<%@LANGUAGE="VBSCRIPT" CODEPAGE="1252"%> Civic Network of South Tyrol

Welcome to South Tyrol

Media

According to a 1995 ASTAT multi-purpose survey, about 41.5 and 57.5 per cent of the population in South Tyrol respectively reads daily or almost every day a daily newspaper, and a further 36.5 per cent inform themselves several times in the week. According to the survey men read more newspapers than women do, the majority of them being between 25 and 64 years old. According to a radio and television survey carried out by ASTAT in 1998, about 95.3 per cent of the population in South Tyrol from the age of 15 usually watches television at least once per week (of which the greater part, 72.4 per cent, watch it daily), and 84.2 per cent of the population follow radio programmes at least once per week, the greater part (67 per cent) daily.

The media landscape in South Tyrol is very diverse: four daily and nine weekly newspapers, a Sunday newspaper, a local radio and television programme in the three provincial languages, the reception of transmissions from a number of foreign broadcasting stations, the programme of the Italian broadcasting corporation RAI and numerous private broadcasting stations. In addition there are a multiplicity of other periodical publications and journals (286 local papers and magazines).

Daily newspapers:
The newspaper with by far the largest distribution is "Dolomiten", produced by the publishing house "Athesia". The "Dolomiten", subtitled "Tagblatt der Südtiroler", appears every week-day, and has a number of weekly and fortnightly supplements (a Magazine, an Economics section and a Sports section). Special issues of "Journal" regularly appear, dealing with particular subjects. Ideologically the newspaper is christen-democratic oriented, and declares itself to be independent of political parties, claiming to be the newspaper for all South Tyrolese.
From the weekly magazine "Südtirol Profil" which could not keep going in the face of competition from the weekly newspaper "FF", the daily newspaper "Südtirol Profil" - now the "Südtiroler Tageszeitung" - emerged in October 1996. The "Tageszeitung" appears five times per week and declares itself as a critical-liberal paper.
For decades the only Italian-language daily newspaper has been "Alto Adige", subtitled "Corriere delle Alpi", which is produced by the publishing house Seta s.p.a., Società Editrice Tipografica Atesina and which appears daily and also on Sundays. The newspaper declares itself to be independent of party influence, and is not committed to any ideological line. For many years now "Alto Adige" has had a German -language section as a special feature; this initiative brought him the sympathy of many German readers. The production of this German- language section has been stopped in June 1999, to the regret of many readers.
Since December 1988 there has been a second Italian newspaper in South Tyrol, "Il Mattino dell'Alto Adige", produced by the publishing house N.E.T. s.r.l., Nuova Editoriale Tipografica. As with "Alto Adige", the second Italian daily newspaper feels itself independent of parties and ideologically uncommitted.

Weekly newspapers:
The Sunday newspaper "Zett", published by Athesia, is the weekly newspaper with the largest circulation in South Tyrol. It appears every Sunday with relaxed reporting and covering selected topics.
The "Katholische Sonntagsblatt" appears weekly. It is the church newspaper of the diocese Bozen-Brixen and is widely read both in rural and urban areas. Printed by the Athesia publishing house it is mainly sold through subscriptions.
The South Tyrolese illustrated paper "FF" sees itself as "critical, courageous and contemporary", and concentrates on background reporting.
The "Südtiroler Wirtschaftszeitung" describes itself as a "weekly for Economics and Politics".
The only weekly in Italian is the church newspaper "Il Segno", which is produced by the diocese of Bozen-Brixen.
With "La Usc di Ladins" the Ladins have their own weekly newspaper, published by the Union Generela di Ladins dla Dolomiten.

At district level appear the "Pustertaler Zeitung" (twice monthly), the "Erker" (a monthly paper for South Wipptal in German and Italian), the "Brixner" (an independent monthly paper for Brixen and the surroundings), "Der Vinschger" (a fortnightly West Tyrol newspaper for politics, culture, sport and entertainment), "Die BAZ - Burggräfler Allgemeine Zeitung" (fortnightly), "Do Puschtra" (appearing twice a month in the Dolomiten as a district edition for Pustertal), and "Der Burggräfler" (fortnightly, formerly "Burggräfler - Rundschau WAS). More than 60 municipalities have their own newspaper.

Broadcasting:
The radio and television transmissions of the Bozen station of the Italian broadcasting corporation RAI are of great political importance. German-language radio transmissions amount to 4,715 hours per year, including several newscasts daily; with an estimated average of 108,000 listeners (24 per cent of the total population of South Tyrol) the German -language radio programme of the Bozen station is, according to an ASTAT 1998 survey, unchallenged at the head of the popularity ratings in the radio field. On television the Bozen station broadcasts two news programmes ("Tagesschau" and "10 vor 10") daily; altogether the local German-speaking television programme amounts to 550 hours per year.
With an estimated number of viewers at 157,000 (34.8 per cent of the adult population of South Tyrol), the Bozen station of the RAI heads the TV field, followed by ORF 1 and ZDF with 126,000 and 102,000 viewers respectively, ORF 2 (110,000) and the Italian programme of the RAI Bozen station (97,000 viewers); the three national RAI programmes come almost together with about 77,000-94,000 viewers in a typical day. Local Italian-language broadcasting provides three radio and three television new programmes every week-day.
The Ladins are also catered for with daily local radio news programmes; since 1988 the RAI-Bozen has also broadcast local television programmes in Ladin. With the new convention, agreed in July 1997, the broadcasting time of the Ladin programmes can also extended.
In addition, throughout South Tyrol all radio and television programmes of the state broadcasting corporation RAI can be received. Equally, the three radio programmes and the two television programmes FS1 and FS2 of the Austrian broadcasting corporation ORF, as well as the television transmissions of the ZDF, are broadcast throughout the Province via the RAS (Rundfunkanstalt Südtirol), which actually is in possession of 900 transmitting installations and receivers on 120 different transmitting locations. Some distant parts of the Province can receive the Swiss SRG television programme, while the ARD television programmes can be received in the north and east.

In addition, there is a number of private radio and television stations in Italian and German in South Tyrol with to some extent regular local news programmes (in TV f. e. Video Bolzano 33, the German news programme TV3 or the German news programme "Südtirol Heute" which restarted on 2 May 2000); equally, television broadcasts from the bigger private stations in Italy can be received in large parts of South Tyrol. According to the 1998 ASTAT survey the private television stations with the most viewers are those of the Fininvest (Canale 5, Italia 1 and Retequattro), but the local private station Video Bolzano 33 is doing well. Satellite stations are enjoying an increasing popularity. With regard to private radio stations Radio Dorf Tirol with about 53,000 listeners, has the highest figures, followed by Radio 2000 with 34,000 listeners, Radio Deejay with 32,000 listeners and Radio Sarner Welle with 30,000 listeners. Finally, also much listened to are the three ORF-Radio programmes.