The most remarkable figure in German journalism is Dr. Alfred Hugenberg, a leader of the Nationalist party and the head of one of the most complete publicity organizations in the world. Dr. Hugenberg formerly held an important post in the Prussian Ministry of Finance, and was later, from 1909 till 1918, president of the directorate of Krupp's. In 1916 the Scherl press, an im portant undertaking which owned among other papers the Con servative Lokalanzeiger, became involved in financial difficulties and finally passed under the control of Dr. Hugenberg and other Ruhr industrialists. In the following year a company was formed for the rehabilitation of needy nationalist or monarchist news papers, and through its operations Herr Hugenberg obtained control over a number of newspapers. He next formed a company for supplying provincial papers with news in stereotype form. This company was called the Wirtschaftsberatung der Provinz presse, or Wipro for short. Later he acquired control of the Telegraphen Union, next to the Wolff Telegraph Bureau the most important news agency in the country, and of the joint advertising concern of Ala-Haasenstein and Vogler-Daube. A more remark able and significant venture was his control of the Universum Film Aktiengesellschaft, or Ufa, which owns 15o cinema theatres and produces three-fourths of the German films. Hugenberg thus owns (1929) a most powerful and complete machine for influencing public opinion not only in Germany but in the world.
So far as is known the German Government has no longer an interest in newspapers as in the days of the Kaiser, when the Foreign Office directed or swayed the policy of several political journals. Its connection with the press is now confined to its participation in Wolff's agency, which is parallel to the Havas agency in France. For eight months in 1926, however, it secretly held a controlling interest in the Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, an independent Conservative paper with a leaning towards Na tionalism. This newspaper was originally owned by the Stinnes concern, but in Aug. 1925, when the concern was being wound up, the newspaper and printing works were bought by the Prussian Government. The newspaper, of which the Prussian Government had no need, was afterwards sold to two private persons. In Nov. 1926, however, it was rumoured that the real purchaser had been the Government of the Reich, which had also paid the subsequent losses on the paper. On the 22nd of the same month Dr. Strese mann admitted before the foreign affairs committee that the paper had been subsidized by the Reich Government since the previous April, and in the debate on the question in the budget committee of the Reichstag on the 3oth he stated that the controlling interest in the newspaper had been purchased by the Government of the Reich in the preceding April out of the secret funds placed at the disposal of the chancellor and foreign minister. The Reich Gov ernment had acquired 75% of the shares, while the remaining 25% had remained in private hands. It was not disclosed what price
had been paid by the Reich Government, nor what proportions of the sum were furnished respectively by the chancellor's and foreign minister's funds.
Meanwhile the publishers, editorial staff, and board of manage ment had severally issued statements that neither the publishers nor the editorial staff had been aware of the connection between the paper and the Reich Government, and that no attempt had been made to encroach on editorial independence. There had in fact been no perceptible change in the policy of the paper; and while it had continued to be produced at cost at the printing works, which were still in the possession of the Prussian Government, it had on occasions been severely critical of the Prussian Govern ment. A condition of sale had apparently been imposed by the Prussian Government that it should not be subjected to malicious attacks by the paper, but this undertaking the board of manage meat refused to give on the ground that malicious attacks had never been practised by the paper, and that a special undertaking was therefore unnecessary.
On Feb. 3 the board of management, the publishers and the editorial staff of the paper announced that the controlling interest held by the Government of the Reich had been sold to a group representing industrial, commercial and shipping interests. The announcement added that all participation, direct or indirect, of the Reich Government or of any other official department had ceased with the transaction. The identity of the new owners was not revealed. The status of the paper during that period and the intentions of the Government are still obscure.
While the nationalist newspapers are controlled largely by industrialists, the organs of the Centre or Roman Catholic party are under strict party control and owned by party men. The Centre represents about 40% of the population of Germany, but its press, although vigorous, consists of papers which have not big circulations. The most influential were the Germania of Berlin, and the Volkszeitung of Cologne which amalgamated at the end of 1927. Another group of papers which has increased in prestige since the war is the Democratic and Social Democratic press, powerful factors in political life.
Among the most independent and influential papers in Ger many are the provincial organs, Frankfurter Zeitung and the Kolnische Zeitung known throughout the political world as the Frankfurter and the Kolnische. The chief papers in Berlin are the Borsen Zeitung (non-party), the Lokal Anzeiger and Der Tag (Nationalist), the Berliner Tageblatt and Vossische Zeitung (Democratic), Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (People's Party), Deutsche Tageszeitung (National and Agrarian), the Morgenpost (Democratic) and the Vorwiirts (Social Democratic) and a Communist paper, Die Rote Fahne or Red Flag (sale, 65,000).