Ritzau

What is Ritzau?

Ritzau is a Danish news agency. Its corporate site describes it in these words: “Ritzau er et troværdigt, hurtigt og markedsorienteret nyhedsbureau, der sælger målrettede nyhedsprodukter og medieservices til mediehuse, virksomheder og organisationer.” The adjectives in that sentence are the agency's own and are reported here as its self-description.^[1]

The same site gives the company as Ritzaus Bureau A/S, Store Kongensgade 14, 1264 København K, with CVR number 34470359.^[1] Lex, the Danish national encyclopedia, classes it as a “dansk nyhedsbureau”.^[5]

Its ownership is set out on its own ownership page, which lists ten Danish media houses as owners: Dagbladet Børsen, Jysk Fynske Medier, JP/Politikens Hus, Danmarks Radio, Information A/S, Kristeligt Dagblad, Lolland-Falsters Folketidende, Mediehusene Midtjylland, Sjællandske Medier and Det Nordjyske Mediehus. The page names Alex Nielsen, of Herning Folkeblad/Mediehusene Midtjylland, as chair of the board. That list is dated here to the page as it stood on 24 September 2026.^[2]

The agency's corporate pages are served from ritzau.com, and its press-release service from a separate host, via.ritzau.dk.^[1][6]

What does Ritzau cover?

General news, with a sports desk of its own. The agency describes that desk on a recruitment page it published on 28 February 2022 and last modified on 1 November 2024: “Superligaen er blandt de områder, der har højest prioritet hos Ritzaus kunder, men redaktionens ti journalister dækker sportens verden vidt og bredt og udkommer med op mod 30 sportsartikler om dagen.” Those are the agency's own figures, dated to that page, and not an independent count.^[3]

The Superliga it names is the twelve-club 3F Superliga, run by Superligaen A/S.^[8]

The agency's page listing its editorial desks and departments names the news editor, the picture desk Scanpix, Tid & Sted, the Indblik desk, a Christiansborg desk and a Brussels desk. The sports desk is described on its own page.^[4][3]

It also sells a news service to individual professionals. The agency's page for that product states that with it subscribers can “læse og overvåge nyheder hele døgnet rundt”.^[7]

Separately, it runs Via Ritzau, a press-release distribution service that describes itself as “den direkte linje til medierne”. Its footer states: “Pressemeddelelser er videreformidlet af Ritzau på vegne af tredjepart. Ritzau er derfor ikke ansvarlig for indholdet.” Material published there is third-party content, as the footer itself says, not the agency's journalism.^[6]

How large is Ritzau's audience?

No audience figure for the agency was retrieved, from the agency or from a measuring body. What can be documented is its customer and owner base, and its own statement of output.

By its own description it sells to “mediehuse, virksomheder og organisationer”, and its ownership page lists ten Danish media houses as owners.^[1][2] Lex records that the bureau began with four Copenhagen daily newspapers as subscribers and that from 1906 almost all Danish newspapers were among its customers.^[5]

On sport, the agency's own page gives output rather than audience: ten journalists and up to 30 sports articles a day, as of a page published in February 2022 and modified in November 2024.^[3] None of these figures is audited audience measurement.

Since when has Ritzau existed?

Lex dates the agency to 1866, when Erik Nicolai Ritzau (1839–1903) founded it in Copenhagen as Nordisk Centralbureau for Telegrammer. The entry is signed by Jette Drachmann Søllinge and was last edited on 17 August 2015.^[5] The agency's own ownership page gives the same year, stating that Ritzaus Bureau has been a news agency since 1866.^[2] An independent reference and the agency itself therefore agree on the year.

Ownership has changed in two dated steps by the agency's own account: “Familien Ritzau solgte Ritzaus Bureau til de danske dagblade i 1947, og i 2007 kom Danmarks Radio også med i ejerkredsen, som i dag består af 10 danske mediehuse.”^[2] Lex likewise records family ownership until 1947, after which the bureau became a partnership owned by the Danish press.^[5]

Lex also records changes in how the agency delivered its service, including a move to radio distribution in 1923.^[5]

Why does Ritzau matter in Denmark's sport?

It matters first because it has a standing sports desk. By its own account, on a page published in February 2022 and modified in November 2024, ten journalists produce up to 30 sports articles a day, and the Superliga is among the areas its customers give the highest priority.^[3]

It matters second because of who owns it. Its owners are ten Danish media houses, among them the public-service broadcaster DR, which joined the ownership in 2007 by the agency's account, and JP/Politikens Hus.^[2]

It matters third because of whom it serves: it states that it sells news products and media services to media houses, companies and organisations.^[1]

It matters fourth because it also carries organisations' own announcements to the press through Via Ritzau, under a stated disclaimer that Ritzau is not responsible for the content of those releases.^[6]