About Eichstätter Kurier

Eichstätter Kurier

The Eichstätter Kurier is a regional daily newspaper published in Eichstätt, Bavaria, as a head paper of the Ingolstadt-based Donaukurier. Published in the town since 1864, it is one of the oldest continuously appearing dailies in the Ingolstadt region, with a press tradition stretching back more than 160 years. The paper serves Eichstätt and the northwestern part of the Eichstätt district, a region shaped by the bishop's seat, the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, and the Altmühl valley landscape. The Donaukurier, its parent paper, has belonged to the Passauer Neue Presse publishing group since 1 January 2017 and appears in seven print editions with different local sections. The Eichstätter Kurier appears Monday through Saturday in print and digitally through the Donaukurier's online platforms, combining locally reported pages for the Eichstätt area with the supra-regional content of the Ingolstadt central newsroom.

Overview

The Eichstätter Kurier serves the town of Eichstätt and the northwestern municipalities of the Eichstätt district in Upper Bavaria. Eichstätt is a town of distinctive character: the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Eichstätt, founded by St. Willibald in 741, a former prince-bishopric residence with a baroque old town on the Altmühl river, and home to the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Germany's only Catholic university. The town is also a publishing center, producing the Kirchenzeitung for the diocese in the Willibaldsverlag and hosting publishers including the Franz-von-Sales-Verlag of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales.

As a head paper of the Donaukurier, the Eichstätter Kurier combines a locally produced section with the supra-regional pages of the Ingolstadt paper. The Donaukurier appears in seven print editions: the Aichacher Zeitung for the northeastern Aichach-Friedberg district, the Eichstätter Kurier for northwestern Eichstätt district, the main Ingolstadt editions A and B, the Hilpoltsteiner Kurier, the Pfaffenhofener Kurier, and the Schrobenhausener Zeitung. Each edition carries its own local section alongside the shared supra-regional content.

The paper appears six days a week as a subscription daily. In Eichstätt it is complemented by the Eichstätter Journal city magazine and the free Eichstätter Anzeiger advertising paper, but as a paid daily with its own local newsroom it remains the town's comprehensive daily news source. The paper's readership reflects the town's distinctive population: university staff and students, diocesan employees, the town's long-established families, and commuters working in Ingolstadt, and its subscription base reflects the loyalty typical of the Bavarian regional press, where the daily paper remains a household fixture.

History

The Eichstätter Kurier has been published in Eichstätt since 1864, making the town a newspaper publishing location for more than 160 years. The paper documented the town's history through the German Empire, the First World War, the Weimar Republic, the National Socialist era, the Second World War, and the Federal Republic, serving as the daily record of the bishop's town and its surroundings.

In the modern era the paper developed as a head paper of the Donaukurier, the Ingolstadt-based regional daily, maintaining its historic masthead and local identity within the larger publishing group. On 1 January 2017 the Donaukurier was acquired by the Passauer Neue Presse, one of Bavaria's large regional publishing groups, bringing the Eichstätter Kurier into the PNP Verlagsgruppe's portfolio.

A significant production change came in 2022, when the Donaukurier's printing plant in Ingolstadt was closed at the end of the year. Printing moved to the print plant of the Mittelbayerische Zeitung in Regensburg, which had likewise been taken over by the PNP Verlagsgruppe, consolidating the group's production in Regensburg. The Donaukurier's editorial operations remained in Ingolstadt, with the local editions continuing to be produced by their district newsrooms.

Coverage and Content

The Eichstätter Kurier's local section covers the public life of Eichstätt and the northwestern Eichstätt district in depth. Town politics in Eichstätt forms a core beat: the town council, the mayor's office, planning and infrastructure decisions, and the town budget. The paper reports on the Eichstätt district administration, covers the courts and police, and follows the local economy, from the university and diocese as major employers to the skilled crafts, retail, and tourism businesses of the Altmühl valley.

The town's ecclesiastical character gives the paper distinctive beats: diocesan affairs, the cathedral and its restoration, church festivals, and the religious life of the bishop's seat receive sustained attention. University news from the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, including research, student life, and the institution's role in the town, forms another core area. Education reporting spans the town's schools, including the Gymnasien, while the paper covers the clubs and associations that structure community life: sports clubs, volunteer fire brigades, music societies, carnival groups, and the calendar of town festivals, markets, and Christmas markets.

Cultural coverage follows concerts, exhibitions, and theater, and the paper documents the town's heritage, from its Roman origins and medieval bishopric to its baroque architecture and the Altmühl valley's natural attractions. The paper also engages with the town's contemporary development questions: the balance between preserving the baroque old town and accommodating the university's growth, the development of tourism in the Altmühl valley and the Altmühltal nature park, transport connections to Ingolstadt and the wider region, and the efforts to keep the bishop's town attractive for students, skilled workers, and young families. The villages and small municipalities of the northwestern district receive attention for their local councils, festivals, and community affairs. The supra-regional pages from the Donaukurier supply Bavarian state politics, national and international news, business and finance, sports, culture, and opinion from the Ingolstadt central newsroom. The paper carries the classified and display advertising, family announcements, and death notices customary in the German regional press.

Organization and Ownership

The Eichstätter Kurier is published within the Donaukurier publishing group in Ingolstadt, which has belonged to the Passauer Neue Presse Verlagsgruppe since 1 January 2017. The PNP group is one of Bavaria's large regional publishers, with the Passauer Neue Presse as its flagship and a portfolio of regional dailies including the Donaukurier and the Mittelbayerische Zeitung.

Editorial production combines the Donaukurier's central newsroom in Ingolstadt, which produces the supra-regional pages for all seven editions, with local editorial teams responsible for the edition sections, including the Eichstätter Kurier's Eichstätt-area pages. Printing takes place at the Mittelbayerische Zeitung's print plant in Regensburg. Financial details for the individual local editions are not disclosed separately.

Digital Presence

The Eichstätter Kurier's stories appear online through the Donaukurier's digital platforms at donaukurier.de, where the Eichstätt edition's local reporting is published alongside the group's wider coverage of the Ingolstadt region, with continuously updated news, photo galleries, and video content. Selected articles are freely accessible, while full access is available through digital subscriptions.

An e-paper edition reproduces the printed paper page for page, and the group's mobile apps deliver the day's news to smartphones and tablets with push notifications for breaking stories. Newsletters bring selected stories to readers' inboxes, and the paper's local reporting circulates through the group's social media channels. In Eichstätt the paper's digital presence exists alongside the town's other media, including the student radio Radio Pegasus and the church radio production studio radio k 1, but as the town's daily newspaper with a staffed local newsroom, the Eichstätter Kurier remains the comprehensive daily news source for the bishop's town and the northwestern district.