time only appeared digitally before being discontinued entirely six months later.

The taz would like to avoid such a fate. In the future, the newspaper will focus on its newly renovated website, a new app, podcasts, and various social media channels. There will be no paywall, as introduced by other media houses—the taz will stick to its premise of “free access to journalism.”

How successful this will be will be observed with interest, not only in the media industry.

(vbr)