Die Zeit

Die Zeit is a German national weekly newspaper based in Hamburg, known for in-depth reporting, analysis, and long-form journalism. Generally regarded as centrist to centre-left, it covers politics, economics, science, and culture for an educated readership. The publication is one of Germany's most respected weeklies and operates a widely read companion website.

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Die Zeit at a glance

Country: Germany
Region: Western Europe · Europe
Kind of outlet: Daily newspaper
Editorial leaning: Centrist
Founded: 1946
Owner: Holtzbrinck Publishing Group and DvH Medien
Published from: Hamburg
Website: zeit.de ↗
Preview: Cannot currently be previewed in a pane — its site refuses automated requests (last checked 2026-10-12). The page below offers a direct link instead, and the comparison views skip it by default.

Founding, ownership and location are directory records without individual source citations here. Ownership can change; verify these details with the publisher before quoting them. The preview status comes from the weekly audit that requests every outlet through Crosswire's own edge — see how the fetcher identifies itself.

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How Crosswire groups Die Zeit

Crosswire groups Die Zeit as Centrist for comparisons within Germany's directory. Center includes both centrist outlets and outlets for which the directory has no confident classification. It is not evidence that this outlet is neutral or more accurate. In Germany, taz is listed as Left-leaning, while BILD and Die Welt are listed as Right-leaning — so you can open Die Zeit beside a title of a different orientation and compare the same day's front pages directly.

Compare Die Zeit with another outlet from Germany covering the same event and edition. Record the headline, publication time, named sources and links to original evidence. Similar leaning labels can still produce different coverage; a different label does not guarantee an independent source. Check the articles before interpreting a front-page difference as bias.

This is an approximate orientation, not a definitive judgement — and not a rating of quality or accuracy. Read how Crosswire classifies editorial leanings. This profile does not include an individual assessment citation. Page updated 2026-09-28; this is a content-change date, not a fresh fact-check of the outlet. Think this label is wrong? Suggest a correction.

Where Die Zeit sits in Germany's press

Die Zeit was founded in 1946, is published from Hamburg and is owned by Holtzbrinck Publishing Group and DvH Medien. It is one of 11 outlets tracked in Germany, and one of 6 daily newspapers among them — the others being FAZ, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Die Welt, taz and Der Tagesspiegel. By outlets tracked, Germany ranks second of the 45 countries on Crosswire's Europe hub, which lists 264 outlets in all.

Across Europe, Crosswire tracks 109 of the 396 daily newspapers in the directory. The nearest counterparts to Die Zeit outside Germany, starting with Western Europe, are La Libre (Belgium), Der Standard (Austria), NZZ (Switzerland) and Luxembourg Times (Luxembourg). Opening one of them beside Die Zeit is the quickest way to see what is a house style and what is a national one.