About Blick aktuell Mayen

Blick aktuell Mayen

Blick aktuell Mayen is the free weekly newspaper for the Eifel town of Mayen in the district of Mayen-Koblenz, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, published as one of 36 local editions in the Blick aktuell network of KRUPP Verlags GmbH, Sinzig. Reaching approximately 11,251 households each week in tabloid format, the edition has been published since 1997, when it began as the Mayener Stadtzeitung. Mayen, the gateway to the eastern Eifel with its Genoveva castle, its basalt and slate heritage and its role as a commercial center for the surrounding villages, gives the edition a substantial urban-rural market. 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 town and its region.

Overview

Published once a week in tabloid format, Blick aktuell Mayen is delivered free to some 11,251 households in Mayen and the surrounding communities of the eastern Eifel. The delivery area centers on the town itself, with its historic castle, old town and commercial zones, and extends to neighboring villages that look to Mayen for shopping, schools and administration.

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. The Mayen paper dates to 1997, when it was founded as the Mayener Stadtzeitung, placing it among the network's veteran editions from the late 1990s.

In keeping with the network's editorial philosophy, the paper carries no mantle: no bought-in package 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 town and country: Mayen's families and commuters, workers in the basalt and construction industries, retailers, villagers from the surrounding Eifel, club members and seniors. Advertisers are correspondingly broad: retail in Mayen's shopping streets, craftsmen, car dealers, gastronomy, health and care providers and service businesses, all seeking the paper's near-total household coverage in its zone.

History

The Mayen edition was founded in 1997 as the Mayener Stadtzeitung, launched by the KRUPP publishing house as it built its free-weekly network across the eastern Eifel. The Sinzig family firm, rooted in the Sinziger Zeitung of 1876, recognized Mayen's potential: a substantial town with a castle, a historic market tradition and a commercial pull over the surrounding villages, ready for its own dedicated weekly. The name Stadtzeitung, town paper, captured the ambition.

The Stadtzeitung became Blick aktuell Mayen when the publisher consolidated its 36 local titles under the single Blick aktuell brand. The rebranding created a unified advertising network while keeping each edition's local editorial team and identity. For Mayen, it brought the infrastructure of the larger organization: centralized production, the blick-aktuell.de portal and the presses of KRUPP Druck OHG.

Over more than a quarter of a century, the paper has documented Mayen's modern history: the development of retail and commercial zones, debates over the old town and traffic, the cultural program around the Genoveva castle and the town's festivals, and the steady business of the town council. It has covered the Eifel town's economic shifts, from the basalt and slate industries to services and commuting, and the club life that anchors the community.

The edition's longevity makes it one of the pillars of the network in the Eifel region. Family ownership of the publishing house, with Hermann Krupp as editor-in-chief and Hermann and Peter Krupp as managing directors, provided the continuity to sustain the paper through the print industry's transformations.

Coverage and Content

Blick aktuell Mayen's journalism covers the Eifel town in its full breadth. The Mayen town council's decisions on budgets, urban development, retail policy, schools, roads and cultural funding are reported in accessible detail, giving residents the information they need to follow local politics. The paper also covers the district-level issues that affect the town as part of Mayen-Koblenz.

The town's heritage provides rich material: the Genoveva castle with its Eifel museum, the historic old town, the basalt and slate traditions that shaped the local economy for centuries. Features on the castle's exhibitions, on the stone industries and on local history appear alongside the weekly news, connecting Mayen's past with its present.

Commerce is a major theme: Mayen's role as a shopping town for the eastern Eifel, the development of retail parks, the challenges facing the inner city and the initiatives to keep it attractive. The paper reports on new businesses, on market events and on the debates over the town center's future.

Club life fills the heart of every issue: sports clubs, carnival societies, music associations, volunteer fire brigades and church congregations announce events, celebrate anniversaries and publish photographs. Service pages carry classifieds, job listings, property offers, family announcements and municipal notices, while seasonal specials give advertisers themed contexts.

The tabloid's large color photographs capture Mayen in its variety: the castle above the town, the market square festivals, the Eifel landscapes and the familiar faces of local celebrations. The tone is engaged, constructive and rooted in the community.

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 Mayen, they attend council meetings, cover the castle's cultural program and photograph 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 integration of publishing and printing under family ownership gives the company control of the production chain.

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 Mayen appears online on blick-aktuell.de, the network portal gathering the local journalism of all 36 editions in geographically organized, continuously updated sections. Readers can follow Mayen news daily, browse photo galleries from town festivals and club events, and search the archive of past coverage.

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

On social media, primarily Facebook, the Blick aktuell brand shares story links, event tips and photo galleries directly with readers. Mayen content, castle views, market scenes, festival pictures, invites engagement and discussion, 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. The approach reflects the company's strategy: protect the profitable printed weekly, with its unmatched reach into Mayen households, while expanding the digital channels through which Eifel journalism will increasingly be read.