Basler Zeitung (literally: "Basler Newspaper"), or BaZ, is a Swiss German-language regional daily newspaper, published in Basel.
History and profile
Basler Zeitung was created in 1977 through the merger of the Basler Nachrichten and the National-Zeitung. The paper has its headquarters in Basel and the Basel canton.
The newspaper is owned by the Basler Zeitung Medien which also publishes the free daily newspaper Baslerstab. The shareholders of Basler Zeitung are Tito Tettamanti (75%) and Martin Wagner (25%)
In 1997 Basler Zeitung had a circulation of 115,297 copies. The circulation of the paper was 104,000 copies in 2003. The 2006 circulation of the daily was 98,645 copies.
General information
The weekday edition of Basler Zeitung is published in two bundles, cut in the traditional Swiss newspaper format of 320 × 475 mm: The first bundle is devoted to political events at home and abroad. In addition, there are topics from the economy, culture and the opinion page with letters to the editor. The second part covers regional news from the municipalities of Basel, Riehen and Bettingen, followed by reports from Baselland and Fricktal, and very rarely from Sundgau and Markgräflerland. In addition, sporting events are embedded here. Subscribers (not newsstand buyers) also receive the "Magazin" of the Zürcher "Tages-Anzeiger" which are both smaller Swiss journals as a supplement every Saturday. Until the beginning of the 21st century, a "large circulation" appeared each Friday and was distributed free of charge in the canton of Baselland, where the Basler Zeitung was in competition with the Basellandschaftliche Zeitung.
On 8 January 2012, the first issue of the Basler Zeitung am Sonntag (BaZ on Sundays for short) appeared. It had the same format and layout as the weekday edition, but comprised two extensive rather than four frets. Several editorial positions were created for it. On 24 February 2013, the last issue of the Sunday edition was published; since then, subscribers have received Tamedia's Sonntags Zeitung. In 2014, the Basler Zeitung launched the twice-weekly BaZ Kompakt as an alternative to the daily newspaper. Every Tuesday and Thursday, BaZ Kompakt provides information on important background topics in tabloid format. After only 14 months, however, newsstand sales of BaZ Kompakt were discontinued; since then, the newspaper has still been available by subscription or at the BaZ counter.
Predecessor newspapers
National Newspaper
The first issue of the Swiss National-Zeitung was published in Basel in 1842 in opposition to the Ancien Régime. From 1877, the newspaper called itself only National-Zeitung (NZ). In 1945, it acquired a majority stake in the free newspaper Baslerstab.
In the German Reich, the National-Zeitung was banned from 1934 to 1945, as were the Neue Zürcher Zeitung and Der Bund in Bern. The ban was imposed in response to coverage of the so-called Röhm Putsch.
For a long time, the NZ, like the Basler Nachrichten, was a bourgeois newspaper until the early 1960s, when it broke with the radicals (today's FDP.Die Liberalen) and a socially critical left-liberal trend became apparent in the newspaper. This was particularly evident in the coverage of the Zurich Globus riot: In contrast to almost all other Swiss dailies, the NZ strove for a balanced portrayal of the youth riots, strongly criticized the police beatings ordered by the Zurich authorities, and solicited understanding for the rebelling youth. The events of 1968 not only shaped the view of the NZ articles, but also the political consciousness of some editors. The democratization discussed at the time achieved a restructuring of the editorial office: on 1 May 1970, the National-Zeitung became the first newspaper in Switzerland to receive an editorial statute that guaranteed the editorial board a say, for example, in the hiring, reassignment and dismissal of an editor and in publishing decisions of a journalistic and technical nature. "We don't have an editor-in-chief, and we don't need one," was the motto. However, the democratic structure became increasingly authoritarian.