Ljubljana - Exactly 60 years have passed since the first issue of Nedeljski Dnevnik, the most popular Slovenian weekly newspaper. "All those decades it has been an indispensable part of families. Its topics have always found their way to the people and readers repaid it with loyalty," Nedeljski Dnevnik journalist Tomaž Bukovec wrote on the occasion.

The first issue of Nedeljski, a tabloid-format newspaper, was released on Sunday, 7 January 1962. The man behind the project, one of the first great economic and media projects at the time, was the then editor-in-chief Miloš Mikeln.

"Nedeljski Dnevnik has always been a symbol of popular press that is not necessarily based on great political and economic topics but is close to an average citizen without necessarily focussing on bloody, tabloid topics and scandals," media expert Marko Milosavljević said about its popularity.

He sees it as a "weekly that is based on connecting people in a friendly way, on connecting locals, neighbours". This has made it a world record holder in the 1970s in terms of circulation per inhabitant, he said.

The largest circulation, 240,000, was recorded in the second half of the 1980s.

The weekly also backed Slovenia's independence in the early 1990s with a big front page title Hold on Slovenia! as Yugoslavian army tanks moved toward Slovenia's border crossings. But it has never been limited only to developments in Slovenia, following stories from all over the world.

The weekly is published by publisher Dnevnik and its circulation in 2020 was around 82,000. Sixteen journalists and editors worked at the paper in 2020.

The small team of journalists behind Nedeljski is different from other editorial teams as it has been constantly maintaining a direct contact with readers, according to Bukovec.

Since 1962, the weekly has had five editors-in-chief. The current one, Tatjana Tanackovič, took over in 2017. Congratulating Nedeljski on its birthday, she wrote that "it is not only an honour but a privilege to be at the helm of such a newspaper".

The weekly has been keeping its course for sixty years, bringing interesting stories to its readers, who have remained loyal to the paper for decades and it is not seldom that the subscription is passed on from parents to children, Bukovec wrote.

Several public figures have congratulated the paper on its anniversary, including President Borut Pahor, Slovenia's first President Milan Kučan, the mayors of Ljubljana and Maribor, UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin and several other prominent figures.