Süddeutsche Zeitung

In 1945, the US occupation authorities granted SZ a license for becoming "an important opinion-forming daily." Today, 81.25 percent of shares of the newspaper belong to the Südwestdeutsche Medien Holding (South-Western German Media Holding) which also issues 15 other regional dailies.

In 2013, the holding had a deficit of €71.4 million (US$ 77.8 million).

Süddeutsche Zeitung has a circulation of 380,000 copies. The newspaper is considered to be one of the most important media outlets in forming public opinion in Germany. The editors of Süddeutsche Zeitung often leave their work in the newspaper for a job in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and the opposite is also true.

Since 1998, paid circulation of the newspaper has fallen by 10 percent.

Since 2011, Prantl has been a member of the chief editorial board of Süddeutsche Zeitung. He also regularly publishes outspoken commentaries on topical issues and debates. Prantl, who is believed to be left-liberal, criticizes financial capitalism and has received many awards. He was also nominated for the post of Der Spiegel’s editor-in-chief, but was never appointed. His life partner is Franziska Augstein, a daughter of the founder of Der Spiegel, Rudolf Augstein, and half-sister of Der Spiegel’s co-heir, Jacob Augstein. She is also a journalist at Süddeutsche Zeitung.

German dailies suffered a massive loss of credibility during the Ukrainian crisis. Their publications almost entirely followed the narrative of the West. It has led to massive readers’ protests, in particular on the forums and in comments to their articles. As a result, the newspapers selectively defamed their own readers as "crazy" (literally "crack brained") or "Putin’s trolls." Süddeutsche Zeitung even decided to deny the readers an opportunity to leave comments under its articles, which was earlier allowed.

The head of the Süddeutsche Zeitung’s foreign policy department, Stefan Kornelius, thrust himself forward by taking extremely one-sided stance in numerous reports covering the Ukrainian crisis.

Debatte um enge Verbindung deutscher Leitmedien mit transatlantischen Netzwerken und US Interessen http://t.co/X8JZzvKIdl

— Hans Steinmüller (@steinmuller) November 4, 2014

Ohne jede Einsicht: Stefan Kornelius findet für Medientenor #Ukraine #Russland noch positive Argumente http://t.co/KeHmu4lzOI #Medienkritik

— Stefan Slaby (@publizistikon) March 27, 2015

The stance of the department chief Kornelius is characteristic of the whole foreign policy narrative of the Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Gestern meistgelesen auf @SZ.de: Wie Moskau den Ukraine-Konflikt geplant haben soll, von @juli_anh http://t.co/yLJLGuc6LB

— Michael König (@michikoenig) February 27, 2015

Die USA haben im Umgang mit #Russland Fehler begangen, aber auch viel Rücksicht genommen. – @n_richter in der @SZ: http://t.co/uGikTHGwxn

— Jürg Vollmer (@juergvollmer) May 15, 2015