Volksstimme

The SPD is one of the oldest and largest parties in Germany, founded in 1863 and active under its current name since 1890. It has provided several German chancellors and currently holds the office of Federal President, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and is represented in many state governments. The party was banned during the Nazi era, rebuilt its structures after 1945, and is now also economically active. Through its wholly owned subsidiary ddvg, the SPD holds stakes in over 40 companies, including major media houses such as the Madsack Media Group. The ddvg is the SPD's central asset management company and, according to KEK, owns shares in around 370 publications in print, online, radio, and TV.

Marco Fehrecke is managing director of Mitteldeutsche Verlags- und Druckhaus GmbH and coordinator of the Magdeburg media group, which includes the Volksstimme and General-Anzeiger newspapers and various logistics and service companies. His focus is on local journalism in Saxony-Anhalt and its role in providing information, shaping opinion, and promoting urban development at the local level.

Marc Rath has been editor-in-chief of the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung since 2022 and, since February 2023, also of the Volksstimme. He has been working in Saxony-Anhalt since 1991. He initially headed several local editorial offices, was a state political editor and, for a time, also press spokesman for two state ministries in Magdeburg ( ) and an association in Berlin. He subsequently served as editor-in-chief of several local newspapers belonging to the Ippen Group and, as a member of the editorial board, coordinated the local editions of the Volksstimme. From 2018 to 2022, he was editor-in-chief of the Landeszeitung für die Lüneburger Heide, published in Lüneburg.

From 1946 to 1989, the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) was the sole ruling Marxist-Leninist state party of the GDR, centrally controlling all political, social, and cultural spheres of life. To enforce its ideology, it established a comprehensive media monopoly centered on the party's central organ, the daily newspaper Neues Deutschland.

In addition to Neues Deutschland, the SED published a district newspaper in each of the 14 districts of the GDR, which served as the organ of the respective district leadership. Among the best known were the Ostsee-Zeitung in Rostock, the Leipziger Volkszeitung in Leipzig, the Volksstimme in Magdeburg, and the Sächsische Zeitung in Dresden. Together, these 15 district newspapers achieved a total daily circulation of around 4.7 million copies in 1977; in total, the SED press accounted for over 70% of the GDR's daily press circulation.