About Kötztinger Zeitung

Kötztinger Zeitung

The Kötztinger Zeitung is the local daily newspaper of the Bad Kötzting area in the Bavarian Forest, appearing as a regional edition of the Straubinger Tagblatt/Landshuter Zeitung in the Mediengruppe Attenkofer. Published in the Berlin format for the old district of Kötzting, the paper serves the readers of the Bavarian Forest's western edge with local pages produced for its distribution area, combined with the regional, national and international sections of the Straubing daily. In the northern part of its area it competes with the Mittelbayerische Zeitung, which publishes the Kötztinger Umschau as its regional edition. It is the paper of the Kneipp spa town of Bad Kötzting near the Czech border.

Overview

The Kötztinger Zeitung appears Monday to Saturday as the Straubinger Tagblatt's regional edition for the old district of Kötzting. The Mediengruppe Attenkofer publishes a whole family of local editions in the Berlin format across eastern Bavaria: the Straubinger Tagblatt for the old Straubing district, the Landshuter Zeitung for the old Landshut district, and the regional editions from the Allgemeine Laber-Zeitung and the Bogener Zeitung to the Chamer Zeitung, the Donau-Anzeiger, the Hallertauer Zeitung, the Plattlinger Anzeiger, the Regensburger Zeitung and the Viechtacher Anzeiger. In most of its area the group is the only local newspaper; in the north it competes with the Mittelbayerische Zeitung, in the east with the Passauer Neue Presse, and in the south and west with regional editions of the Münchner Merkur.

The readership of the Kötztinger Zeitung is the population of the old Kötzting district: the citizens of the spa town of Bad Kötzting, with its 7,390 inhabitants, the villages of the Bavarian Forest's western edge, the commuters who work in Cham, the spa guests and tourists, and the engaged citizens of the municipalities' councils, clubs and churches. The region's identity is shaped by the Bavarian Forest, by the Czech border, by the Kneipp spa tradition and by the forest economy. The paper's local pages are the medium in which this region's public life is conducted.

History

The Kötztinger Zeitung belongs to the publishing family of the Straubinger Tagblatt and the Landshuter Zeitung, the two dailies of the Mediengruppe Attenkofer in eastern Bavaria. The group's local-edition system developed as the Straubing and Landshut dailies grew into the newspapers of eastern Bavaria, with the Kötztinger Zeitung designated for the old district of Kötzting. The editions are published in the Berlin format, the compact newspaper format that the group uses for its regional titles.

Bad Kötzting's own history frames the paper's reporting: the town, called Kötzting until 2005, lies in the district of Cham in the Upper Palatinate, some fifteen kilometres south-east of Cham, near the Czech border, and its mayor is Markus Hofmann. The town's Hohenbogen barracks housed an air-force unit of the telecommunications regiment 72, which operated the reconnaissance tower on the Hoher Bogen. The Kötztinger Zeitung continues within the Mediengruppe Attenkofer as the daily of the old Kötzting district, published on the group's idowa.de portal.

Coverage and Content

The Kötztinger Zeitung covers the public life of the old Kötzting district with the thoroughness of a dedicated regional edition. The town council of Bad Kötzting and the municipal councils of the surrounding villages form a core beat, as does the Cham district administration. The paper reports on the Kneipp spa and the town's health tourism, on the Bavarian Forest's forestry and the forest economy, on the cross-border relations with the Czech neighbours, on the development of the spa town's infrastructure, and on the schools and childcare of the area. The courts, the police and the emergency services are covered as a matter of course.

A distinctive theme of the paper's reporting is the Bavarian Forest's tourism: the hiking trails, the winter sports, the spa gardens and the visitor economy of the forest's western edge. The paper follows the community life of the area: the volunteer fire services, the sports clubs and their leagues, the churches and their congregations, and the cultural associations and traditional festivals of the forest towns. The regional, national and international news comes from the Straubinger Tagblatt's newsroom. Family announcements, event listings and the classified and display advertising complete the edition.

The paper's forest beat gives particular attention to the Bavarian Forest's seasons: the hiking in summer, the cross-country skiing in winter, the mushroom season in autumn and the spring awakening in the forest's valleys are recurring subjects. The paper covers the glassmaking tradition of the Bavarian Forest, the forest farmers and the wood economy, and the national park's influence on the region's tourism. The cross-border everyday life with the Czech neighbours, from the shopping to the joint cultural projects, forms another regular subject. The district's village festivals and the jubilees of the volunteer fire services are documented with the thoroughness of a local daily. Like the other Straubinger Tagblatt editions, the Kötzting paper reports on the schools and kindergartens, on the churches and their congregations, and its readers' letters and service pages give the old district's citizens a direct voice.

The paper's local sports pages follow the district's football leagues and the winter sports clubs, and its family announcements record the forest communities' milestones.

Organization and Ownership

The Kötztinger Zeitung is published within the Straubinger Tagblatt/Landshuter Zeitung publishing operation of the Mediengruppe Attenkofer, the eastern Bavarian media group behind the two dailies and their regional editions. The group's structure combines the shared national and regional sections with the regional editions' own newsrooms from Straubing to Viechtach, following the classic edition model of the German regional press. The group's publishing house, the Cl. Attenkofer'sche Buch- und Kunstdruckerei, also participates in the Anzeigenblattgruppe Südbayern with its advertising paper Aktuell.

In most of its distribution area the Mediengruppe Attenkofer is the only local newspaper, a position that gives its regional editions their distinctive market role; in the Kötzting area the Mittelbayerische Zeitung's Kötztinger Umschau provides the competition. Financial details for the individual regional editions are not disclosed separately; the group's economics rest on subscriptions, regional advertising and the digital revenues of the idowa.de portal.

Digital Presence

The Kötztinger Zeitung appears digitally on idowa.de, the portal of the Straubinger Tagblatt and Landshuter Zeitung, which carries the paper's local reporting for the Bad Kötzting area alongside the regional, national and international coverage of the Straubing newsroom. The portal is continuously updated with local news from the Bavarian Forest's western edge, photo galleries and multimedia content, extending the daily's reporting to readers on desktop and mobile devices. The paper is published as an e-paper reproducing the printed edition page for page, serving subscribers who read the daily on tablet or desktop.

As a subscription daily, much of the digital content is reserved for registered and paying readers, while selected local stories remain freely accessible. The group's digital products include newsletters and breaking-news alerts for the region, and the paper's local journalism circulates through social media channels to readers who encounter the paper primarily on mobile devices. For the readers of Bad Kötzting and the old Kötzting district, the digital Kötztinger Zeitung is the online companion to the printed regional edition: the forest town's news on the phone in the morning, the e-paper on the tablet in the evening, and the idowa.de portal as the continuous news service for eastern Bavaria between editions.