Bild ("Bild" in German) was founded in 1952 in Hamburg by the German journalist and publisher Axel Springer (1912-1985). Since 2008 its headquarters moved to Berlin. The first edition of the newspaper was published on 24 June 1952 with 500,000 copies and quickly became the number one newspaper in terms of circulation not only in Germany but also in Europe. In the 1980s it sold over 5 million sheets a day; today its circulation is around 3.5 million sheets a day.
Springer's model was the British tabloid Daily Mirror, although Bild's format is large and approximates that of a serious newspaper. Its pages are dominated by gossip, blood, gore, inflammatory language and political analysis. Provocative headlines and fabricated 'news' are commonplace. A trademark for 28 years, the photo of the topless beauty on the front page. But as of 9 March 2012, the ever-popular rubric moved to the inside pages.
Since its first issue, Bild has belonged to Germany's conservative and nationalist editorial camp. East Germany was called the "Soviet Occupied Zone" until the fall of the Wall in 1989, when the paper adopted a softer, more centrist stance. The Sunday edition of Bild am Sontag, with a separate journalistic staff from the daily Bild, is less conservative and even supported the Social Democratic Party and its candidate for chancellorship Gerhard Schroeder in the 1998 elections.
Bild is very influential in German politics and is a necessary evil for the country's political class. Its readership consists mainly of employees and skilled workers of middle income and medium to low education.
Source: sansimera
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