''Beobachter'' (''Observer''), also known by its former name ''Der Schweizerische Beobachter'', is a

German-language German ( ) is a West Germanic language mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Italian province of South Tyrol. It is also a c ...

Swiss

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

. Published in Zürich, its 26 issues a year focus on consumer, health and political content.

History and profile

The magazine was founded in 1926 by Max Ras as ''Der Schweizerische Beobachter'' and first distributed in 1927 as a free newspaper to all households in the German-speaking part of Switzerland. From the beginning, it was a political, but non-partisan struggle sheet, that took a position in favor of economically weakly positioned people. The newspaper fought for equal rights for women, fights rampant bureaucracy, and reveals scandals and hypocrisies. Through its populist style and the high number of readers, which in 1994 was over a million, ''Beobachter'' secured an extensive advertising volume within Switzerland. From 2007 respectively 2010 (against media and political protests), the low-priced subscription magazine was published fortnightly by Axel Springer AG Switzerland. At that time, it had a circulation of 308,000 copies, and in 2013 printed 283,284 copies ( WEMF 2013) and had 918,000 readers (MACH Basic 2013-2) in 2014.

Additional services

''Beobachter'' also provides a particularly well-developed consultancy service for legal questions, information about employment, rental, consumer and family law for its subscribers. It is distributed on the internet, by post and by apps (Android/iOS). The ''Beobachter TV'' series on

SRF 1 SRF 1 (''SRF eins'') is a German-language Swiss television channel, one of three produced by the SRG SSR public-service broadcasting group (the others being SRF zwei and SRF info). The channel, formerly known as SF1, was renamed on 16 Decemb ...

and SRF 2 as well as on radio DRS 3 also contributes helpful consumer information. The ''Beobachter-Verlag'' publishes non-fiction printed books and

e-books An ebook (short for electronic book), also known as an e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Alt ...

Kinder der Landstrasse

''Beobachter'' got in the even international focus in 1972, as the newspaper's journalists investigated, when the newspaper got hints by affected Jenisch (''Fahrende'') people. Hans Caprez published on 15 April 1972 in the article ''Kinder der Landstrasse'' the facts and the backgrounds of the ''

Kinder der Landstrasse Kinder der Landstrasse (literally: Children of the Country Road) was a project of the Swiss foundation Pro Juventute, active from 1926 to 1973. The focus of the project was the assimilation of the itinerant Yenish people in Switzerland by forcib ...

'' scandal, involving about 590 children of the ''Jenisch'' people minority in Switzerland. The newspaper hence actively supports the so-called ''

Wiedergutmachungsinitiative The Swiss children coercion reparation initiative (German: ''Wiedergutmachungsinitiative'') was a Swiss federal popular initiative to change the federal constitution, which was launched in April 2014. Summary In April 2014, the collection of S ...

'' started in April 2014 – on 19 December 2014 the initiative was submitted at the Federal Chancellery (''Bundeskanzlei'').''Tagesschau'' on SRF 1 on 19 December 2014

References

Literature

* Arne Andersen: ''… und so sparsam! Die Geschichte des Massenkonsums und seine Auswirkungen: Veränderung und Mentalitätswandel dargestellt am Schweizerischen Beobachter''. Chronos, Zürich 1998, . * Alfred A. Häsler: ''Stark für die Schwachen. 55 Jahre gelebte Zeitgeschichte des Schweizerischen Beobachter.'' Verlagsgesellschaft Beobachter, Orell Füssli, Glattbrugg/Zürich 1982, .

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Beobachter 1926 establishments in Switzerland Consumer protection magazines Environmental magazines German-language magazines Health magazines Legal magazines Magazines established in 1926 Magazines published in Zürich Political magazines published in Switzerland