The New York Times goggles in disbelief when their man in Munich reports that German newspapers are doing brilliantly (comparatively, that is). More papers were being published there in 2012 than in 2011. Sales may be slipping a bit, but revenue is holding very steady – and what closures you find are rooted in individual rather than general circumstance. Four of the biggest papers, meanwhile, are behind a big marketing campaign to push their strength to the 72% of Germans over 14 who read a paper regularly. What on earth is so special or so particular to Germany compared with the US or (whisper it) the UK?

You could well turn the question round. Remember that global newspaper sales were – on the most authoritative survey – up in 2012, not down. And that decline in poor, despised mainland Europe was often far slower than in English-speaking parts. The curse of the internet isn't as strong if the net itself is weaker. But Germany adds extra force by producing great papers in Frankfurt, Munich, Düsseldorf and Hamburg (among other spots) that carry regional and national clout. It's a chance of geography as well as an opportunity. Tabloids, such as Bild, don't have a local identity, but if you want quality reportage, you also get the best, most insightful news about the city and region you live in.

Compare and contrast Britain, where the power of the nationals has blown most regional dailies away or stunted their growth over decades; or the US, where local dailies, chained together by debt and squeezed margins, have hacked away at any decent combination of national and regional coverage. So why does Germany prosper? Perhaps, in part, because it hasn't made the mistakes that proliferate elsewhere.