Das Wirtschaftsressort der Frankfurter Allgemeinen Zeitung und die Medialisierung der Wirtschaftspolitik in den 1950er Jahren

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung became a leading federal-German medium in the 1950s. The business section of the newspaper was affected by the straight regulative orientation of the Ordoliberalism. This regulative profile served as a guideline for the news coverage of the business section in regulative debates for example the law of cartel ban during 1955 and 1958. Erich Welter, editor in chief of the business section, committed his editors to the basics of the Ordoliberalism. The business section of the FAZ was part of a close pattern of supporting groups of the ‘Soziale Marktwirtschaft’. The journalists were in close contact to the Federal Ministry of Economics under the direction of Ludwig Erhard. The coverage of the FAZ business section contributed relevantly to the popularization of Erhard’s economic-political course. During the economic-political debates of the mid 1950s the business section of the FAZ acted in many cases as a speaking tube for the “Freiburger Schule”. With its close relation to the Federal Ministry of Economics the business section contributed to the medialization of economic politics in German post war period.