About Neue Presse

Neue Presse

The Neue Presse (NP) is the daily newspaper of Hanover and its surrounding region, appearing every day except Sunday. Published by the Madsack media group — Lower Saxony's largest media company, whose largest limited partner is an SPD-affiliated media holding — it is the successor to the social-democratic Hannoversche Presse and the Hannoversche Rundschau, carrying a press lineage that stretches back through the Volkswille to the postwar licensed press of the British occupation zone. The paper first appeared under its current title in 1978 with its own independent newsroom. Together with its sister paper, the Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung (HAZ), it reported a combined sold circulation of 93,697 copies in the second quarter of 2026 (IVW, Monday to Saturday), a decline of 60 percent since 1998; the Neue Presse alone was credited with 33,478 copies. The editor-in-chief is Carsten Bergmann, and the paper's website is neuepresse.de — the digital address of a title that has chronicled Hanover's public life for nearly five decades under its current name.

Overview

The Neue Presse is a subscription daily appearing daily except Sunday, serving Hanover — the capital of Lower Saxony, a city of around 540,000 inhabitants — and the surrounding Hanover region. It is published by the Verlagsgesellschaft Madsack GmbH & Co. KG (Madsack Mediengruppe), the Hanover-based media group that also publishes the Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung and holds stakes in dailies across Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Hesse, Saxony, and Brandenburg, including the Leipziger Volkszeitung, the Ostsee-Zeitung, the Kieler Nachrichten, and the Märkische Allgemeine Zeitung.

Within the Madsack house, the Neue Presse and the HAZ form a complementary pair: the HAZ as the traditional bourgeois-liberal flagship founded in 1949, the NP as the paper with social-democratic roots and a somewhat more popular touch — a division of labor that has survived the decades since the 1975 takeover. The two papers share the group's production infrastructure while maintaining separate newsrooms and editorial identities. The managing directors of the group are Thomas Düffert (chair), Bernhard Bahners, and Adrian Schimpf — the team steering Lower Saxony's largest media house through the industry's digital transformation.

The combined sold circulation of HAZ and Neue Presse was 93,697 copies in the second quarter of 2026 (IVW, Monday to Saturday), with the Neue Presse accounting for 33,478 of those. The 60-percent decline since 1998 reflects the structural transformation of the Hanover newspaper market, where the Madsack group also faces competition from the Bild Hannover regional edition and the free press — and where the two-paper strategy of HAZ plus NP remains the group's answer to a fragmenting audience.

History

The Neue Presse's lineage begins with the Hannoversche Presse, the social-democratic daily founded in 1946 in the British occupation zone as the successor to the Volkswille. It started with a circulation of 332,250 copies across 21 districts, reaching its historic peak of 379,000 copies in January 1947. After the currency reform and the end of general press licensing in autumn 1949, the paper faced growing competition; by 1955 its print run had fallen to 132,000.

In 1971 the Hannoversche Presse merged with the Hannoversche Rundschau, appearing from 22 April 1971 as the Neue Hannoversche Presse (NHP). The merger could not stop the losses: burdened by the need for SPD subsidies, the party separated from the NHP in 1972, enabling the paper's transition to the Verlagsgesellschaft Madsack. In 1975 Luise Madsack — who led the company after her husband Erich's death, having joined the management in the early 1960s and taken the helm in 1969 — initiated the takeover of the NHP; since then the paper has appeared with its own independent newsroom under the title Neue Presse, with 1978 marking the start of the current form. Under her aegis the company also built the new publishing house with its print center in the Bemerode district, moving out of the historic Anzeiger-Hochhaus.

The Madsack group itself traces to August Madsack, who founded the Hannoversche Anzeiger in 1893 — its first edition appeared on 1 March 1893 with 48,000 copies — and built the Anzeiger-Hochhaus on Goseriede to plans by architect Fritz Höger, one of Germany's early high-rises, inaugurated in 1928. His son Erich founded the Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung in 1949, creating the foundation of today's media group. The SPD's role as the largest limited partner of the Madsack group — through its media holding — gives the Neue Presse's social-democratic heritage an institutional echo in the present ownership structure, a continuity few German dailies can claim.

Coverage and Content

The Neue Presse covers Hanover and the surrounding region: the city council and administration, the Hanover region authority, the state politics of Lower Saxony from the state capital — where the Landtag and the state government sit — local courts, the trade fair city (the Hannover Messe, the world's leading industrial fair, and the exhibition grounds' year-round events), Hanover 96 football, cultural life from the Staatsoper to the independent scene, and the everyday concerns of the region's residents. Its editorial tone is traditionally somewhat more popular and service-oriented than the HAZ's, with strong local sports, human-interest, and consumer coverage.

The paper shares the Madsack group's supra-regional resources, including the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND), the group's Berlin-based newsroom supplying national and international coverage to its dailies. Regular features include local sports, event calendars, service pages, and special supplements tied to the Hanover calendar — the Schützenfest, the Maschseefest, the trade fair seasons. The paper's advertising sections serve Hanover's retailers, car dealers, and service providers.

Organization and Ownership

The publisher is the Verlagsgesellschaft Madsack GmbH & Co. KG in Hanover (Madsack Mediengruppe), 100 percent owner of the Neue Presse (published through the Neue Presse Redaktion GmbH & Co. KG). The group's largest limited partner is a media holding company of the SPD — a legacy of the paper's social-democratic origins. The managing directors are Thomas Düffert (chair), Bernhard Bahners, and Adrian Schimpf. The editor-in-chief of the Neue Presse is Carsten Bergmann.

The Madsack group's portfolio illustrates its scale: alongside HAZ and NP in Hanover, it publishes or holds stakes in the Göttinger Tageblatt, the Kieler Nachrichten (50 percent plus one share), the Lübecker Nachrichten, the Ostsee-Zeitung, the Leipziger Volkszeitung, the Sächsische Zeitung, the Märkische Allgemeine Zeitung, the Peiner Allgemeine Zeitung, the Wolfsburger Allgemeine Zeitung/Aller-Zeitung, the Schaumburger Nachrichten, the Naumburger Tageblatt, and others — making it one of Germany's largest regional media groups.

Digital Presence

The paper's website, neuepresse.de, is the NP's digital home, offering current news from Hanover and the region alongside the standard features of a regional daily's online presence: breaking news, local reporting, the e-paper reproducing the printed edition, and digital subscriptions, with premium content behind a paywall. The Madsack group's digital strategy spans its dailies, with the RND supplying national digital content and the regional portals serving local audiences.

The Hanover newspaper market's digital competition is intense, with the HAZ's haz.de as the in-house sister rival and national portals competing for attention. For the Neue Presse, converting its print readership — 33,478 sold copies — into digital subscribers is the central challenge, as the combined HAZ/NP print circulation has fallen 60 percent since 1998. Mobile apps, newsletters, and social media channels extend the paper's reach to younger Hanoverians who encounter local news primarily online, while the e-paper serves the loyal core that still wants the printed paper's familiar layout on a screen.