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Süddeutsche Zeitung

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The Süddeutsche Zeitung is a very important daily newspaper in Germany. Many people call it SZ for short. It is based in the city of Munich.

The paper is known as a newspaper of record. This means it is a trusted source for news. Its views are often called progressive-liberal or centre-left. In Germany, liberalism can mean many different things. This paper focuses on social-liberal ideas. Some people joke that SZ is the main voice of opposition in Bavaria. This is because Bavaria has been ruled by conservative groups for a long time.

Creating a newspaper involves many moving parts. The paper is published by a group called Süddeutsche Verlag. Most of the company is owned by investment holdings. A small part is owned by the Friedmann family. The editors-in-chief are Wolfgang Krach and Judith Wittwer. Thomas Schaub is the chairman of the editorial board.

The paper uses a specific size called Nordisch format. It reaches about 1.1 million readers every single day. This is a huge number of people. It shows how much the public relies on its stories.

SZ has a very interesting history. It began on 6 October 1945. This was five months after World War II ended. It was the first daily paper approved by the U.S. military in Bavaria.

The founders were August Schwingenstein, Edmund Goldschagg, and Franz Josef Schöningh. These men had experience in journalism before the war. One founder had even been arrested by the Gestapo. They wanted the paper to be a voice for freedom. They wanted to stand against the old Nazi state. The first issue used the same printing presses as a book by Adolf Hitler.

There have been many big moments for the paper. In 2002, the paper almost ran out of money. It was on the brink of bankruptcy. A group called Südwestdeutsche Medien gave it 150 million euros. This helped the paper survive.

SZ also does huge investigations. In 2015, an anonymous person gave them a massive dataset. This led to the Panama Papers story in 2016. In 2017, they worked on the Paradise Papers. That project used 1.4 terabytes of data. It included 13.4 million documents about money and companies. These stories help people understand how the world works.

Reading a newspaper like SZ is a way to connect to the world. It is a lot like reading a history book that is being written right now. The paper has even shared books and movies with its readers. In 2004, they launched the Süddeutsche Bibliothek. This gave people access to famous novels. They also made a science magazine called SZ Wissen.

Even when the paper makes a mistake, it tries to fix it. In 2018, they apologized for a cartoon that upset readers. This shows that even big newspapers are always learning and changing.

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