The newspaper and its associated web presence RP Online started in 1996 have a special connection with the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The Rheinische Post is not only popular here but also has a strong following in Berlin. On a daily basis, it provides well-founded information and reasoned opinions on politics, the economy, culture, sport and regional issues, and gives its readers news with genuine value and emotion.
The Rheinische Post considers itself the voice of the West heard by the nation. It aims to offer an analytical insight into the world while at the same time competently reporting on regional matters. Assisted by a comprehensive network of correspondents, more than 270 dedicated editors and journalism students report from Düsseldorf and the surrounding area, Bergisches Land, the Lower Rhine, Berlin, and other German and international metropolises, and tell readers what is currently shaking up the world, the nation and the region.
The Rheinische Post is at home in the world yet firmly rooted in the local area. This is also reflected in its regional newspaper titles: the RP is known as the Bergische Morgenpost in Bergisches Land and as the Solinger Morgenpost in Solingen. In the Rhein-Kreis Neuss district, the Rheinische Post is continuing its tradition of the Neuß-Grevenbroicher Zeitung newspaper.
A dense network of local editorial offices, a well-established parliamentary office in Berlin, the central editorial office in Düsseldorf, and correspondents in Washington, Brussels and Paris develop their own topics, thus ensuring extensive reporting in Germany and beyond. There are also the partner newspapers, which include the General-Anzeiger in Bonn, the Aachener Zeitung, the Kölnische Rundschau, the Rhein-Zeitung in Koblenz, the Allgemeine Zeitung in Mainz, the Darmstädter Echo and the Wiesbadener Kurier. These supply the editors of the Rheinische Post with interregional content. The Rheinische Post also works closely with the editorial team of the Saarbrücker Zeitung, which has been part of the Rheinische Post Mediengruppe since 2012.
“We see ourselves as the leading medium for the Rhineland: with our local reporting as well as with a value-oriented discourse on the relevant topics of the time. Whether in newspapers or e-paper, on our Internet portal, via our newsletter or in social media, the focus is always on high-quality, substantial journalism,” says Editor-in-Chief Moritz Döbler. The results are one of the most far-reaching regional news portals in Germany and a multi-award-winning, high-quality product – the newspaper itself. In 2017 alone, the editorial team received five European Newspaper Awards for innovative newspaper style after having already been presented with the Kress Award as well as the Cross Media Award by the World Association of Newspapers. In the same year, regional reporter Julia Rathcke and former Editor-in-Chief Michael Bröcker were declared “journalists of the year” by a jury of 100 industry experts. Regional editor Henning Rasche won the renowned Axel-Springer-Prize in 2021. Moreover Rheinische Post Edidors received the Konrad Adenauer Prize, the German Federal Press Conference Award among other award. Quality that can also be measured by numbers: With more than 700,000 readers of the printed newspaper, almost 1.2 billion digital page impressions in 2020, around 450,000 newsletter subscribers, the Rheinische Post is one of the most cited media in Germany.
The news desk at the central editorial office in Düsseldorf represents the heart of integrated editorial work. This is where the news gathered by journalists and editors comes together. The editors analyse and assess topics and prepare them for printing or online publication.
Day in, day out, RP editors strive to plan and create a modern, visually appealing newspaper with clear-cut content. The newspaper has moved with the times and it is precisely because of this that it has remained what one of its founders Karl Arnold described it as when it first appeared in March 1946: a reflection of its time. Proof of a pulsating, economically strong region steeped in culture, an aspiring country and a society that is moved.
