Axel Springer
“Bild” editor-in-chief demands an apology from Döpfner
According to Marion Horn, editor-in-chief of “Bild”, the leaked private messages from Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner unsettle the editorial team. photo
© Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa
Derogatory comments by Axel Springer chairman Döpfner about East Germans unsettle the “Bild” editorial team. This is what Editor-in-Chief Horn writes in a comment. She defends the freedom of the paper.
“Bild” editor-in-chief Marion Horn calls on her boss, Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner, to apologize for controversial statements. In a comment published on the “Bild” website, Horn wrote: “Yes, Mathias Döpfner texted sentences that are absolutely wrong as they stand, but that’s not what we think at Bild or in this publisher. Actually, an apology is due, boss!”
The weekly newspaper “Die Zeit” had previously reported on messages that were said to have been sent within the Springer group. The newspaper 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. For example, it was about derogatory comments about East Germans or criticism of ex-Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU). And Döpfner is said to have wished for FDP-friendly reporting from “Bild” before the federal election.
“I won’t let anyone tell me what “Bild” has to write”
Horn, who has been chairing the “Bild” editors-in-chief since last month, admitted in her comment: “The publication of private messages from our CEO unsettles the Bild team, our families, friends and our readers. Many are angry because he B. disrespectful about East Germans. I don’t like that either.”
The comment is headed: “I won’t let anyone tell me what “Bild” has to write”. Elsewhere, Horn writes about Döpfner, who also holds a larger part of the company’s shares: “Our first principle is to stand up for freedom.” That also means that “Bild” is free to report as the newspaper sees fit. “And Mathias Döpfner defends this freedom every day, even against resistance from politics, business and culture.”
After the publication of the “Zeit” article, Döpfner spoke up on the company’s intranet: “My articles, which have been published for more than four decades, show what I think. I take responsibility for every word that is published Snippets of conversation cannot be contrasted as my “true thinking.”