In the Ostthüringen, everybody knows what OTZ stands for: Practically no one speaks of the Ostthüringer Zeitung when talking about the biggest newspaper of the region although the name of the newspaper based in Gera is not even so old. It got started in July 1991, when the Ostthüringer Nachrichten (OTN) went out of print during the course of a big dispute with the Trust Agency in Berlin and, thanks to the partnership of the WAZ Media Group, was reissued as the Ostthüringer Zeitung.

And yet, the actual birthday was about the time the Berlin wall came down - in January 1990. At exactly 0:47 am on 19 January, a new independent newspaper for Ostthüringen was printed with the OTN, after the editorial office broke free of the clutches of the Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands [United Socialist Party of (East) Germany](SED).

To clearly separate news from opinions, to revive distanced, objective reporting and to give the reader a voice were the credo of editor-in-chief Ullrich Erzigkeit right from the start. In addition, OTZ wants to give readers a point of orientation and a source of help in times of serious social upheavals with an increasingly extensive service. Above all, however, OTZ, as a regional newspaper, has the clout of the local competence between Saale und Weisse Elster. Twelve local editorial offices keep the vital closeness to the readers. Down-to-earth, with deep roots in the region, it has a sense of the cares and needs of the people. This judgement of a market research institute of OTZ is an incentive for the future as well.