About Passauer Neue Presse

Passauer Neue Presse

The Passauer Neue Presse is the regional daily newspaper of Passau and eastern Lower Bavaria — the paper of the "City of Three Rivers," where the Danube, Inn, and Ilz meet at the Austrian border. Published from the media center of the Mediengruppe Bayern in Passau and appearing in 20 local editions, it is the dominant newspaper of eastern Bavaria, with a sold circulation of 124,319 copies. Its publisher is the Mediengruppe Bayern GmbH, formerly the Verlagsgruppe Passau — one of Germany's significant regional media groups, which has grown through acquisitions across Bavaria and, until 2020, operated a large regional press group in Poland.

Overview

The Passauer Neue Presse (PNP) is a subscription regional daily newspaper headquartered in Passau, at the southeastern tip of Bavaria on the Austrian border. It is the flagship title of the Mediengruppe Bayern GmbH (formerly Verlagsgruppe Passau), appears in the Rhenish format, and is published Monday through Saturday in 20 local editions. The paper's sold circulation is 124,319 copies (a 31.3 percent decline since 1998), and the subscription share of the sold circulation is 90.5 percent. The editor-in-chief is Martin Wanninger; the managing director is Simone Tucci-Diekmann. The paper is printed in its own Druckzentrum Passau, which also belongs to the PNP.

The PNP's coverage area is eastern and southeastern Lower Bavaria plus the district of Altötting in Upper Bavaria — the Bavarian Forest, the spa triangle of Bad Füssing and Bad Griesbach, and the border country to Austria and the Czech Republic. In most of this area it is the monopoly newspaper, the only paper with a local section. Its website is pnp.de, where all online news of the paper and its local editions are published.

History

The PNP's founder was Johannes Kapfinger — Hans Kapfinger (1902–1985) — who had been editor-in-chief of the Straubinger Tagblatt until 1933. Kapfinger studied philosophy, law, and economics in Munich and took his doctorate in 1927 with a work on political Catholicism. During the Nazi era he worked in sales, advertising, and marketing roles in Coburg, Bamberg, Lichtenfels, Leipzig, and Berlin; from July 1945 he worked for the Berliner Zeitung before returning to Bavaria the same year. In 1946 he received one of the coveted licenses for publishing a newspaper from the American occupiers — he was classified as a victim of Nazi persecution — and the first edition of the Passauer Neue Presse appeared on 5 February 1946 with a launch circulation of 100,000 copies. Kapfinger led the paper until his death in 1985. After his death his son Heinz Kapfinger, his wife Edith Berger-Kapfinger, and her daughter from a first marriage, Angelika Diekmann, took over the leadership; since 2002 all shares have been held by the Diekmann family.

The postwar decades made the PNP the dominant paper of the Bavarian border region. The Verlagsgruppe Passau expanded beyond Bavaria: the group operated in Austria, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia, and owned the Czech company Vltava-Labe-Press, which held a very large position in regional press in the Czech Republic. In August 2015 the group sold its Czech subsidiary to the Czech-Slovak financial investor Penta Investments. In December 2020 the Mediengruppe Bayern and the Polish petrochemical group PKN Orlen announced the takeover of the Polish subsidiary Polska Press — one of the largest media groups in Poland, with 20 of the country's 24 regional dailies, some 120 weeklies, and 500 internet portals at the time of purchase — subject to cartel-authority approval. The sale ended the Passau group's major Eastern European adventure.

Within Bavaria the group grew by acquisition: in July 2012 it bought the Trostberger Tagblatt (with the identical-content Traunreuter Anzeiger and the weekly Altbayerische Heimatpost); in August 2014 it expanded further in Upper Bavaria with the takeover of the Reichenhaller Tagblatt and the Freilassinger Anzeiger; and in November 2016 it was announced that the Donaukurier in Ingolstadt would be taken over by the Passauer Neue Presse with effect from 1 January 2017. In July 2021 the Mediengruppe took over the Mittelbayerische Zeitung in Regensburg, cleared by the Cartel Office in October 2021. In November 2025 the Mediengruppe Bayern announced plans to take over the Mediengruppe Oberfranken (MGO) — which would bring the Fränkischer Tag in Bamberg and its sister papers under the Passau roof; the Federal Cartel Office raised no competition concerns, as the groups operate in different regions of Bavaria.

Programming/Content

The PNP's content is the daily life of eastern Bavaria across 20 local editions. The editions include the city edition for Passau itself; the district edition for the Passau district with Pocking, Hauzenberg, and Untergriesbach; the Osterhofener Zeitung for Osterhofen; the Plattlinger Zeitung for Plattling; the Alt-Neuöttinger Anzeiger for Altötting and Neuötting; the Burghauser Anzeiger for the southern Altötting district and Burghausen — the paper's southernmost outpost toward Upper Bavaria; the Grafenauer Anzeiger for the Freyung-Grafenau district; the Bayerwald-Bote and Viechtacher Bayerwald-Bote for Regen, Zwiesel, and Viechtach; the Pocking/Griesbach edition for the spa triangle; the Pfarrkirchen/Simbach edition; the Rottaler Anzeiger for the old Eggenfelden district; the Deggendorfer Zeitung for the Deggendorf area; the Vilshofener Anzeiger for western Passau district and eastern Deggendorf district; the Landauer Neue Presse for Dingolfing and Landau an der Isar; the Trostberger Tagblatt, Traunreuter Anzeiger, and Südostbayerische Rundschau for the northern Traunstein district; and the Reichenhaller Tagblatt, Freilassinger Anzeiger, and Südostbayerische Rundschau for the Berchtesgadener Land.

The paper's journalism spans local news from the Bavarian Forest to the Alpine foothills, Bavarian and German politics, business, culture, and sport. Since 1992 the PNP and its readers have supported children in need, notably through the annual Christmas-season donation campaign "Ein Licht im Advent," which complements the work of the PNP foundation with international projects. The paper's social engagement is a long-standing regional institution. In autumn of each year the media group stages the "Menschen in Europa" event series.

Coverage & Audience

The PNP's coverage area is mainly eastern and southeastern Lower Bavaria and the Altötting district of Upper Bavaria — the Danube city of Passau, the Bavarian Forest, the spa triangle, and the southeastern border region. The area around Straubing/Landshut/Kelheim is not part of its coverage. It is almost everywhere the monopoly newspaper — the only paper with a local section. Only in the Plattling/Landau an der Isar and Deggendorf areas does the coverage overlap with local editions of the Straubinger Tagblatt; in the Altötting district there is additional competition from a local edition of the Oberbayerisches Volksblatt (Münchner Merkur). With 124,319 copies sold and a 90.5 percent subscription share, the paper's audience is the deeply rooted, subscription-loyal population of eastern Bavaria — one of the strongest local-paper markets in Germany.

Ownership

The Passauer Neue Presse is published by the Passauer Neue Presse GmbH of Passau, represented by the shareholders' meeting, and belongs to the Mediengruppe Bayern GmbH (formerly Verlagsgruppe Passau). Since 2002 all shares have been held by the Diekmann family. The managing director is Simone Tucci-Diekmann; the editor-in-chief is Martin Wanninger. The group also publishes the Donaukurier in Ingolstadt and the Mittelbayerische Zeitung in Regensburg, and produces ten free advertising papers, including the Wochenblatt extra, BGL Panorama & Anzeigenpost, Altbayerische Heimatpost, IZ Ingolstädter Zeitung, and the Landshuter, Isar, and Straubinger Wochenblätter. The group opened its media center in Passau in 1995, designed by Swiss architect Sorin Sokalski. The PNP also operates the regional postal service Neue Presse Post GmbH, a subsidiary of the Mediengruppe Bayern founded in 2009, serving the districts of Passau, Deggendorf, Freyung-Grafenau, Rottal-Inn, Dingolfing, and Regen.

Digital Presence

All online news of the Passauer Neue Presse and its local editions is published on the website pnp.de. The paper established a YouTube channel in December 2008 distributing news in video format. The group has experimented with regional digital platforms: in August 2011 it founded the regional voucher platform mydealbayern.de for the greater Passau area (Deggendorf added that November; discontinued in March 2014); in November 2011 it launched RegioEvent.de, a regional leisure portal for Lower Bavaria, Upper Bavaria, and the border region in Upper Austria; in May 2013 the Südostbayerische Rundschau, Trostberger Tagblatt, and Alt-Neuöttinger Anzeiger launched the news portal heimatzeitung.de for southeastern Bavaria — which was dissolved with the pnp.de relaunch in February 2020, with online content from the Upper Bavarian part of the coverage area available only on pnp.de since. In July 2018 the group launched Alles Regional, a platform where businesses from the PNP and Donaukurier coverage areas can present themselves and their products. The paper is active on social media with eastern-Bavaria content.