Postimees

Postimees (The Postman) is an Estonian daily newspaper established on January 1, 1857, by Johann Voldemar Jannsen. It became Estonia's first daily newspaper in 1891. Its current editor-in-chief is Merit Kopli. The paper has approximately 250 employees.

Postimees is published 6 days a week and has the largest circulation and readership not only in Estonia, but also in the Baltic region, with 55,000 copies bought weekdays and over 72,000 at weekends.

97% of the circulation is subscription-based, 3% sold. The weekend Postimees, published on Saturdays, brings the investigative journalism and weekend events to the readers. Included in the Saturday edition are AK (Arvamus ja Kultuur), Arter, and a television-guide.

The publisher of Postimees, AS Postimees is owned by Eesti Meedia Group (until the autumn of 2013 it was owned by Norwegian group Schibsted).

History

Postimees is considered to be the oldest newspaper in Estonia. It was first established in Pärnu on 5 June 1857 by Johann Voldemar Jannsen. Karl August Hermann bought the paper in 1886, and he began publishing Postimees in Tartu. In 1891 Postimees became Estonia's first daily newspaper. In 1896 the newspaper was bought by Tartu’s intellectuals. It was edited by Jaan Tõnisson who brought together many talented cultural figures such as August Kitzberg, Anna Haava and Karl August Hindrey. He became a long-time editor of the newspaper in the independent Republic of Estonia. Postimees has played an important role in Estonians’ educational and cultural development. In 1948 the name of Postimees was changed to Edasi to make it more Soviet. The paper began to be published with its original name in 1994.