Mass media in Germany includes a variety of

online In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed "on line" o ...

, print, and broadcast formats, such as radio, television, newspapers, and magazines.

History

The modern

printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in which the ...

developed in

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-west, with Ma ...

in the 15th century, and its innovative technology

spread Spread may refer to: Places * Spread, West Virginia Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Spread'' (film), a 2009 film. * ''$pread'', a quarterly magazine by and for sex workers * "Spread", a song by OutKast from their 2003 album ''Speakerboxxx/T ...

quickly throughout Europe and the world. In the 20th century period prior and during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, mass media

propaganda in Nazi Germany The propaganda used by the German Nazi Party in the years leading up to and during Adolf Hitler's dictatorship of Germany from 1933 to 1945 was a crucial instrument for acquiring and maintaining power, and for the implementation of Nazi policie ...

was prevalent. Since the 1980s a "dual system of public and commercial" broadcasting has replaced the previous public system.

Books

Magazines

Many in Germany read the weekly '' Der Spiegel''.

Newspapers

As of 2015, widely read national newspapers include '' Süddeutsche Zeitung'', ''

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung The ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung'' (; ''FAZ''; "''Frankfurt General Newspaper''") is a centre-right conservative-liberal and liberal-conservativeHans Magnus Enzensberger: Alter Wein in neuen Schläuchen' (in German). ''Deutschland Radio'', ...

'', ''

Die Welt ''Die Welt'' ("The World") is a German national daily newspaper, published as a broadsheet by Axel Springer SE. ''Die Welt'' is the flagship newspaper of the Axel Springer publishing group. Its leading competitors are the ''Frankfurter All ...

'', and '' Bild''. "Germans are voracious readers of newspapers and periodicals.... The economic state of Germany’s several hundred newspapers and thousands of periodicals is enviably healthy. Most major cities support two or more daily newspapers, in addition to community periodicals, and few towns of any size are without their own daily newspaper." '' Bild'' is the largest highest-selling newspaper in Germany. The paper is published from Monday to Saturday; on Sundays, its sister paper ''

Bild am Sonntag ''Bild am Sonntag'' (''BamS'') is the largest-selling German national Sunday newspaper published in Berlin, Germany. History and profile ''Bild am Sonntag'' was first published on 29 April 1956.Helmut Böger, ''Bild'', 8 May 2011Die Story von Ba ...

'' ("''Bild on Sunday''") is published instead, which has a different style and its own editors. ''Bild'' is tabloid in style but broadsheet in size. It is the best-selling European newspaper and has the sixteenth-largest circulation worldwide. Bild has been described as "notorious for its mix of gossip, inflammatory language, and sensationalism" and as having a huge influence on German politicians. Its nearest English-language stylistic and journalistic equivalent is often considered to be the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

national newspaper '' The Sun'', the second-highest-selling European tabloid newspaper.Sex, Smut and Shock: Bild Zeitung Rules Germany

Spiegel Online ''Der Spiegel (online)'' is a German news website. Before the renaming in January 2020, the website's name was ''Spiegel Online'' (short ''SPON''). It was founded in 1994 as the online offshoot of the German news magazine, '' Der Spiegel'', w ...

25 April 2006

Radio

The first "radio program in Germany was broadcast on October 29, 1923, in Berlin."

Television

Video games

The German video gaming market is one of the largest in the world. The

Gamescom Gamescom (stylized as gamescom) is a trade fair for video games held annually at the Koelnmesse in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Since 2018, it has been organised by ''game – Verband der deutschen Games-Branche'' (English: Associ ...

in Cologne is the world's leading gaming convention. Popular game series from Germany include ''

Turrican ''Turrican'' is a 1990 video game developed by Manfred Trenz. It was developed for the Commodore 64 by Rainbow Arts, and was ported to other systems later. In addition to concept design and character creation, Trenz programmed ''Turrican'' on th ...

'', the ''Anno'' series, ''The Settlers'' series, the ''Gothic'' series, ''

SpellForce ''SpellForce'' is a real-time strategy and role-playing series created by Phenomic and currently owned by THQ Nordic. The first release was published by JoWooD Productions and Encore Software in 2003, and by THQ Nordic in 2017. Setting and p ...

'', the ''FIFA Manager'' series, ''

Far Cry ''Far Cry'' is an anthology franchise of first-person shooter games, all of which have been published by Ubisoft. The first game, '' Far Cry'', was developed by Crytek to premiere their CryEngine software, and released in March 2004. Subsequen ...

'' and ''

Crysis ''Crysis'' is a first-person shooter video game series created by Crytek. The series revolves around a group of military protagonists with " nanosuits", technologically advanced suits of armor that give them enhanced physical strength, speed, ...

''. Relevant game developers and publishers are

Blue Byte Ubisoft Blue Byte GmbH (Blue Byte until 2017) is a German video game holding company owned by Ubisoft. It was founded in October 1988 by Thomas Hertzler and Lothar Schmitt as a Video game developer, developer and was best known for developing t ...

Crytek Crytek GmbH is a German video game developer and software developer based in Frankfurt. Founded by the Yerli brothers in Coburg in 1999 and moved to Frankfurt in 2006, Crytek also operates further studios in Kyiv, Ukraine and Istanbul, Turkey. ...

, Deep Silver, Kalypso Media,

Piranha Bytes Piranha Bytes GmbH is a German video game developer based in Essen. Founded in 1997, it is best known for their '' Gothic'' and '' Risen'' series of role-playing video games. The studio is a subsidiary of THQ Nordic and, as of August 2021, ...

Yager Development Yager Development GmbH is a German video game developer based in Berlin. History Yager was founded in 1999 by Uwe Beneke, Roman Golka, Philipp Schellbach, Timo Ullmann and Mathias Wiese. They are best known for developing '' Yager'' (2003) a ...

, and some of the largest

social network game A social network game (sometimes simply referred to as a social media game, social gaming, social video game or online social game) is a type of online game that is played through social networks or social media. They typically feature multipl ...

companies like Bigpoint,

Gameforge Gameforge is a video game publisher and video game developer. It represents a group of companies that operates internationally and has its headquarters in Karlsruhe, Germany. It distributes roughly 20 games, translated into over 50 languages. The ...

, Goodgame and

Wooga Wooga is a mobile-first game developer in Berlin, Germany. The company develops free-to-play mobile and social games for mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets and social networks like Facebook. The company's name comes from the words ...

References

:''This article incorporates information from the German Wikipedia.''

Bibliography

* * * * * *

External links

* * {{Europe topic, Media of

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...