About Donau-Zeitung

Donau-Zeitung

The Donau-Zeitung is a regional daily newspaper published in Dillingen an der Donau, Bavaria, as the local edition of the Augsburger Allgemeine for the district of Dillingen an der Donau. Published continuously since 1945, it is one of the post-war foundation titles of the Swabian regional press and belongs to the Mediengruppe Pressedruck publishing group based in Augsburg. The paper's most recently reported sold circulation stands at 10,774 copies per issue Monday through Saturday, with subscriptions accounting for more than 86 percent of sales, a figure that reflects the paper's deep anchoring in its home district. Its online home is the Augsburger Allgemeine news portal at augsburger-allgemeine.de, where the Dillingen edition's reporting appears alongside the group's wider Swabian and Bavarian coverage. The Donau-Zeitung's history reaches back to the Dillinger Zeitung, the regional edition of the Schwäbische Landeszeitung, for which the American military government issued a publishing license on 30 October 1945, making it among the first licensed newspapers of the post-war era in Bavaria.

Overview

The Donau-Zeitung appears six days a week, Monday to Saturday, as a subscription-based regional daily for the district of Dillingen an der Donau in northern Swabia, a region of small towns, villages, and agricultural land along the Danube between Ulm and Donauwörth. Its distribution area covers the entire Dillingen district, including the towns of Dillingen, Lauingen, Gundelfingen, Höchstädt, Wertingen, and Bissingen, as well as their surrounding municipalities. Within the Augsburger Allgemeine family, which operates numerous local editions across Bavarian Swabia and neighboring regions, the Donau-Zeitung is the Dillingen edition, carrying the group's centrally produced supra-regional pages together with a locally reported section devoted to the district.

The paper follows the classic German regional daily model: an extensive local book with reporting from the district's councils, courts, schools, clubs, and churches, combined with the mantle of state, national, and international news, business, culture, and opinion produced by the Augsburger Allgemeine's central newsroom in Augsburg. The subscription share of 86.2 percent of sold circulation indicates a loyal, habitual readership typical of the Swabian local press, where the daily paper remains a fixture of household routine even as print circulations decline nationally.

The Donau-Zeitung's circulation has followed the broader German newspaper trend of gradual decline. Its sold circulation fell by an average of 2.3 percent per year over the past decade, and by 4.3 percent in the most recent reporting year, reaching 10,774 copies. This represents a decline of roughly 29 percent since 1998, a trajectory the paper shares with most German regional dailies. The publisher has responded with digital subscription products, an e-paper, and the integration of the edition's content into the Augsburger Allgemeine's digital platforms.

History

The Donau-Zeitung's origins lie in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War. On 30 October 1945, Curt Alexander Frenzel and Johann Wilhelm Naumann received from the American military government the license to publish a newspaper for the Swabian region: the Schwäbische Landeszeitung, printed in Augsburg. Its regional edition for the Dillingen area appeared as the Dillinger Zeitung. The license made the paper one of the earliest post-war newspaper foundations in Bavaria, established under the Allied press licensing system that rebuilt German journalism on democratic principles.

The Schwäbische Landeszeitung grew into one of southern Germany's major regional dailies, and on 1 November 1959 it adopted the name under which it is still published today: Augsburger Allgemeine. The Dillinger Zeitung continued as the group's Dillingen edition, and over time the title was renamed Donau-Zeitung, the name it carries today. The paper has thus been published continuously from its Augsburg printing center for more than eighty years, making it one of the longest-running titles in the Mediengruppe Pressedruck portfolio.

The Mediengruppe Pressedruck, the paper's publisher, is one of Germany's large regional publishing groups, with the Augsburger Allgemeine as its flagship and a network of local editions and partner papers across Swabia and beyond. The group's managing directors are Andreas Scherer as chairman, together with Alexandra Holland and Edgar Benkler. Printing takes place at the group's Augsburg facilities, and the editorial organization combines central newsroom resources with local editorial teams assigned to the district editions.

Coverage and Content

The Donau-Zeitung's local section covers the full spectrum of district life. Municipal politics forms the backbone: city and town council meetings in Dillingen, Lauingen, Gundelfingen, Höchstädt, Wertingen, and the smaller communities, district council affairs, and the administrative decisions that shape schools, roads, housing, and public services. The paper reports on the local economy, from agriculture and skilled crafts to the industrial employers of the Danube corridor, and follows the courts with regular coverage of proceedings at the Dillingen district court.

Club and association life, which is exceptionally dense in rural Swabia, receives sustained attention. The paper covers sports clubs from village football leagues through regional competitions, volunteer fire brigades, music societies, traditional costume and heritage groups, church parishes, and the calendar of town festivals, markets, and parish fairs. Education reporting follows the district's schools, from primary schools to the Gymnasien, while cultural coverage spans concerts, exhibitions, theater, and local literary events.

Beyond the local book, readers receive the Augsburger Allgemeine's mantle: Bavarian state politics from the Munich bureau, national and international news, business and financial pages, features, travel, motoring, health, and opinion. Weekend editions carry magazines and supplements, and the paper's classified and display advertising sections serve the district's businesses. Family announcements, including birth, marriage, and death notices, remain a traditional and widely read part of the paper, as in most German regional dailies.

Organization and Ownership

The Donau-Zeitung is published by the Mediengruppe Pressedruck, headquartered in Augsburg. The group is one of Bavaria's largest regional publishers, with the Augsburger Allgemeine as its flagship daily and a wide family of local editions, partner newspapers, and digital properties. Group management consists of Andreas Scherer as chairman of the management board, Alexandra Holland, and Edgar Benkler.

Editorial production for the Donau-Zeitung combines the central Augsburger Allgemeine newsroom, which produces the supra-regional pages, with local editors responsible for the Dillingen district section. The paper does not publish a separately named editor-in-chief for the Dillingen edition; editorial leadership for the Augsburger Allgemeine family sits at the group level. Printing is handled at the group's Augsburg print center, from which all editions of the Augsburger Allgemeine are produced and distributed across Swabia.

The publisher's digital strategy treats the Donau-Zeitung as an integral part of the Augsburger Allgemeine's online offering rather than as a standalone digital brand, with the edition's stories published through the group's shared portal and apps.

Digital Presence

Online, the Donau-Zeitung's reporting is published through the Augsburger Allgemeine portal at augsburger-allgemeine.de, one of the most visited regional news sites in Bavaria. The portal carries the Dillingen edition's local stories alongside the group's wider coverage of Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, and the world, with continuously updated news, photo galleries, and video content. Readers can access a free selection of articles, while full access is available through digital subscriptions.

An e-paper edition reproduces the printed Donau-Zeitung page for page, allowing subscribers to read the paper in its familiar layout on computers, tablets, and smartphones. The Augsburger Allgemeine's mobile apps deliver the edition's news with push notifications for breaking stories, and the group operates newsletters that bring selected stories to readers' inboxes. The Donau-Zeitung's content also circulates through the group's social media channels, extending the reach of district reporting to younger audiences who encounter the paper primarily through digital platforms.