A Timeless Monument
When the Wiener Zeitung newspaper first issued, the Enlightenment period had not yet begun in Europe, the steam engine had not been invented for another 100 years, and European politics were still under the rule of Louis the Great or the Sun King, who was considered a symbol of the absolute monarchy in Europe.
AP reported that the Vienna-based newspaper was considered a high-quality publication with many articles on domestic and international issues, culture, and business. The initial title of the publication was Wiennerisches Diarium (Vienna Diary), which reported on many significant milestones in history, from the 12-year-old "exceptionally talented" Wolfgang Mozart to the last Habsburg emperor to abdicate.
Throughout its long history, Wiener Zeitung was only forced to cease operations once, in 1939, under the Nazi regime. The publication was revived in the fall of 1945. In a letter to readers on the front page of Wiener Zeitung, Austrian Chancellor Karl Renner at the time spoke about the significant changes the publication had witnessed over the centuries, encouraging readers to draw inspiration from the publication's enduring vitality. His wish was for Wiener Zeitung to "become a timeless monument to our efforts and successes in the present and future."
A Unique Model
In a May 20, 2023, article, Le Monde writer Jean-Baptiste Chastand reported that Judit Belfkih, the acting co-editor-in-chief of Wiener Zeitung, had a particularly difficult task for a journalist: closing down the newspaper she worked for. The article was published at a time when she was busy finalizing the last edition of the venerable publication.
"We used to say that we were the oldest newspaper in the world to be published continuously and still in operation," Belfkih said, pointing to the empty desks in the newsroom. Writer Jean-Baptiste Chastand shared: "There was a sense of sadness in the hallway at the moment. Clearly, the end of Wiener Zeitung would leave a mark in the history of print media."
The author also recalled that in a 1953 article commemorating the 250th anniversary of Wiener Zeitung's first issue, Le Monde noted "the most remarkable thing" about this "historical monument in Austria" was "many readers preferred Wiener Zeitung over any other newspaper because of its objectivity and fairness."
Austrian writer Elfriede Jelinek, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2004, used her pen to defend the newspaper, emphasizing that Wiener Zeitung was "a quiet and calm newspaper," as the oldest newspaper in the world, providing information to the public and "enlightening us before the Enlightenment period."
According to Le Monde, Wiener Zeitung has a model that is almost unique in Western journalism. The newspaper has been owned by the Austrian state since the mid-19th century after being nationalized by Emperor Franz Joseph Habsburg due to dissatisfaction with the newspaper's coverage of the 1848 revolutions. Since then, Wiener Zeitung has been under government control. Even the price of a copy of the newspaper - just 1 Euro - needed to be approved by the Austrian Parliament. However, when the Austrian government began publishing official documents online, the print edition became unnecessary. Losing its main source of income, the print edition of Wiener Zeitung ceased publication.
A Successful Transformation
Immediately after the last print edition was published on June 30, 2023, Wiener Zeitung launched its digital version, WZ, which was funded by the state. According to the law, WZ is a public medium that must report on issues from a specific perspective, for example, from a political, historical, or special emphasis on Austria as a business-friendly location. In addition, the budget for Wiener Zeitung was reduced from 18 million euros per year to over 6 million euros. The team of journalists and reporters was reduced from 50 to 12. In general, the entire editorial staff has 20 employees.
Before the last print edition, Wiener Zeitung had never been successful in its digital transformation, with an outdated website and "hated" sensationalist news. However, Wiener Zeitung's CEO, Martin Fleischhacker, was optimistic about the publication's historic transformation. He said that after the print edition was closed, the digital edition "no longer publishes daily news but follows a solution journalism approach" and focuses on the youngest audience.
Launched from scratch, the world's oldest daily newspaper had successfully transformed into an online publication and attracted a young audience, according to the Independent Publishers Association of Ukraine.
Wiener Zeitung's Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Katharina Schmidt, revealed in a course on Digital ABC by the Independent Publishers Association of Ukraine that during the transformation, the publication's editorial team made a concerted effort to use different approaches. First, they applied data analysis. Wiener Zeitung also abandoned writing long articles, focusing on high-quality articles. Each article must provide detailed explanations, include expert opinions, and provide a comprehensive explanation of a specific topic. In terms of content distribution, Wiener Zeitung uses social media, particularly TikTok and YouTube - the main platforms currently developing in Austria.
According to WAN-IFRA's analysis, in the major reorganization of 2023, Wiener Zeitung developed its website, targeted new audiences, and built a new readership, particularly Gen Z, with new content formats. The newspaper developed new formats, new channels. When transforming into digital, the world's oldest newspaper also applied a personalized content approach, where users can decide to read, listen to, or watch content, build a listening or reading list. Wiener Zeitung also experimented with other formats such as podcasts and videos, creating available content to be released on TikTok. The team worked according to goals, for example, producing 4 podcast episodes for the launch month - July 2023, then releasing new episodes every week. Wiener Zeitung also aims to produce 14 pre-written articles and aims to publish 1-3 articles per day after the launch.
"With the available resources and numerous providers on the market, we realized that becoming a leading news source was not feasible. Instead, we came up with a goal-oriented approach to publishing content that is suitable for the target audience, in line with our mission and purpose, and of the highest quality and constructive nature," said Hannah Schaefer, Wiener Zeitung's project manager for the transformation.
This approach has achieved initial success: Reduced technological difficulties; Prepared a sufficient number of articles; Produced a minimum viable product (MVP), including new content for the homepage and social media targeting a young audience as well as podcasts and videos...
In addition to finding new directions, Wiener Zeitung also considered reducing information guidance, such as no longer reporting on press conferences, no longer publishing basic information from news agencies, and holding fewer press conferences...
