370 Years of Newspaper Printing in Leipzig. A Centuries-Old Tradition
Layout: Grafisch
20 September 2020 to 30 May 2021 // foyer presentation
When Leipzig printer Timotheus Ritzsch published the world’s first daily newspaper, Einkommende Zeitungen, on 1 July 1650, he laid the foundations for a remarkable success story.
370 years after its invention, the daily newspaper’s four key traits – topicality, easy access, regular publication and diversity of content – still make it a unique cultural medium that combines the democratisation of knowledge with attention economics. Nowadays, almost 15 million daily newspapers – digital or printed – are sold in Germany every publication day. Even young people believe that daily newspapers are more trustworthy than television, radio or the internet.
Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) is quoted as saying, “If I had to choose between government without newspapers, and newspapers without government, I wouldn’t hesitate to choose the latter” – an unequivocal testimony to the social and political significance of the newspaper, the history of which is rooted in Leipzig.
Over the course of the 19th century, the newspaper became a mass medium. High-speed printing presses and rotary presses made it possible to create printed material at unprecedented speed. Newspaper printing became enormously attractive during the Industrial Age, not least in Leipzig, a city famed for its exhibitions that had seen the publication of more than 100 different newspapers over the previous 370 years. Paper manufacturers, publishers and the printing machine industry all settled here during this period.
Until 1933, Leipzig was home to a wide variety of newspapers and regional editions. The ban imposed on numerous press organs by the Nazis also encompassed the Leipziger Volkszeitung (LVZ) , one of the oldest newspapers still extant in Leipzig. The newspapers printed in Leipzig in GDR times were not permitted to exist independently, instead being treated as organs by the bloc parties. The peaceful revolution 30 years ago initially saw the publication of an overwhelming variety of new newspapers, yet this development only persisted for a short time. The possibilities and superior speed of online publishing had drastic consequences for the print industry, particularly for the newspaper market, and caused the number and circulation of printed newspapers to decline dramatically. Nowadays, the most pressing question relates to the competitiveness of (online) daily newspapers compared to other information formats; for media historians, this is an extremely exciting phase in the history of the newspaper, one marked by endings and new beginnings.
2020 has been designated Industrial Heritage Year and will be celebrated by the German Museum of Books and Writing with a small exhibition showcasing the proud history of newspaper printing in Leipzig – an era that began 370 years ago and ended in 2019, when Leipzig’s last newspaper printing machines were switched off.
Besides visiting the physical exhibition, you can also explore the topic in our virtual exhibition "On the History of Newspaper Printing".
Image: DNB
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An inconsiderate passenger”. Newspaper illustration dating from 1872
Last changes:
09.06.2021
