[3][4] One of the oldest newspapers still published, it originally appeared as Zürcher Zeitung,[5] edited by the Swiss painter and poet Salomon Gessner, on 12 January 1780.

According to Peter K. Buse and Jürgen C. Doerr, many prestige German language newspapers followed its example because it set "standards through an objective, in-depth treatment of subject matter, eloquent commentary, an extensive section on entertainment, and one on advertising.

Historically, the newspaper has been politically positioned close to the liberal Free Democratic Party of Switzerland since its early period.

[10] However, in 2014, Markus Somm (formerly an editor at the Basler Zeitung), a more pronounced right-wing journalist, was slated to became editor-in-chief, leading to fears of a rightward shift by staff and resulting in internal protest.

[11] However, the appointment of Eric Gujer as editor-in-chief in 2015 and René Scheu as head of the feature section in 2016, as well as almost half of all contributing editors leaving the newspaper between 2015 and December 2017, marked a noticeable shift to the right, according to critics.

The result is a searchable digital archive, accessible online by subscribers and publicly on site in Zurich.

[21] The Neue Zürcher Zeitung was a co-recipient of the 1979 Erasmus Prize, alongside German newspaper Die Zeit.