Recently by Anna-Maria Mende

Germany has a new podcasting star: Chancellor Angela Merkel today launched her video podcast "Die Kanzlerin - direkt" (= "The Chancellor - direct"). In her first message she speaks about today's opening of the FIFA world cup. And she also says some introductory words about the new podcast. She says:

An Iranian journalist who spent the last six years in jail for criticising the Iranian authorities has been awarded the 2006 Golden Pen of Freedom, the annual press freedom prize from the World Association of Newspapers.

These were the words from Eugen Russ, Managing Director of the Austrian company Vorarlberger Medienhaus, at the Annual Digital Media Round Table that took place in Moscow this morning. On Monday the 13th World Editors Forum and the 59th World Newspaper Congress will start in Moscow.

With his provocative words Russ referred to the fact that the website of its newspaper Vorarlberger Nachrichten reaches more people than Google in the region around Vorarlberg.

German publisher Holtzbrinck is planning a complete relaunch of its compact News, which is currently published only in the city of Frankfurt on the Main, reports the Sunday paper Welt am Sonntag and other German media. The relaunch plans are disputed. The new paper will have another name; the working title is currently Business News. The launch of the new paper is expected as soon as August 1 and is planned to be sold throughout Germany. Editor in chief Klaus Madzia, together with his newsroom, will move from Frankfurt on the Main to Berlin.

A "Podcastday" was part of a media conference in Cologne, Germany, last week. Podcasters and media experts discussed trends and potentials of podcasting, reports Die Welt. One and a half year after the first audiobloggers started podcasting in Germany, the podcasting scene is striving for different goals. Some want to earn money by advertising spots and sponsoring, others just want to have fun. And still others, especially marketing and PR experts or TV and radio professionals, but also teachers, begin to take an interest in podcasting.

German newspaper Die Welt, published by Axel Springer, celebrates its 60th birthday this week. The first issue of Die Welt appeared on 2nd April 1946 under the control of the British military government. The paper started with a print run of 160,000 copies, had 6 pages and the price was 20 pennies. The first editor in chief was Hans Zehrer. In 1953 publisher Axel Springer took over the newspaper.

After months of speculation Austrian publisher Wolfgang Fellner finally announced on Tuesday (28.3.06) that its new innovative newspaper would launch in September. The new national newspaper called Österreich (=Austria) will be in a 251x340 mm tabloid format, somewhat higher than the tabloids usually are in Austria, e.g. 20% higher than competitor Kronenzeitung. Fellner also told that USA Today served as an example for the new paper.

The German newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau (FR) launched an evening edition. The paper called "FR am Abend" (= FR in the evening) appears Mondays to Fridays at 8 p.m. in the city of Frankfurt am Main. The paper starts with a print run of 1800. FR am Abend includes national and international news from the Frankfurter Rundschau of the following day as well as a special section with local news. The paper is for sale on some selected newspaper shops, in the train station, but also in bars and restaurants. FR am Abend tries to target night owls and commuters.

Norwegian publisher Schibstedt freezes its plans to launch its free paper 20 Minutes in Germany. Some had speculated that Schibstedt might launch a free paper in Germany before the soccer world cup, but Schibsted confirmed to news-business.de that its plans are deferred. The company is currently facing circulation losses at several of its Scandinavian daily newspapers.

Sources (in German): news-business.de, Klein-Report ,see also Reuters (in English) 

Swiss publisher Ringier, who has thought about launching a new free paper for some time, announced today that it would launch a free paper called "heute" (=today) very soon, i.e. before the summer. The new paper will be an evening paper and will be distributed in Zurich, Basel and Bern in the afternoon, reports Persoenlich. The German language newspaper will start with a print run of 200,000 copies per day. Editor in chief will be Bernhard Weissberg, who is currently in charge of the newspaper division at Ringier.

Swedish Foreign Minister Laila Freivalds resigned today in the wake of the Mohammed cartoons, reports Spiegel Online. Her resignation comes after accusations that she acted unconstitutionally over the shutting down of a far-right Swedish website which published the Mohammed cartoons and also motivated its readers to send in new cartoons of Mohammed (see also former posting).

The Union of European Turkish Democrats (UETD), a Turkish lobby group, has filed a criminal complaint against the German newspaper Die Welt for printing several of the Mohammed cartoons. The group claims that printing the cartoons was a public insult against a religious group. Abdullah Emil, general secretary of UETD, said: "It is not the point of a free press to insult the religious sensibilities of nearly 3 million Muslims in Germany with provocations of this kind," reports Reuters.

The Cologne newspaper Kölner Stadtanzeiger, published by DuMont Schauberg, launched a daily magazine on 11th March 2006 that comes as supplement to the newspaper. The 16-pages magazine called Magazin is half the size of the newspaper and is printed in color on normal newspaper paper. It focuses on entertainment, health, computer & technology, fashion, food, TV and cinema listings as well as events in the city. The goal is to attract young people, but also other groups who do not read newspapers a lot, for example women.

Johannes von Bismarck, manager of U.S. private equity firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson (VSS) said yesterday in Frankfurt that VSS is looking for more media companies in Austria and Germany and is in talks with several parties, reports Reuters. VSS, which recently, together with David Montgomery and his investment vehicle Mecom, bought the publisher Berliner Verlag and the tabloid Hamburger Morgenpost in Germany (see former posting), is looking for newspapers, radio stations and publishers. However, no names were announced yet. 

The German newspaper group WAZ (Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung) prepares for a potential launch of a free paper in Germany and plans its own free paper, reports Persoenlich. It is the second publisher that does so: back in September publisher Axel Springer has announced plans to launch a free paper called Gratissimo in case Schibsted or another publisher launches a free sheet in Germany (see former posting).