About Die Kitzinger

Die Kitzinger

Die Kitzinger is the local daily newspaper for the district town of Kitzingen in Lower Franconia, Bavaria, Germany, with a publishing history reaching back to 1830, making it one of the oldest newspapers in Franconia. Appearing Monday to Saturday, the paper serves the Kitzingen district on the Main river with dedicated local journalism, and since 1 January 2025 it has belonged to the Main-Post media group of Würzburg, after passing through the hands of publisher Harald Schunk, the WAZ media group and the Mediengruppe Oberfranken. The paper was long known as the Kitzinger Zeitung before being renamed Die Kitzinger in the 1980s. Under its Main-Post ownership, the paper's editors were taken over and its journalism integrated into the Würzburg group's regional network, while maintaining the Kitzingen newsroom's local focus. Its digital home is mainpost.de, the portal of the Würzburg daily.

Overview

Die Kitzinger appears Monday to Saturday as the local daily newspaper of Kitzingen, the district town on the Main in Lower Franconia. Founded in 1830, the paper is one of Franconia's oldest continuously published newspapers, with a history spanning nearly two centuries.

Since 1 January 2025, the paper has belonged to the Main-Post media group of Würzburg, one of Lower Franconia's great regional newspaper houses. The acquisition integrated Die Kitzinger into the Main-Post's regional network, with the Kitzingen editors taken over by the new owner.

The paper's circulation area covers the Kitzingen district: the district town itself, with its historic old town, its wine heritage and its Main river location, and the surrounding wine villages between Würzburg and the Steigerwald. The readership is the district's population: families, winegrowers, workers, commuters, club members and seniors.

The paper's structure follows the German regional model: the Kitzingen local pages are written by the town's newsroom, covering the town council, the district affairs, the wine, the Main river, the schools, the club life and the community, while the Main-Post's desks provide the regional, national and international pages.

History

Die Kitzinger was founded in 1830 as the Kitzinger Zeitung, in the Kingdom of Bavaria, giving the Main town a local newspaper that would serve it for nearly 200 years. The paper chronicled Kitzingen's 19th-century development, the wine trade, the Main shipping and the town's civic life.

The paper was long owned by changing families, until 1970, when publisher Harald Schunk bought the paper and led it for 30 years. Schunk was initially a member of the Genossenschaft Bayerischer Heimatzeitungsverleger (BHZ), the cooperative of Bavarian local publishers from which the paper took its mantle pages, but left the cooperative in the 1980s and began producing the mantle pages himself. In the 1980s, the paper was renamed from Kitzinger Zeitung to Die Kitzinger.

On 1 July 2001, Schunk sold the publishing house to the WAZ media group, the Essen-based conglomerate; at the time, the paper's circulation was 6,700 copies. In 2010, the WAZ group sold the paper again, and it passed into the ownership of the Mediengruppe Oberfranken in Bamberg.

On 1 January 2025, the Mediengruppe Oberfranken sold Die Kitzinger to the Würzburger Main-Post, integrating the nearly 200-year-old paper into Lower Franconia's great regional daily. The editors were taken over, preserving the Kitzingen newsroom's journalism within the Main-Post group.

Coverage and Content

Die Kitzinger's local pages are the daily record of the Main town. The Kitzingen town council and the district council's decisions on budgets, the historic old town, the Main river, the wine, schools, roads, housing and cultural funding are covered in the detail residents need.

The wine provides the signature beat: the Kitzingen wine region, the vineyards, the harvest, the wine festivals and the vintners, covered with the expertise of a paper in one of Franconia's great wine towns. The Main river offers the water themes: the shipping, the floods, the river's ecology and the waterfront.

The US Army's long presence provides the historical material: the garrison era, the American community's life and the conversion of the barracks areas after the 2006 withdrawal, covered with the institutional memory of a paper that witnessed the transformation. The historic old town offers the architectural themes.

Club life is central: sports clubs, shooting clubs, music associations, volunteer fire brigades, traditional societies and church congregations announce events and publish reports. The Main-Post's pages provide professional supra-regional coverage.

The Main river's wine villages give the paper their seasonal rhythm: the vineyard work, the harvest, the wine festivals and the vintners' stories fill Die Kitzinger's pages with the material that a wine town's paper thrives on. For the district's winegrowers, the paper's reporting on the harvest, the wine markets and the Franconian wine's reputation is essential professional reading, while its coverage of the Main's shipping and the river's floods addresses the waterway that shaped the town.

The nearly 200-year publishing history gives the paper its institutional memory: from the 1830 founding through the family ownership, the Schunk era, the WAZ years, the Mediengruppe Oberfranken period to the Main-Post acquisition of 2025, Die Kitzinger has documented Kitzingen's transformation. For the town's readers, the paper's anniversary features preserve the memories, while its 6,700-copy circulation at the 2001 sale reflected the district town's loyalty to its daily.

For the Kitzingen district's wine festivals, the paper's previews and photo reports are the essential companion, while its coverage of the Main's bridges and the town's infrastructure serves the practical concerns of the district town's residents.

For the district's clubs, Die Kitzinger's anniversary features preserve the associations' histories, continuing the chronicle that began in 1830.

The paper's Main-Post integration secures the nearly 200-year-old title's future within Lower Franconia's great regional daily.

Organization and Ownership

Die Kitzinger is published within the Main-Post media group of Würzburg since 1 January 2025, when the Mediengruppe Oberfranken sold the paper to the Würzburg house. The Main-Post group, part of the Mediengruppe Pressedruck of Augsburg, is one of Lower Franconia's great regional media companies.

The paper's newsroom is based in Kitzingen, with the editors taken over by the Main-Post at the acquisition. The local editorial team covers the town and district, while the Main-Post's central newsroom in Würzburg provides the supra-regional pages.

The paper is printed with the group's production infrastructure and distributed across the Kitzingen district. The digital operations are integrated through mainpost.de.

Financial details are not publicly disclosed. The company follows the German Press Code (Pressekodex), the voluntary ethical standard of the German press.

Digital Presence

Die Kitzinger's digital home is mainpost.de, the portal of the Main-Post, one of Lower Franconia's most-visited news sites. The site carries continuously updated news from Kitzingen and the district, along with e-paper access, photo galleries, videos and reader services.

The e-paper reproduces the printed daily page by page for computers, tablets and smartphones, including the Kitzinger local pages. The Main-Post app provides breaking news, personalized notifications and full e-paper access.

On social media, the Main-Post maintains strong presences on Facebook, Instagram and other platforms, distributing the Kitzingen district's news, Main river photography, wine festival pictures and event announcements to the audience.

Newsletters deliver curated briefings on the region to subscribers' inboxes. The digital strategy aims to build paid digital subscriptions alongside the printed paper, while the printed Kitzinger, founded in 1830, remains the daily paper of record for the Main town, continuing a publishing history of nearly 200 years.