Salzburger Nachrichten was established in 1945 by the American forces occupying Austria following World War II.

[5] When the paper became under the Austrian supervision, its early contributors were Viktor Reimann, Ilse Leitenberger and Alfons Dalma who were affiliated with the anti-Fascist groups during World War II.

[4] In the post-war period Salzburger Nachrichten focused on provincial events and news and did not exclusively cover significant events of the period such as the trials of the Nazi figures in Nuremberg.

[1][6] Its publisher is Maximilian Dasch Jr,[3] and its headquarters is in Salzburg[1] which was designed by the Italian architect Gio Ponti.

[7] As of 2002 the paper was one of four quality daily newspapers with nationwide distribution along with Der Standard, Die Presse, and Wiener Zeitung.