Kronen Zeitung
Encyclopedia
The Kronen Zeitung, commonly known as the Krone, is Austria
's largest newspaper. According to a Österreichische Media-Analyse study, the average daily readership is 2,970,000 (14 years or older), which corresponds to 43,7% of all newspaper readers. The number of daily copies printed was 1,006,134 in the first half of 2004, according to the Österreichische Auflagenkontrolle (ÖAK).
Its political positioning is social right wing and economic left wing. The Kronen Zeitung has often been accused of abusing its near monopoly
to manipulate public opinion in Austria. Its many critics blame its populist
style and emphasis on the topic of immigration
for allegedly spreading fear and hatred among its readers. The paper is also known for being very EU-critical.
, was the founder. The name was not an homage to the monarchy (Krone means crown
), but refers to the monthly purchase price of one crown
. This affordable price was possible because bureaucratic duties
on newspapers (Zeitungsstempelgebühr) were abolished on 31 December 1899.
The newspaper struggled in its first three years until it reported the very important story of the regicide
in Belgrade
of King Aleksandar Obrenović
, and consequently achieved enormous popularity. The paper also became well known for its featured novels and other innovations, such as games for readers. By 1906 the newspaper had sold 100,000 copies. Franz Lehár
composed a waltz
for the newspaper for their 10,000th issue. After the Anschluß of Austria by Nazi Germany
in 1938, all media had to undergo the Gleichschaltung
, which meant losing all independence. The war took a further toll and on August 31, 1944 the paper had to shut down.
and previous editor-in-chief of the Kurier
newspaper Hans Dichand
bought the rights to the Krone name. He refounded the newspaper as the Neue Kronen Zeitung. This remains the official name, but the newspaper refers to itself as the Kronen Zeitung. First released on April 11, 1959, it soon became Austria's most influential tabloid newspaper, but also the most controversial. At the beginning of the 1960s the journalist Fritz Molden wanted to buy the paper, but, according to Dichand, the Creditanstalt
bank would not give him the necessary credit.
The circumstances concerning the purchase of the Kronen by Dichand are shrouded in mystery. The highly influential SPÖ
politician Franz Olah
, then vice-president of the Austrian Trade Union Federation
(ÖGB), brought Dichand into contact with the German businessman Ferdinand Karpik, who wanted to buy a share of 50%. Marketing strategist Kurt Falk became Dichand's right-hand man, and the Krone developed into one of the most widely-read Austrian newspapers.
In the middle of the 1960s, the ÖGB suddenly raised ownership claims on the Krone. They claimed that the former vice-president Franz Olah misused the trade union's funds for the purchase of the newspaper, using the German investor as a stooge
. The newspaper responded with a smear campaign
against the social democratic SPÖ party, which was considered the first successful campaign by the newspaper. A court case followed between the newspaper and the trade union federation which lasted many years. The ÖGB finally settled with an 11 million Schillings compensation deal, and Kurt Falk took over the 50% from Ferdinand Karpik.
Kurt Falk himself left the newspaper after a long fight with Dichand in the 1980s. He sold his shares to the German WAZ
media group, which is said to have close connections to the German social democratic SPD
party. In 1989 Hans Mahr, an advisor to Dichand since 1983, took over as manager.
the paper costs €
1.0 and uses a tabloid format (similar to A4 paper size). The editions vary from state to state, except for the state of Vorarlberg
, which does not have its own version.
, a German media group that holds 50% of the company. Acting editor-in-chief chosen by the WAZ is Michael Kuhn
, publisher of the Mediaprint newspaper printing company.
With about three million readers out of Austria's total population of approximately eight million. The Krone has nearly three times as many readers as its strongest competitor, the Kleine Zeitung (12.4% share of all readers).
Nevertheless, certain regional differences between eastern and western Austria exist which affect the newspaper. In eastern states (such as Burgenland
) it has almost a 60% share of the market, but in western states such as the Tyrol and Vorarlberg
the Krone has barely penetrated the market. While in Vorarlberg the Krone is totally insignificant, in Tyrol
it has been able to make some gains. Local newspapers there, such as the Tiroler Tageszeitung, now fear for their positions. In response, the Tiroler Tageszeitung created its own tabloid in 2004, called Die Neue.
, founded the publishing house and marketing company Mediaprint, which took over the print
, marketing
, and sales
of the two newspapers. Many observers at that point already spoke of a monopoly
. In 2000, the most successful Austrian magazine group, the NEWS
media company, which owns the magazines NEWS, Profil
, E-Media, Format and Trend, merged with Mediaprint. Since then the majority of printed media in Austria in effect comes from the same company.
, a long-time and sharp critic of the newspaper, was awarded the Nobel Prize
for Literature. Despite this being a major event for Austria, the main headline on the Kronen Zeitungs first page read "You may lose your driving license" and a short article about Jelinek was hidden deep within the paper. Over the years the paper had been at odds with her and its columnists had aggressively denounced her.
in the 1999 elections
, claiming its journalism is selective to an unacceptable degree.
However, until 2007 the effect of the Kronen-Zeitung on Austrian politics, though regarded as extremely strong, had ultimately been indirect. In 2008 a new policy became apparent when the paper orchestrated a focused (and successful) campaign for the replacement of chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer
as the head of the SPÖ by Werner Faymann
, a decade-long close friend of Hans Dichand.
On June 27, 2008 while the change of the guard at the top of the SPÖ was still ongoing, the paper published an open letter by Faymann (co-signed by Gusenbauer) to Dichand in which the politicians announced that the party would make Austrian acceptance of EU decisions in "important matters" (such as a rephrasing of the EU Treaty or the admission of Turkey as a new member) contingent on the outcome of an Austrian popular referendum on such matters. This amounted to a U-turn in socialist policy, and constituted an adoption of a long-term central demand of the Kronen-Zeitung. In the campaign for the snap elections of September 28, 2008
which were to a large part precipitated by this action, the Kronen-Zeitung openly and massively campaigned for Faymann as the next chancellor.
However, in the campaign for the June 2009 European parliament elections
the Kronen-Zeitung threw its entire weight behind Hans-Peter Martin
, a populist ex-member of the SPÖ's European parliament team. Although it is impossible to quantify the exact contribution of the Kronen-Zeitung's support for Hans-Peter Martin's List
to the 17.9% of the Austrian votes it secured in these elections, this figure is an approximate indicator for the newspaper's political muscle. According to a post-vote poll by the agency Gfk Austria, 70% of Hans-Peter Martin's List voters at that election were readers of the Kronen-Zeitung, and 29% of all Kronen-Zeitung readers actually voted for him.
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
's largest newspaper. According to a Österreichische Media-Analyse study, the average daily readership is 2,970,000 (14 years or older), which corresponds to 43,7% of all newspaper readers. The number of daily copies printed was 1,006,134 in the first half of 2004, according to the Österreichische Auflagenkontrolle (ÖAK).
Its political positioning is social right wing and economic left wing. The Kronen Zeitung has often been accused of abusing its near monopoly
Monopoly
A monopoly exists when a specific person or enterprise is the only supplier of a particular commodity...
to manipulate public opinion in Austria. Its many critics blame its populist
Populism
Populism can be defined as an ideology, political philosophy, or type of discourse. Generally, a common theme compares "the people" against "the elite", and urges social and political system changes. It can also be defined as a rhetorical style employed by members of various political or social...
style and emphasis on the topic of immigration
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
for allegedly spreading fear and hatred among its readers. The paper is also known for being very EU-critical.
History
The first issue of the Kronen Zeitung appeared on 2 January 1900. Gustav Davis, a former army officerOfficer (armed forces)
An officer is a member of an armed force or uniformed service who holds a position of authority. Commissioned officers derive authority directly from a sovereign power and, as such, hold a commission charging them with the duties and responsibilities of a specific office or position...
, was the founder. The name was not an homage to the monarchy (Krone means crown
Crown (headgear)
A crown is the traditional symbolic form of headgear worn by a monarch or by a deity, for whom the crown traditionally represents power, legitimacy, immortality, righteousness, victory, triumph, resurrection, honour and glory of life after death. In art, the crown may be shown being offered to...
), but refers to the monthly purchase price of one crown
Austro-Hungarian krone
The Krone or korona was the official currency of the Austro-Hungarian Empire from 1892 until the dissolution of the empire in 1918...
. This affordable price was possible because bureaucratic duties
Duty (economics)
In economics, a duty is a kind of tax, often associated with customs, a payment due to the revenue of a state, levied by force of law. It is a tax on certain items purchased abroad...
on newspapers (Zeitungsstempelgebühr) were abolished on 31 December 1899.
The newspaper struggled in its first three years until it reported the very important story of the regicide
Regicide
The broad definition of regicide is the deliberate killing of a monarch, or the person responsible for the killing of a monarch. In a narrower sense, in the British tradition, it refers to the judicial execution of a king after a trial...
in Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
of King Aleksandar Obrenović
Aleksandar Obrenovic
Not to be confused with Alexander I of Yugoslavia.Alexander I or Aleksandar Obrenović was king of Serbia from 1889 to 1903 when he and his wife, Queen Draga, were assassinated by a group of Army officers, led by Colonel Dragutin Dimitrijević-Accession:In 1889 Alexander's father, King Milan,...
, and consequently achieved enormous popularity. The paper also became well known for its featured novels and other innovations, such as games for readers. By 1906 the newspaper had sold 100,000 copies. Franz Lehár
Franz Lehár
Franz Lehár was an Austrian-Hungarian composer. He is mainly known for his operettas of which the most successful and best known is The Merry Widow .-Biography:...
composed a waltz
Waltz
The waltz is a ballroom and folk dance in time, performed primarily in closed position.- History :There are several references to a sliding or gliding dance,- a waltz, from the 16th century including the representations of the printer H.S. Beheim...
for the newspaper for their 10,000th issue. After the Anschluß of Austria by Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
in 1938, all media had to undergo the Gleichschaltung
Gleichschaltung
Gleichschaltung , meaning "coordination", "making the same", "bringing into line", is a Nazi term for the process by which the Nazi regime successively established a system of totalitarian control and tight coordination over all aspects of society. The historian Richard J...
, which meant losing all independence. The war took a further toll and on August 31, 1944 the paper had to shut down.
Rebirth of the Krone
In 1959, the journalistJournalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and previous editor-in-chief of the Kurier
Kurier
The Kurier is an Austrian newspaper based in Vienna....
newspaper Hans Dichand
Hans Dichand
Hans Dichand was an Austrian journalist, writer, and media businessman. He published the tabloid newspaper Kronen Zeitung, Austria's largest newspaper in terms of readership, in which at the time of his death he held a 50% stake...
bought the rights to the Krone name. He refounded the newspaper as the Neue Kronen Zeitung. This remains the official name, but the newspaper refers to itself as the Kronen Zeitung. First released on April 11, 1959, it soon became Austria's most influential tabloid newspaper, but also the most controversial. At the beginning of the 1960s the journalist Fritz Molden wanted to buy the paper, but, according to Dichand, the Creditanstalt
Creditanstalt
The Creditanstalt was an Austrian bank. The Creditanstalt was based in Vienna, founded in 1855 as K. k. priv. Österreichische Credit-Anstalt für Handel und Gewerbe by the Rothschild family...
bank would not give him the necessary credit.
The circumstances concerning the purchase of the Kronen by Dichand are shrouded in mystery. The highly influential SPÖ
SPO
- Technology :SPO: Microsoft SharePoint Online, Microsoft Cloud Computing, Office 365. See Microsoft Online Services-Economics:* Secondary Public Offering, an equity capital market instrument...
politician Franz Olah
Franz Olah
Franz Olah was an Austrian politician who served as the country's Interior Minister from 1963 until 1964 as a member of the Social Democratic Party ....
, then vice-president of the Austrian Trade Union Federation
Austrian Trade Union Federation
-External links:*...
(ÖGB), brought Dichand into contact with the German businessman Ferdinand Karpik, who wanted to buy a share of 50%. Marketing strategist Kurt Falk became Dichand's right-hand man, and the Krone developed into one of the most widely-read Austrian newspapers.
In the middle of the 1960s, the ÖGB suddenly raised ownership claims on the Krone. They claimed that the former vice-president Franz Olah misused the trade union's funds for the purchase of the newspaper, using the German investor as a stooge
Stooge
A stooge is a person who is under the control of another. Being called a stooge is an insult. Stooge can also sometimes be used to mean "idiot".* Stooge , a member of a comedy double act who feeds lines to the other comedian...
. The newspaper responded with a smear campaign
Smear campaign
A smear campaign, smear tactic or simply smear is a metaphor for activity that can harm an individual or group's reputation by conflation with a stigmatized group...
against the social democratic SPÖ party, which was considered the first successful campaign by the newspaper. A court case followed between the newspaper and the trade union federation which lasted many years. The ÖGB finally settled with an 11 million Schillings compensation deal, and Kurt Falk took over the 50% from Ferdinand Karpik.
Kurt Falk himself left the newspaper after a long fight with Dichand in the 1980s. He sold his shares to the German WAZ
Waz
Waz may refer to:*WAZ-Mediengruppe, German newspaper and magazine publisher*Wąż, a Polish coat of arms*WΔZ, a 2008 crime/horror film starring Stellan Skarsgård, Melissa George, Ashley Walters, and Selma Blair...
media group, which is said to have close connections to the German social democratic SPD
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
party. In 1989 Hans Mahr, an advisor to Dichand since 1983, took over as manager.
Methods used by the newspaper
It became apparent soon after the re-establishment of the Krone that the newspaper used unorthodox methods against the competition.- Kurt Falk is considered the inventor of the so-called "Sonntagsstandln", which are plastic bags with little money boxes installed on poles on the streets and pavements, containing the Sunday edition (on Sundays, most shops are closed in Austria). This idea, which was derided by the competition in the beginning, quickly caught on and is very popular today.
- In 1963 Kurt Falk came to a mutual agreement with the competitor at that time Kleines Volksblatt that both papers would change from a small format to broadsheetBroadsheetBroadsheet is the largest of the various newspaper formats and is characterized by long vertical pages . The term derives from types of popular prints usually just of a single sheet, sold on the streets and containing various types of material, from ballads to political satire. The first broadsheet...
. The Kleines Volksblatt kept their end of the bargain and changed their format, but the Kronen Zeitung kept their original small format and thereby won 40,000 new readers. When the Kleines Volksblatt subsequently folded, the Krone could not resist poking fun at them for having changed their format in the first place. - In 1970 Falk and Dichand bought the tabloid Express, shutting it down after the acquisition.
- After one of the most important printing houses of Austria, the Pressehaus in Vienna, was sold in 1972 to the BAWAGBAWAGBAWAG is a bank in Austria. On October 1, 2005, it merged with the separate Österreichische Postsparkasse to form the "Bank für Arbeit und Wirtschaft und Österreichische Postsparkasse AG", shortened as BAWAG P.S.K..-History:BAWAG was founded in 1922 by the Austrian Chancellor Dr...
bank (which in turn had close connections to the socialist ÖGB union), the Krone threatened to build its own printing house and thus forced the BAWAG to sell the whole deal to the Krone. - In 1995 the Krone sued the Viennese city newspaper FalterFalterFalter is a weekly magazine published in Vienna, Austria.Founded in 1977, it is published weekly on Wednesdays. Since Spring 2005 a local edition has also been published in Styria. The magazine reports from a broadly left-liberal perspective on politics, media, culture and the life...
for several million SchillingsAustrian schillingThe schilling was the currency of Austria from 1924 to 1938 and from 1945 to 1999, and the circulating currency until 2002. The euro was introduced at a fixed parity of €1 = 13.7603 schilling to replace it...
for allegedly having violated the competition laws because of a gaming action. The Falter only barely escaped financial ruin. It is suspected that the Krone tried to shut down the Falter because of its critical reporting of the Krone. In the Austrian National CouncilNational Council of AustriaThe National Council is one of the two houses of the Austrian parliament. According to the constitution, the National Council and the complementary Federal Council are peers...
, the GreenAustrian Green PartyThe Greens – The Green Alternative is a political party in the Austrian parliament.The party was formed in 1986 with the name Grüne Alternative, following the merger of the more conservative Green party Vereinte Grüne Österreichs and the more progressive party Alternative Liste Österreichs The...
politician Karl Öllinger called the case an attack on press-freedom. - After broadcasting the critical documentary Kronen Zeitung - Tag für Tag ein Boulevardstück (Kronen Zeitung - Day by day a boulevard play) by the Franco-German TV station ArteArteArte is a Franco-German TV network. It is a European culture channel and aims to promote quality programming especially in areas of culture and the arts...
, the Krone eliminated the station from their TV page. Austrian National Television, the ORF probably decided not to show the documentary in order to avoid conflict. However, when in 2005 the private Austrian TV station ATV+ showed the documentary, no further action was taken from part of the Krone.
Appearance, layout
The Krone appears daily, in colour, containing approximately 80 pages. At the newsagentNewsagent
A newsagent's shop , newsagency or newsstand is a business that sells newspapers, magazines, cigarettes, snacks and often items of local interest. In Britain and Australia, these businesses are termed newsagents...
the paper costs €
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
1.0 and uses a tabloid format (similar to A4 paper size). The editions vary from state to state, except for the state of Vorarlberg
Vorarlberg
Vorarlberg is the westernmost federal-state of Austria. Although it is the second smallest in terms of area and population , it borders three countries: Germany , Switzerland and Liechtenstein...
, which does not have its own version.
Structure and owners
Editor-in-chief is Christoph Dichand, son of the founder and publisher Hans Dichand. The appointment of the son led to a power struggle between the Dichand family and the WAZWAZ-Mediengruppe
The WAZ-Mediengruppe is Germany's third largest newspaper and magazine publisher with a total of over 500 publications in eight countries. WAZ-Mediengruppe is privately held by the founders' families and is headquartered in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia.The group's largest paper is Westdeutsche...
, a German media group that holds 50% of the company. Acting editor-in-chief chosen by the WAZ is Michael Kuhn
Michael Kühn
Michael Kühn is a retired German football midfielder.-External links:...
, publisher of the Mediaprint newspaper printing company.
Characteristics
- A characteristic of the Krone is its large number of opinion columns; there are 16 regularly appearing columns from individual authors. The most important Krone columnists are Günther NenningGünther NenningDDr. Günther Nenning was a famous Austrian journalist, author and political activist.Günther Nenning was born in Vienna, Austria. After an excellent performance in high school, Nenning served from 1940 to 1945 in the German Wehrmacht...
, Wolf Martin and the former bishop of St. Pölten, Kurt KrennKurt KrennKurt Krenn is an Austrian Roman Catholic prelate and Bishop who ran a priests seminary in Sankt Pölten, near Vienna.-Views:...
, who writes under the pseudonymPseudonymA pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
Christianus. The publisher Hans Dichand himself sometimes writes comments to topics which are personally important to him, sometimes on the title page, under the alias Cato. - A characteristic of the Krone is its relatively short article length (maximum: 1,600 characters).
- The newspaper organises regular campaignsPolitical campaignA political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making process within a specific group. In democracies, political campaigns often refer to electoral campaigns, wherein representatives are chosen or referendums are decided...
and, at the same time, starts or supports referendumReferendumA referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of...
s on issues such as animal protection, protests against the Czech nuclear power station TemelínTemelínTemelín is a village in South Bohemian Region, Czech Republic. It is located at around .Temelín Nuclear Power Station, one of the two Czech nuclear power plants, is located outside the village.- External links :...
, or the purchase of fighter jets by the Austrian government. One of the most successful campaigns of the newspaper was against the construction of a hydro-electric power plant at Hainburg an der DonauHainburg an der DonauHainburg an der Donau is a town in the Bruck an der Leitha district, Lower Austria, Austria.-Geography:The city Hainburg is located next to the Danube river and Bratislava in Slovakia and 50 km east of Vienna. It is part of the Industrial Quarter Industrieviertel in Lower Austria.45.87% of the...
in the 1980s. - In line with this pronounced anti-technology stance, matters of basic or applied science are ignored unless they are represented as dangerous in a vague but broad fashion (as is evident in the papers's strong bias against all forms of genetic engineeringGenetic engineeringGenetic engineering, also called genetic modification, is the direct human manipulation of an organism's genome using modern DNA technology. It involves the introduction of foreign DNA or synthetic genes into the organism of interest...
) or as having a bizarre dimension.
Nudity
The Krone features the picture of a topless or semi-naked woman "Girl des Tages" or "Girl of the day", usually on page three, five or seven.The power of the Krone
Nevertheless, certain regional differences between eastern and western Austria exist which affect the newspaper. In eastern states (such as Burgenland
Burgenland
Burgenland is the easternmost and least populous state or Land of Austria. It consists of two Statutarstädte and seven districts with in total 171 municipalities. It is 166 km long from north to south but much narrower from west to east...
) it has almost a 60% share of the market, but in western states such as the Tyrol and Vorarlberg
Vorarlberg
Vorarlberg is the westernmost federal-state of Austria. Although it is the second smallest in terms of area and population , it borders three countries: Germany , Switzerland and Liechtenstein...
the Krone has barely penetrated the market. While in Vorarlberg the Krone is totally insignificant, in Tyrol
Tyrol (state)
Tyrol is a state or Bundesland, located in the west of Austria. It comprises the Austrian part of the historical region of Tyrol.The state is split into two parts–called North Tyrol and East Tyrol–by a -wide strip of land where the state of Salzburg borders directly on the Italian province of...
it has been able to make some gains. Local newspapers there, such as the Tiroler Tageszeitung, now fear for their positions. In response, the Tiroler Tageszeitung created its own tabloid in 2004, called Die Neue.
Publishing house and marketing company Mediaprint
In the 1990s the Krone, together with the second-strongest newspaper KurierKurier
The Kurier is an Austrian newspaper based in Vienna....
, founded the publishing house and marketing company Mediaprint, which took over the print
Printing
Printing is a process for reproducing text and image, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing....
, marketing
Marketing
Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...
, and sales
Sales
A sale is the act of selling a product or service in return for money or other compensation. It is an act of completion of a commercial activity....
of the two newspapers. Many observers at that point already spoke of a monopoly
Monopoly
A monopoly exists when a specific person or enterprise is the only supplier of a particular commodity...
. In 2000, the most successful Austrian magazine group, the NEWS
NeWS
NeWS was a windowing system developed by Sun Microsystems in the mid 1980s. Originally known as "SunDew", its primary authors were James Gosling and David S. H. Rosenthal...
media company, which owns the magazines NEWS, Profil
Profil (magazine)
profil is an Austrian news magazine. It was founded in 1970 by Oscar Bronner, who also founded the magazine Trend and the daily newspaper Der Standard....
, E-Media, Format and Trend, merged with Mediaprint. Since then the majority of printed media in Austria in effect comes from the same company.
Controversy
In 2004 Elfriede JelinekElfriede Jelinek
Elfriede Jelinek is an Austrian playwright and novelist. She was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2004 for her "musical flow of voices and counter-voices in novels and plays that, with extraordinary linguistic zeal, reveal the absurdity of society's clichés and their subjugating power."-...
, a long-time and sharp critic of the newspaper, was awarded the Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
for Literature. Despite this being a major event for Austria, the main headline on the Kronen Zeitungs first page read "You may lose your driving license" and a short article about Jelinek was hidden deep within the paper. Over the years the paper had been at odds with her and its columnists had aggressively denounced her.
Focused interference in Austrian politics
Many Austrian intellectuals hold the Kronen Zeitung responsible for the gains of the far right Freedom PartyFreedom Party of Austria
The Freedom Party of Austria is a political party in Austria. Ideologically, the party is a direct descendant of the German national liberal camp, which dates back to the 1848 revolutions. The FPÖ itself was founded in 1956 as the successor to the short-lived Federation of Independents , which had...
in the 1999 elections
Austrian legislative election, 1999
Parliamentary elections were held in Austria on 3 October 1999. Although the Social Democratic Party remained the largest party in the National Council, a coalition government was formed by the Freedom Party of Austria and the Austrian People's Party after several months of negotiations...
, claiming its journalism is selective to an unacceptable degree.
However, until 2007 the effect of the Kronen-Zeitung on Austrian politics, though regarded as extremely strong, had ultimately been indirect. In 2008 a new policy became apparent when the paper orchestrated a focused (and successful) campaign for the replacement of chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer
Alfred Gusenbauer
Alfred Gusenbauer is an Austrian career politician who until 2008 spent his entire professional life as an employee of the Social Democratic Party of Austria or as a parliamentary representative. He headed the SPÖ from 2000 to 2008, and served as Chancellor of Austria from January 2007 to...
as the head of the SPÖ by Werner Faymann
Werner Faymann
Werner Faymann is Chancellor of Austria and chairman of the Social Democratic Party SPÖ .-Background and earlier career:Born in Vienna, Austria, he studied law at the University of Vienna for two years but did not graduate....
, a decade-long close friend of Hans Dichand.
On June 27, 2008 while the change of the guard at the top of the SPÖ was still ongoing, the paper published an open letter by Faymann (co-signed by Gusenbauer) to Dichand in which the politicians announced that the party would make Austrian acceptance of EU decisions in "important matters" (such as a rephrasing of the EU Treaty or the admission of Turkey as a new member) contingent on the outcome of an Austrian popular referendum on such matters. This amounted to a U-turn in socialist policy, and constituted an adoption of a long-term central demand of the Kronen-Zeitung. In the campaign for the snap elections of September 28, 2008
Austrian legislative election, 2008
A legislative snap election for the National Council in Austria was held on 28 September 2008. The previous election was held on 1 October 2006. The election was caused by the withdrawal of Austrian People's Party leader Wilhelm Molterer from the governing grand coalition on 7 July 2008...
which were to a large part precipitated by this action, the Kronen-Zeitung openly and massively campaigned for Faymann as the next chancellor.
However, in the campaign for the June 2009 European parliament elections
European Parliament election, 2009
Elections to the European Parliament were held in the 27 member states of the European Union between 4 and 7 June 2009. A total of 736 Members of the European Parliament were elected to represent some 500 million Europeans, making these the biggest trans-national elections in history...
the Kronen-Zeitung threw its entire weight behind Hans-Peter Martin
Hans-Peter Martin
Hans-Peter Martin is an Austrian journalist and politician who has been a Member of the European Parliament since 1999.Born in Bregenz, Vorarlberg, Martin worked for the German weekly news magazine Der Spiegel...
, a populist ex-member of the SPÖ's European parliament team. Although it is impossible to quantify the exact contribution of the Kronen-Zeitung's support for Hans-Peter Martin's List
Hans-Peter Martin's List
The Hans-Peter Martin's List – For genuine control in Brussels is an Austrian anti-corruption and pro-transparency political party. It currently has 3 seats in the European Parliament....
to the 17.9% of the Austrian votes it secured in these elections, this figure is an approximate indicator for the newspaper's political muscle. According to a post-vote poll by the agency Gfk Austria, 70% of Hans-Peter Martin's List voters at that election were readers of the Kronen-Zeitung, and 29% of all Kronen-Zeitung readers actually voted for him.