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Austria MASS MEDIA
The Austrian press operates freely under the constitution of
1920, which guarantees all citizens freedom of expression in
speech, writing, and print. The constitution also forbids any
government censorship of the press or electronic media. Austria
has a well-developed system of print and electronic media that
provides its citizens with a wide variety of news sources and
entertainment.
Newspapers and Periodicals
The Austrian newspaper market is one of the most concentrated
in Europe. Three dailies, the Neue Kronen-Zeitung,
Täglich Alles, and Kurier, account for more than
half of the newspapers sold in the country. By 1993 their daily
circulations were 1.1 million, 500,000, and 390,000,
respectively, with higher circulations on Sundays. All three
specialize in tabloid-style journalism, with a tendency toward
sensationalism. Better educated Austrians, especially in the
larger cities, read either Die Presse or Der
Standard, both high-quality newspapers published in Vienna
with circulations of less than 100,000.
As of the early 1990s, a total of seventeen daily newspapers
were published in Austria, and thirteen regional editions of some
of these papers were published. Since the early 1970s, the
importance of political party newspapers has declined
precipitously. The SPÖ publishes one newspaper and the ÖVP two,
all of which have circulations of less than 100,000. The SPÖ's
venerable newspaper, Arbeiterzeitung, established in 1895,
was sold to private interests in the late 1980s when the party
decided it no longer wished to cover the newspaper's massive
losses.
Austria also has many periodicals and magazines. Among the
weekly periodicals, Profil, with a circulation of more
than 100,000 in 1993, has emerged as one of the best
practitioners of investigative journalism in the country. Another
weekly magazine, News, has a circulation of more than
200,000, although it was only founded in October 1992. Other
periodicals of note include Wochenpresse, a weekly;
Trend, a monthly journal devoted to economic news; and
Wiener, a monthly.
Rising concern over financial difficulties faced by small
publishers led the Austrian government to decide in 1975 that
subsidies should be made available to newspapers and magazines
meeting certain criteria. For a daily newspaper to receive
government funds, it must have a minimum circulation of 10,000
and regional distribution. Weekly newspapers are required to have
a minimum circulation of 5,000. Magazines are eligible for funds
if they publish between four and forty issues a year. To be
considered for funding, a newspaper or magazine must file a
formal application with the government. Specific allocations are
decided on a case-by-case basis, and various formulas are used to
spread the funds among a large number of publications. No single
newspaper can receive more than 5 percent of the total budget
earmarked for support of the daily press.
In 1982 Austria brought its press laws up to date with the
passage of the Federal Law on the Press and Other Journalistic
Media, which clarifies the rights of individuals to sue for
damages when they believe they have been slandered or defamed by
the press. The law establishes maximum amounts of S50,000 for
defamation of character and S100,000 for slander. The law
stipulates that damages are not to be awarded if it can be shown
that the public interest was served by the publication of the
material or of allegations in dispute. The law also grants
individuals and corporations the right to respond in print to
published reports they regard as defamatory. However, a newspaper
can refuse to publish a rejoinder if it can prove that the report
is not factual. Individuals and corporations may respond only to
factual reporting; articles containing editorial opinions and
value judgments are not covered by this provision of the press
law.
Other provisions of the 1982 law strengthened the rights of
journalists. Journalists are guaranteed the right to refuse to
collaborate in assignments they regard as incompatible with their
ethical convictions. The law also affirms the right of
journalists not to divulge their sources in a court of law. The
law further states that the government may not place the
communications facilities of an organ of the press under
surveillance unless it has reason to believe that a crime
carrying a sentence of at least ten years may have been
committed.
Data as of December 1993
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