He additionally mentioned the Bild office tradition wouldn’t be replicated in the USA. “We won’t tolerate any conduct in our organizations worldwide that doesn’t comply with our very clear compliance insurance policies. We aspire to be the perfect digital media firm within the democratic world with the very best moral requirements and an inclusive, open tradition,” he mentioned.
Axel Springer forwarded a letter from attorneys stating that Bild was not legally obliged to fireplace Mr. Reichelt.
However a March 1 message from Mr. Döpfner to a buddy with whom he later had a falling out over the best way the corporate dealt with the allegations in opposition to Mr. Reichelt, Benjamin von Stuckrad-Barre, means that, whereas Mr. Döpfner was central to deciding the right way to act on the investigation’s findings as chief government, he could not have been neutral. Within the message, despatched after Axel Springer had develop into conscious of the allegations, however earlier than the investigation was underway, Mr. Döpfner referred to an opinion column by Mr. Reichelt complaining about Covid restrictions.
Mr. Döpfner wrote that “we now have to be particularly cautious” within the investigation, as a result of Mr. Reichelt “is absolutely the final and solely journalist in Germany who remains to be courageously rebelling in opposition to the brand new GDR authoritarian state,” in keeping with a replica of the message that I obtained. (The reference to GDR, or Communist East Germany, on this context, is a bit like “woke mob.”) Mr. Döpfner additionally wrote that Mr. Reichelt had “highly effective enemies.”
Mr. Döpfner’s political assertion in that message could appear at odds together with his acknowledged plans for his new American properties, which The Wall Avenue Journal reported final week, will “embody his imaginative and prescient of unbiased, nonpartisan reporting, versus activist journalism, which, he mentioned, is enhancing societal polarization within the U.S. and elsewhere.”
As Axel Springer was struggling to comprise the fallout from the Bild investigation, Mr. Döpfner’s focus was on Washington. This spring and summer season, he performed secret, parallel conversations with executives at two rival information organizations primarily based in Washington, Politico and Axios, the positioning began in 2016 by the previous Politico journalists Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen and Roy Schwartz.
Mr. Döpfner’s aim was to purchase each and mix them right into a mighty competitor to the nation’s largest information shops. The Politico acquisition, introduced in August, was a triumph for his firm. However behind the scenes, Axel Springer’s courting model had alienated its different goal.