Die Tageszeitung

Die Tageszeitung (, "The Daily Newspaper"), stylized as die tageszeitung and commonly referred to as taz, is a German daily newspaper. It is run as a cooperative – it is administered by its employees and a co-operative of shareholders who invest in a free independent press, rather than to depend on advertising and paywalls.

Founded in 1978 in Berlin as part of an independent, progressive and politically left-leaning movement, it has focused on current politics, social issues such as inequality, ecological crises both local and international, and other topics not covered by the more traditional and conservative newspapers. It mostly supports the alternative green political sphere and the German Green Party, but Die Tageszeitung has also been critical of the SPD/Greens coalition government (1998–2005). It is one of Germany's most important newspapers and amongst the top seven. It is being described as "alternative-left" and critical of existing current structures (systemkritisch).

The newspaper's logo, a paw print, derives from the similarity of the name "taz" to a German word for paw, Tatze. Its position in the media landscape varies between the fifth and the sixth most read newspaper of Germany. In 2021 taz overtook for the first time the conservative Die Welt as the fifth most read daily newspaper of Germany.

History
Die Tageszeitung was established in 1978. From the beginning, Die Tageszeitung was intended to be an alternative to the mainstream press, in its own words: "irreverent, commercially independent, intelligent and entertaining." One expression of its alternative approach to journalism was the payment of unified salaries for all employees until 1991. Nowadays, employees in highly responsible positions receive bonuses. Still, salaries of managers paid by Die Tageszeitung are considerably lower than what is paid in the rest of the industry.

Since 1995, the WOZ Die Wochenzeitung (formerly WoZ) and Die Tageszeitung have included a German-language edition of the monthly Le Monde diplomatique to supplement the newspapers. Most of the articles in the monthly supplement are translations of the French-language edition of the Le Monde diplomatique. When it existed, taz also added the Turkish language newspaper of Germany Perşembe.

Since 1992, Die Tageszeitung has been owned by more than 22,214 paying members (as of August 2022). Its circulation has dropped in recent years, with subscriptions including e-paper now down to 42,000. In 1995, it was the first German national newspaper to make all of the content of issue available online. Die Tageszeitung considers to phase out its printed daily edition, but has not (as of December 2023). From the beginning, Die Tageszeitung appeared in a nationwide edition as well as in a Berlin local edition. Over the years, local editorial offices for North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), Hamburg and Bremen were added. While the latter two were merged to "taz nord" (North) the NRW offices were closed as of July 2007.

In the 2013 elections the magazine was among the supporters of the Social Democratic Party. Taz was the first and only newspaper to have an independent Turkish-language edition online, known as taz.gazete between 2017 and 2020. It also was amongst the first to have articles in simple German for neuro-diverse people. It publishes from time to time in English as taz in English.

Structure
The newspaper is supported by a cooperative under German law. Many readers help finance the newspaper. taz employees are paid under the collective agreement for newspapers in Germany.

"Potato Affair"
On 26 June 2006 Die Tageszeitung published a satirical article on its last page, headlined Die Wahrheit (the truth) that is reserved for satire and nonsense. It was titled "The new potato of Poland. Rogues who want to rule the world. Today: Lech 'Katsche' Kaczynski". This article ridiculed President of Poland Lech Kaczyński and Prime Minister of Poland Jarosław Kaczyński. Lech Kaczyński then cancelled talks that were scheduled between Germany, Poland and France (the Weimar Triangle), officially for reasons of sickness.

Headlines
The taz is noted for its tongue-in-cheek headlines, such as:
 * Oh mein Gott! (Oh my god!) – On the election of Joseph Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI
 * Es ist ein Mädchen (It's a girl) – On the election of Angela Merkel as the first female Chancellor of Germany
 * Oops – they did it again! – On the re-election of George W. Bush as President of the United States

On 5 June 2008, the paper published a picture headlined "Onkel Baracks Hütte" (Uncle Barack's Cabin) with a picture of the White House below the headline as part of an article about then-Senator Barack Obama. That headline, which made reference to the book Uncle Tom's Cabin, was perceived as racist by some of its readership.

taz Panter Foundation
The taz Panter Foundation is a legally capable foundation based in Berlin. The legal form of a foundation makes it possible to separate non-profit activities from the business activities of taz and to further expand them with the help of supporters. It was established in 2008 to award the taz Panter Prize, which has been presented since 2005

The taz Panter Foundation is currently working on three goals: Firstly, it´s regularly holds international workshops to qualify   foreign colleagues, who mainly come from countries where press freedom is under threat. Secondly, the Panter Foundation provides journalistic trainings and   further education programs, especially for younger people. And thirdly, the foundation promotes democracy and civic engagement, for example by awarding the annual taz Panter prize.

Literature

 * taz - die tageszeitung. Die Tageszeitung Verlagsgenossenschaft e. G., Berlin 1.1987,1ff.
 * Oliver Tolmein/Detlef zum Winkel: tazsachen. Kralle zeigen - Pfötchen geben. Hamburg 1988. ISBN 3-922144-76-4
 * Jörg Magenau: Die taz. Eine Zeitung als Lebensform. München 2007, ISBN 978-3-446-20942-8
 * Nora Münz: Links und liebenswert. Nutzungsmotive von Lesern der tageszeitung (taz). In: Senta Pfaff-Rüdiger / Michael Meyen (Hg.): Alltag, Lebenswelt und Medien. Lit Verlag. Münster 2007. S. 215–235. ISBN 978-3-8258-0897-6