 | |
| Type | The Observer is a Swiss medium with a focus on law and justice. |
|---|---|
| Founder(s) | Max Ras |
| Publisher | Ringier |
| Editor-in-chief | Dominique Strebel[1] |
| Founded | 1926 asDer Schweizerische Beobachter |
| Language | German |
| Headquarters | Zürich, Switzerland |
| Circulation | 290,515 (as of November 2014[update])[2] |
| Website | Official website(in German) |
Beobachter (German:[bəˈʔoːbaxtɐ]ⓘ,Observer) is aGerman-language Swiss medium with a focus on law and justice.
The magazine was founded in 1926 by Max Ras asDer Schweizerische Beobachter and first distributed in 1927 as a free newspaper to all households in the German-speaking part of Switzerland. From the beginning, it was a political, but non-partisan struggle sheet, that took a position in favor of economically weakly positioned people. The newspaper fought for equal rights for women, fights rampant bureaucracy, and reveals scandals and hypocrisies.[3]
Through its populist style and the high number of readers, which in 1994 was over a million,Beobachter secured an extensive advertising volume within Switzerland.[3] From 2007 respectively 2010 (against media and political protests), the low-priced subscription magazine was published fortnightly by Axel Springer AG Switzerland. At that time, it had a circulation of 308,000 copies,[3] and in 2013 printed 283,284 copies (WEMF 2013) and had 918,000 readers (MACH Basic 2013-2) in 2014.[2] In 2023, Ringier acquired Axel Springer's share in Beobachter through the acquisition of the joint venture Ringier Axel Springer Switzerland.[4]
Beobachter also provides a particularly well-developed consultancy service for legal questions, information about employment, rental, consumer and family law for its subscribers.[3] It is distributed on the internet, by post and by apps (Android/iOS). TheBeobachter TV series onSRF 1 and SRF 2 as well as on radioDRS 3 also contributes helpful consumer information. TheBeobachter-Verlag publishes non-fiction printed books ande-books.
Beobachter got in the even international focus in 1972, as the newspaper's journalists investigated, when the newspaper got hints by affected Jenisch (Fahrende) people. Hans Caprez published on 15 April 1972 in the articleKinder der Landstrasse the facts and the backgrounds of theKinder der Landstrasse scandal,[5] involving about 590 children of theJenisch people minority in Switzerland.[6] The newspaper hence actively supports the so-calledWiedergutmachungsinitiative started in April 2014 –[7] on 19 December 2014 the initiative was submitted at the Federal Chancellery (Bundeskanzlei).[8]
{{cite book}}:|work= ignored (help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
