The Reichelt affair again occupies the media group Axel Springer. A media report claims to have quoted company boss Döpfner from internal group news. The whole thing falls just before the publication of an expected roman a clef.
A media report about alleged internal messages from Axel Springer boss Mathias Döpfner has again caused a stir about the affair surrounding the former “Bild” editor-in-chief Julian Reichelt. According to information from the German Press Agency, Springer circles responded on Thursday that the article consisted of “manipulative SMS scraps”. The CEO addressed his own employees on the same day with a reaction.
The weekly newspaper “Die Zeit” published a long report on the Springer boss early in the morning and, according to its own statements, referred to documents that are said to have come from previous years. It is about e-mails and chat messages from the closest management circle of the media group, many are from the Springer boss himself. The newspaper listed quotes. It is striking that several were said to have been sent directly by Döpfner to the then “Bild” editor-in-chief Reichelt. The journalistic brand “Bild” is part of the Springer portfolio.
Springer boss Döpfner wrote to the employees on the company’s intranet on Thursday: “My articles, which have been published for more than four decades, show what I think. I take responsibility for every word I publish. Snippets of text and conversation taken out of context cannot be countered as my “true thinking.” The intranet text was available to the dpa. The quotes that Die Zeit lists in its text, including the spelling mistakes they contain, are, for example, derogatory remarks about East Germany. According to the newspaper report, the CEO is said to have written in 2019: “The ossis will never become democrats. Perhaps the former GDR should be turned into an agricultural and production zone with a standard wage.”
“Mr. Döpfner is no longer acceptable”
The passages on East Germany promptly led to criticism from politicians. The federal government’s representative for Eastern Europe, Carsten Schneider, even called for the Springer boss to be replaced. “After this publication, Mr. Döpfner is finally no longer acceptable at the head of a publishing house with this journalistic power and in view of the important role of the media for our democracy,” said the SPD politician to the “t-online” news portal. The Thuringian Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (left) also spoke to “t-online” and accused Döpfner of never having completed German unity intellectually – each of his lines lives the spirit of division.
One of the critics was Paula Piechotta, the East Commissioner of the Greens parliamentary group in the Bundestag. She said: “Döpfner’s statements hurt, but he is definitely not the only West German who thinks so.” Such prejudices “will only slowly die out with the new generations”. Döpfner emphasized in his intranet post: “Of course I have no prejudices against people from East Germany. But for decades I have been disappointed and worried that quite a few voters in the new federal states have swung from the far left to the far right.” The success of the AfD worried him.
The quotes published by “Zeit” are also about sympathy for the policies of former US President Donald Trump. And apparently, according to the report, it is also about criticism of ex-Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU). “Zeit” used a quote in which “M” is mentioned. “It is a nail in the coffin of democracy.” The quotes are also about an aversion to wind turbines.
The newspaper also writes that the head of the publishing house, Döpfner, acted in a partisan way. The 60-year-old is said to have wanted pro-FDP reporting in the “Bild” before the last federal election.
“I like to argue in the sense of freedom of expression”
In his reaction to the Springer employees, Döpfner went into individual passages of the “Zeit” article. For example, he said about the FDP complex: “I like to argue in the interests of diversity of opinion and freedom of expression – especially with our editors-in-chief, who are all mature and self-confident. This also expressly applies to the alleged influence on the FDP matter.” He is very close to the values of this party. “But thank God our journalists don’t let that affect them.” In the end, according to Döpfner, the editors-in-chief decide.
From Springer circles it was further said about the “Zeit” article that the intention of the article was recognizable: it should cause unrest and distract from the essentials.
With the article, the Reichelt affair catches up with the media group, which wants to expand primarily in the USA. Reichelt had to vacate his position as editor-in-chief of Germany’s largest tabloid in autumn 2021 and leave the group. The background to his career end at “Bild” had been allegations of abuse of power in connection with consensual relationships with employees. The journalist himself later spoke of a “smear campaign” against him and had rejected allegations.
In the spring of 2021, the media group initiated internal proceedings against the journalist to review the allegations and initially decided to give him a second chance. A media report in the US newspaper “New York Times” picked up the case again in October 2021, and Springer immediately drew a line and released Reichelt from his duties.
The news magazine “Der Spiegel” reported independently of the “Zeit” report, citing its own information, that Springer had been considering legal action against Reichelt for some time. Julian Reichelt’s media lawyer, Ben Irle – who is also quoted in the “Zeit” reporting – said when asked by the dpa that they were examining “the criminal prosecution of behavior and civil claims against all those involved”.
The “Zeit” report appeared a few days before the publication of the new book by author Benjamin von Stuckrad-Barre, which was eagerly awaited in the media industry. The fictional work “Still awake?”, which will be published on April 19, is said to be a roman à clef about the Springer media company.
Stuckrad-Barre became part of the New York Times’ coverage of Springer in October, which helped trigger Reichelt’s departure. Döpfner drew criticism from the media industry with a private short message quoted in the article that he had sent to Stuckrad-Barre. In it, the Springer boss described Reichelt as the last and only journalist in Germany who was still bravely rebelling against the “new GDR authoritarian state”. Almost everyone else had become “propaganda assistants”. Springer classified the short message as ironic.