Feminist magazine Emma to close after fifty years
Founder Alice Schwarzer calls the decision a deliberate closure, not primarily a financial necessity.
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The German feminist magazine Emma will be published for the last time on 8 December, after fifty years. Founder Alice Schwarzer announced the decision; according to her, financial problems were not the main reason.
Emma was founded by Alice Schwarzer in 1977 and grew into an influential and often controversial magazine within German feminism. In a statement, the editorial team says the magazine is closing after fifty years and 398 issues.
Schwarzer told news agency dpa that although circulation had fallen, revenues still covered costs. According to her, the decision was above all a deliberate choice to end the magazine. The final edition will be published on 8 December.
The magazine covered subjects that for a long time received less prominent attention in the German media, including sexual violence, women’s rights and the place of religion in society. Emma combined journalism with outspoken positions, giving the magazine both influence and attracting criticism.
The closure therefore marks more than the end of a magazine. It also shows how difficult it is for specialised opinion magazines to maintain a recognisable role over the long term in a media landscape with social media, podcasts and digital news platforms.
At the same time, the end of the print edition does not mean that Alice Schwarzer or her editorial team will immediately disappear from public debate. The website and other activities under the brand will continue to exist, according to the information available, but their scale and form have not been fully explained.
For Dutch readers, Emma is above all relevant as an example of the changing role of ideological and feminist magazines in Europe. The magazine was not a neutral news organisation, but a platform with a clear editorial identity. The significance of its end therefore depends both on the loss of journalistic output and on whether that voice is continued elsewhere.
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The closure, the date of the final publication and Alice Schwarzer’s role have been confirmed by the magazine’s own editorial team and an independent news agency. Claims about continuing digital activities have been phrased cautiously because few details are yet available.
- confirmed Emma is closing after fifty years. — Emma’s own statement and dpa report the end after fifty years. source
- confirmed The final edition will be published on 8 December. — This is stated in dpa’s reporting. source
- confirmed Alice Schwarzer says that financial problems are not the main reason. — Dpa quotes Schwarzer on this. source
- confirmed Emma was published 398 times. — The number of editions is stated in Emma’s statement. source
Editor's note
The decision and the date of the final edition have been confirmed by Emma and dpa. The brand’s digital future and the precise reasons beyond Schwarzer’s statement are less fully documented.Sources
- Pressemitteilung: EMMA geht — EMMA
- German feminist Alice Schwarzer to close Emma magazine after 50 years — dpa/NAMPA
- Alice Schwarzer beendet Magazin Emma — Deutschlandfunk
More on this in Dutch media
- NU.nl — „emma alice schwarzer”
- De Telegraaf — „emma alice schwarzer”
- AD — „emma alice schwarzer”