Das Echo
Encyclopedia
Das Echo is a monthly German language
newspaper
based in Montreal, Quebec
, Canada
.
Das Echo began as the Das Echo des Deutschen Hauses für die deutsch-kanadische Gemeinschaft, founded by Paul Christian Walter in 1978. It first began printing as a trimestrial newssheet for the German community in Greater Montreal. Like the majority of newspapers in Germany, it is a subscriber's publication with a comparable small number of freely sold issues. Das Echo is the only newspaper by an ethnic minority (German) in Canada to have stringers
in most Canadian provinces and many European countries.
Since its foundation, Das Echo faced the delocalisation of its readers from Montreal and the rest of Quebec to other Canadian provinces. Like their English speaking neighbors, many German speaking Quebeckers
left the province because of the political turmoil and changes that followed the Quiet Revolution
. In 1980 Walter turned the news sheet into a bimonthly newspaper and two years later it became a monthly newspaper, reporting about the activities of and covering information for the German speaking communities in the Canadian provinces. In 1982 the title was finally shortened to Das Echo featuring the subtitle von Küste zu Küste, meaning from coast to coast.
From 1984 to 1995 Das Echo experienced a period of extensive growth, exceeding a circulation of 80,000. Das Echo has usually been an ethnic press newspaper, but established itself as an independent source of information in central European affairs in North America. Many readers consider it as the German Canadian voice. Since the mid 90s Das Echo has earned a steadily growing number of subscriptions from the United States.
A strong loss of subcriptions during the late 90s and early years of the new millennium left a harsh impact on the newspaper and forced the Walter family into restructuring to avoid a financial collapse. The dramatically reduced subscription base led to a pursuit for more advertising in the newspaper in order to keep a low retail price. On the other hand the editorial staff was required to reorient the central theme of traditional German Canadian affairs, to reinforce its distinguishing character as German Canadian newspaper.
As late as 2006 Das Echo started recovering subscription numbers. The newspaper currently has an average monthly readership of about 100,000. Even facing a stark decline in circulation (compared to top sales in the mid-90s), it is still the largest nationwide German language newspaper in Canada and the United States. Its largest regional readership can be found in the Canadian prairie provinces
of Alberta
, Saskatchewan
and Manitoba
.
Das Echo is member of the globally active IMH network, the International Association of German Media (IDM), the National Ethnic Press & Media Council of Canada, dpa
, APA, SDA and swissinfo
.
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
based in Montreal, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
Das Echo began as the Das Echo des Deutschen Hauses für die deutsch-kanadische Gemeinschaft, founded by Paul Christian Walter in 1978. It first began printing as a trimestrial newssheet for the German community in Greater Montreal. Like the majority of newspapers in Germany, it is a subscriber's publication with a comparable small number of freely sold issues. Das Echo is the only newspaper by an ethnic minority (German) in Canada to have stringers
Stringer (journalism)
In journalism, a stringer is a type of freelance journalist or photographer who contributes reports or photos to a news organization on an ongoing basis but is paid individually for each piece of published or broadcast work....
in most Canadian provinces and many European countries.
Since its foundation, Das Echo faced the delocalisation of its readers from Montreal and the rest of Quebec to other Canadian provinces. Like their English speaking neighbors, many German speaking Quebeckers
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
left the province because of the political turmoil and changes that followed the Quiet Revolution
Quiet Revolution
The Quiet Revolution was the 1960s period of intense change in Quebec, Canada, characterized by the rapid and effective secularization of society, the creation of a welfare state and a re-alignment of politics into federalist and separatist factions...
. In 1980 Walter turned the news sheet into a bimonthly newspaper and two years later it became a monthly newspaper, reporting about the activities of and covering information for the German speaking communities in the Canadian provinces. In 1982 the title was finally shortened to Das Echo featuring the subtitle von Küste zu Küste, meaning from coast to coast.
From 1984 to 1995 Das Echo experienced a period of extensive growth, exceeding a circulation of 80,000. Das Echo has usually been an ethnic press newspaper, but established itself as an independent source of information in central European affairs in North America. Many readers consider it as the German Canadian voice. Since the mid 90s Das Echo has earned a steadily growing number of subscriptions from the United States.
A strong loss of subcriptions during the late 90s and early years of the new millennium left a harsh impact on the newspaper and forced the Walter family into restructuring to avoid a financial collapse. The dramatically reduced subscription base led to a pursuit for more advertising in the newspaper in order to keep a low retail price. On the other hand the editorial staff was required to reorient the central theme of traditional German Canadian affairs, to reinforce its distinguishing character as German Canadian newspaper.
As late as 2006 Das Echo started recovering subscription numbers. The newspaper currently has an average monthly readership of about 100,000. Even facing a stark decline in circulation (compared to top sales in the mid-90s), it is still the largest nationwide German language newspaper in Canada and the United States. Its largest regional readership can be found in the Canadian prairie provinces
Canadian Prairies
The Canadian Prairies is a region of Canada, specifically in western Canada, which may correspond to several different definitions, natural or political. Notably, the Prairie provinces or simply the Prairies comprise the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, as they are largely covered...
of Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
, Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
and Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
.
Das Echo is member of the globally active IMH network, the International Association of German Media (IDM), the National Ethnic Press & Media Council of Canada, dpa
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH is a news agency founded in 1949 in Germany. Based in Hamburg, it has grown to be a major worldwide operation serving print media, radio, television, online, mobile phones, and national news agencies. News is available in German, English, Spanish, and Arabic.The DPA...
, APA, SDA and swissinfo
Swissinfo
swissinfo is a nine-language news and information platform produced by SRG SSR, the Swiss public broadcasting corporation. Its content is Swiss-centred, with top priority given to in-depth information on politics, the economy, the arts, science, education and tourism. Switzerland's international...
.