About Der Freitag

Der Freitag

Der Freitag (stylized "der Freitag", literally "The Friday") is a German weekly newspaper published in Berlin. Founded in 1990 in the year of German reunification, it began as an East-West weekly bridging the two halves of the newly reunited country and has since developed into a center-left opinion weekly focused on politics, culture, and the economy. The newspaper is published weekly in print and daily online, and is owned by its publisher Jakob Augstein, who bought the paper in 2008 and served as its editor from 2013 to 2022. Its slogan, "das Meinungsmedium" — the medium for opinions — captures an editorial model built around debate, background analysis, and active reader participation.

Overview

Der Freitag appears in Rhenish format and positions itself in the social-liberal, center-left segment of the German press. Its sections cover politics, culture, debate, and the economy, with a "Green Knowledge" section added in 2022 to address environmental and climate topics. A distinctive feature is the paper's syndication agreement with the British newspaper The Guardian: each issue carries German translations of Guardian articles, giving readers an international perspective alongside domestic coverage.

The online edition at freitag.de publishes daily and is closely integrated with the print paper. Reader contributions from the online community form a fixed part of the newspaper, promoting dialogue between the editorial team and its audience — a participatory model that has been central to the paper's identity since its 2009 relaunch.

The paper has won significant industry recognition: it was named European Newspaper of the Year in the weekly category at the 20th European Newspaper Awards in 2018, and the Society for News Design judged it one of the world's three best-designed newspapers in 2010.

A distinctive feature is the paper's syndication agreement with the British newspaper The Guardian: each issue carries German translations of Guardian articles, giving readers an international perspective alongside domestic coverage. The partnership, unusual among German weeklies, reflects Augstein's ambition to position the paper as a cosmopolitan left-liberal voice rather than a purely domestic one.

History

An East-West weekly

The newspaper was founded on 9 November 1990 — symbolically, the first anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall — under the simple name "Freitag." It emerged from an amalgamation of two predecessor publications: the East Berlin weekly Sonntag, established in 1946, and the Volkszeitung. The new paper originally described itself as "the East West Weekly," reflecting its mission to bring eastern and western German perspectives into conversation during the formative years of reunified Germany.

In those early years the paper sought to give the East a voice in the unified country's public sphere at a time when western media groups were acquiring or closing eastern titles. Its pages carried debates about the Treuhand privatizations, the transformation of the eastern economy, and the cultural frictions of reunification — themes that remained central to its identity long after.

The Augstein era

In 2008, Jakob Augstein — a journalist and publisher whose family controls a significant stake in the news magazine Der Spiegel — acquired the paper. Augstein, who became publisher and later editor-in-chief (2013–2022), reshaped Freitag into a left-leaning opinion paper and invested in the online edition, building reader participation into the editorial model.

In 2009 the paper underwent a substantial rebranding: the name gained its definite article, becoming "der Freitag," and the slogan "das Meinungsmedium" was added. The redesign, with sections for politics, culture, and debate plus a business section, was judged a success — the Society for News Design named it one of the world's best-designed newspapers in 2010.

A further redesign arrived with the 36th edition of 2019, published on 5 September: the slogan became "Die Wochenzeitung" (the weekly newspaper), the logo moved higher on the page, and the front-page image was enlarged. According to the publishing house, the new slogan was meant to emphasize the paper's strength as a weekly medium for background reporting and analysis.

In 2022 Augstein handed the editor-in-chief position to Philip Grassmann, while remaining publisher and owner. The paper is based at Hegelplatz 1 in central Berlin, a short walk from the city's museum quarter, and its newsroom has become a regular venue for public debates and book presentations that extend the paper's "Meinungsmedium" concept beyond the printed page.

Content and Programming

Der Freitag's print edition is built around in-depth analysis and reporting on political, economic, and cultural issues. The politics section covers German and international affairs from a center-left perspective; the culture section carries essays, criticism, and literary content; and the debate section hosts the opinion journalism that gives the paper its "Meinungsmedium" identity. The business section covers economic policy, and the Green Knowledge section, introduced in 2022, addresses climate, energy, and environmental topics.

The Guardian syndication is a signature element: German translations of selected Guardian articles appear in every issue, extending the paper's coverage to British and global perspectives. Online, freitag.de publishes daily news and commentary, and the community platform allows readers to publish their own contributions, some of which are elevated into the print edition — a two-way model unusual among German weeklies.

Coverage and Audience

Der Freitag is distributed nationally across Germany. Its print circulation has been reported at around 25,000–28,000 copies in recent years (about 25,500 in the second half of 2023 per German circulation audit data), while the website draws between half a million and a million visits. Notably, the online payment model keeps all content free to read — the paper does not operate a hard paywall, relying instead on subscriptions, advertising, and reader support.

The readership is politically engaged, left-leaning, and concentrated among educated urban readers, with a historically strong base in eastern Germany reflecting the paper's origins. The participatory online community has created a loyal core audience that identifies with the paper's debating culture.

Industry recognition has reinforced the paper's standing: beyond the 2018 European Newspaper of the Year title and the 2010 Society for News Design honor, Der Freitag is regularly cited in German media journalism as an example of how a small independent weekly can survive through design quality, community engagement, and a clear editorial profile rather than scale. Its free-access online model — unusual among German quality papers, most of which have erected paywalls — is both a statement of principle about open debate and a commercial gamble that the paper continues to navigate.

Ownership

Der Freitag is published by der Freitag Mediengesellschaft mbH & Co. KG of Berlin. The owner and publisher is Jakob Augstein, who acquired the paper in 2008. Augstein's family holds a 24 percent stake in Der Spiegel, one of Germany's largest news magazines, though Der Freitag operates editorially independently. Philip Grassmann has served as editor-in-chief since 2022.

Digital Presence

The website freitag.de is the paper's daily publishing platform, carrying news, commentary, the Guardian translations, and the reader community's contributions. All online content is free to access. The paper maintains newsletters and an active social media presence, including the @derfreitag account on X/Twitter. The integration of print and digital — with community contributions flowing in both directions — remains the paper's defining digital strategy, and its design-forward approach has made it a reference point in European newspaper design circles. Its long-form essays and debate formats travel well online, where the community model gives the weekly an engagement depth unusual for a paper of its size.