About Blick aktuell Montabaur

Blick aktuell Montabaur

Blick aktuell Montabaur is the free weekly newspaper for the district town of Montabaur in the Westerwald district, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, published as one of 36 local editions in the Blick aktuell network of KRUPP Verlags GmbH, Sinzig. Reaching approximately 19,215 households each week in tabloid format, it is one of the network's largest editions and has been published since 2016. Montabaur, the yellow-castle town on the ICE high-speed rail line between Cologne and Frankfurt, combines a historic old town with modern commercial dynamism, including the well-known fashion outlet that draws shoppers from across the region. Produced by local editors and freelancers with the support of the network's central desk in Sinzig and printed by the family's KRUPP Druck OHG, the paper is financed entirely by advertising and contains no syndicated national news section, dedicating every page to the district town and its surroundings.

Overview

Published once a week in tabloid format, Blick aktuell Montabaur is delivered free to some 19,215 households in Montabaur and the surrounding communities of the southern Westerwald. The delivery area centers on the district town itself, with its castle-crowned old town, and extends to neighboring villages and the commercial zones that have grown around the ICE station and the motorway junction.

The edition is one of 36 titles in the Blick aktuell network published by the Krupp family's KRUPP Verlags GmbH of Sinzig, with a combined weekly circulation of roughly 430,000 copies. With nearly 20,000 copies, the Montabaur paper ranks among the network's biggest editions, reflecting the town's growth and its role as the economic center of the southern Westerwald. It was launched in 2016, one of the network's younger titles.

In keeping with the network's editorial philosophy, the paper carries no mantle: no bought-in bundle of national and international news fills its pages. All content is generated within the KRUPP organization, by the central editorial desk in Sinzig under Daniel Stoffel, by local editors and by freelance contributors from a network-wide pool of around 100 reporters and photographers. The paper is local from the first page to the last.

The readership spans the district town's diverse population: commuters to Frankfurt, Cologne, Koblenz or Limburg on the ICE line, families, retail workers, public servants in the district administration, club members and seniors. Advertisers range from the fashion outlet and retail parks to local craftsmen, car dealers, gastronomy and service providers, all seeking the paper's broad household coverage.

History

The Montabaur edition was founded in 2016, a late but significant addition to the Blick aktuell network. By the mid-2010s, the KRUPP publishing house of Sinzig, rooted in the Sinziger Zeitung of 1876, had built its free-weekly business across northern Rhineland-Palatinate, and Montabaur stood out as the largest remaining gap: a booming district town on the high-speed rail line, with a castle, an outlet shopping destination and a rapidly growing population, but no dedicated Blick aktuell edition.

The launch was ambitious and successful. Within a short time, the Montabaur paper built a circulation of more than 19,000 copies, making it one of the flagships of the network. The edition benefited from the start from the network's mature infrastructure: the central editorial desk, centralized production, the blick-aktuell.de portal and the presses of KRUPP Druck OHG.

In the years since its founding, the paper has documented Montabaur's continued growth: commercial development around the ICE station, debates over urban planning and traffic, the cultural life of the castle and the old town, and the steady rhythm of council decisions, club anniversaries and town festivals. It has covered the district administration's work from its seat in the town and the interplay between the historic core and the modern commercial zones.

The Montabaur launch demonstrated the publisher's continued appetite for expansion even in the digital age. Family ownership, with Hermann Krupp as editor-in-chief and Hermann and Peter Krupp as managing directors, provided the confidence to invest in a major new edition at a time when many publishers were retrenching.

Coverage and Content

Blick aktuell Montabaur's journalism covers a district town in motion. The Montabaur town council and the Westerwald district council, seated in the town, make decisions on urban development, commercial zones, schools, transport and culture, and the paper reports their deliberations in the detail residents need. The interplay between the district administration and the town gives the edition's political coverage unusual depth.

Commerce and growth are defining themes: the ICE station area, the fashion outlet, the retail parks and the logistics businesses that have made Montabaur an economic magnet. The paper reports on new developments, on the debates over growth and traffic, and on the efforts to keep the historic old town vibrant alongside the modern commercial zones.

The castle above the town provides cultural material: concerts, exhibitions and events in the historic Schloss Montabaur, along with the old town's festivals and markets. Features on the town's history, from its medieval origins to its modern transformation, appear alongside the weekly news.

Club life is the paper's heart: sports clubs, carnival societies, music associations, volunteer fire brigades and church congregations announce events, celebrate anniversaries and publish photographs. Service pages carry classifieds, a strong job market, property offers, family announcements and municipal notices, while seasonal specials give advertisers themed contexts.

The tabloid's large color photographs capture the yellow castle town: the Schloss above the rooftops, the outlet crowds, the old town festivals and the familiar faces of local celebrations. The tone is dynamic, engaged and community-oriented.

Organization and Ownership

The publisher is KRUPP Verlags GmbH of Sinzig, the family-owned company of the Krupp family whose publishing tradition began with the Sinziger Zeitung in 1876. Hermann Krupp leads the Blick aktuell network as editor-in-chief, with Daniel Robbel as deputy editor-in-chief since 2018; Hermann Krupp and Peter Krupp serve as managing directors of the publishing house.

All 36 editions are coordinated through the central editorial desk in Sinzig, headed by Daniel Stoffel, which oversees production, layout and the digital portal. Local reporting comes from editors and freelance contributors drawn from a network-wide pool of about 100 journalists and photographers who live in the areas they cover. In Montabaur, they cover the town and district councils, the commercial developments and the town's festivals.

The papers are printed in tabloid format by KRUPP Druck OHG, the family's printing company, appearing on weekdays between Tuesday and Saturday, each edition on its fixed publication day. The Montabaur edition's large print run makes it one of the anchor jobs on the presses.

The paper lives entirely from advertising revenue: display ads, classifieds, inserts and special publications sold to local and regional businesses. There is no cover price and no subscription income. The company follows the German Press Code (Pressekodex), the voluntary ethical code of the German press.

Digital Presence

Blick aktuell Montabaur appears online on blick-aktuell.de, the network portal gathering the local journalism of all 36 editions in geographically organized, continuously updated sections. The Montabaur section is among the portal's busiest, with district-town news updated daily, photo galleries from town festivals and events, and a searchable archive.

The e-paper presents the printed tabloid as a page-faithful digital replica for computers, tablets and smartphones, serving readers away on publication day, commuters on the ICE line and former residents following home from afar. Archived issues build a digital chronicle of the town's growth years.

On social media, primarily Facebook, the Blick aktuell brand shares story links, event tips and photo galleries directly with readers. Montabaur content, castle views, old town festivals, debates over development, generates strong engagement, and the newsroom uses the channels to collect tips and reader photographs.

For advertisers, the publisher markets combined print, portal and social campaigns through a single sales contact, with Montabaur as one of the premium buys in the network. The edition's dual strength, a printed weekly reaching more than 19,000 households and a growing digital audience, makes it a showcase of the company's strategy.