With its long tradition as a media centre, Berlin has become increasingly important over recent years as a location for press, film, television and especially the new media.

Ten daily newspapers are published here, including three with a national readership. Numerous German and foreign news agencies and the correspondents of national and international media send reports all over the world.

Private and public television stations have their capital city studios or their main headquarters in Berlin. The television news station n-tv has broadcast its programmes from Berlin since it was founded in 1992. The major public channels ARD and ZDF have set up their studios in the centre of the city, just a few metres from the Reichstag. The Federal Press Conference building is in the immediate vicinity. In 1999, the TV station SAT.1 opened its new headquarters in Jägerstrasse in Berlin-Mitte. The television company Deutsche Welle mainly produces programmes for foreign viewers in Berlin. Local TV stations such as B1, FAB and tv-berlin provide information about events in the region. The radio station DeutschlandRadio Berlin is one of the two publicly owned radio stations – the other one being Deutschlandfunk Cologne – which can be received throughout Germany.

Berlin has also become more attractive as a location for publishing companies. The figure of 300 publishing houses in the capital city includes major educational publishers, specialist publishers of scientific literature, fiction publishers and book–loving one–person companies with their unique publishing profile. Almost ten per cent of the books published in Germany now come from Berlin.

The greatest growth market in the area of information and communication in Berlin is the new media. The number of companies is expanding, especially in the multimedia sector. The high level of qualification of personnel in Berlin – with over 50 further education courses in the information processing sector at universities and colleges – is a great advantage.

Berlin will have a leading competitive position in digital technology. Germany’s first pilot project for terrestrial digital television was broadcast in 1997 at the Radio Exhibition. Numerous additional information services are already broadcast via digital radio programmes.