Centre-left estimate · not a score

Süddeutsche Zeitung

🇩🇪DE · newspaper · independent · sueddeutsche.de

Spectrum	Left Centre-left Centre Centre-right Right State / loyalist An estimate, not a score.
Founded	1945-10-06 — first issue of the newspaper · source
Headquarters	Munich, Germany (publisher headquartered at the SV-Hochhaus, Zamdorf district, since autumn 2008) · source
Funding	No state, public-sector or party funding identified. Publisher (Süddeutscher Verlag GmbH / Süddeutsche Zeitung GmbH) is privately held by Südwestdeutsche Medien Holding (81.25%) and the Friedmann family via SV Friedmann Holding GmbH (18.75%); no state entity appears in the ownership chain.
Reach	Sold circulation approximately 236,763 copies Monday–Saturday (IVW 2/2026); readership approximately 0.95 million (MA 2025 I); 77.8% of sold circulation is via subscription.
Identity	Wikipedia

Bias we have measured in their reporting

Hedged or stated

states flat that police do not know whether the person seen is the man they want — in 1 article

Suspect identified how

age and home town only, and the sabotage is what police attribute, not what the report asserts — in 1 article

From 257 articles we hold, with the quote behind every tag.

Claims we checked that rest on their reporting: 1 misleading3 true
A verdict is on the sentence we checked, not on the outlet. An outlet that files a lot is checked a lot.

Ownership

Holder	Type	Stake	Control	Instrument	Since	Source
Südwestdeutsche Medien Holding GmbH	company	81.25%	yes	equity	—	link
Medien Union GmbH	company	47.54%	—	equity	—	link
Gruppe Württembergischer Verleger	company	47.54%	—	equity	—	link
SV Friedmann Holding GmbH (Friedmann family)	company	18.75%	—	equity	—	link

Percentages appear only where a source states them. "Not disclosed" means nobody published a number, not that we did not look.

Editorial control

Judith Wittwer

Editor-in-chief (Chefredakteurin)

Journalist; sole editor-in-chief of Süddeutsche Zeitung since January 2026, after previously co-leading the editorial department with Wolfgang Krach from 2020.

Thomas Schaub

Chair, Herausgeberrat (publisher's/supervisory board)

Chairs the Süddeutsche Zeitung Herausgeberrat, the body that includes minority owner representatives such as Oliver Friedmann and Richard Rebmann.

Journalists

Heribert Prantl

Columnist and author (former head of Opinion desk and editorial-board member) · legal policy · domestic politics · opinion

Journalist and former judge; writes a Saturday political column, the Sunday newsletter 'Prantls Blick' and the video blog 'Prantls Politik' for Süddeutsche Zeitung; previously led the domestic-politics and opinion desks and sat on the editorial board until 2019.

Ronen Steinke

Legal-political correspondent · legal policy · security · extremism

Journalist and jurist covering legal policy, security agencies and extremism for Süddeutsche Zeitung from Berlin since 2017.

Annette Ramelsberger

Court reporter (Gerichtsreporterin) · courts · investigative reporting

Journalist covering court proceedings and investigative reporting for Süddeutsche Zeitung since January 2012.

Kurt Kister

Author, editorial staff (former editor-in-chief, 2011–2020)

Journalist; served as editor-in-chief of Süddeutsche Zeitung 2011–2020 (co-editor-in-chief with Wolfgang Krach from 2015) and remains an author member of the editorial staff.

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