Status: October 18, 2021 6:48 p.m.
The Axel Springer publishing house has released “Bild” editor-in-chief Reichelt from his duties. He also said that “after completing the compliance procedure, there was no clear separation between private and professional matters” and said the untruth about it.
The media group Axel Springer released “Bild” editor-in-chief Julian Reichelt from his duties with immediate effect. As a result of media research, the company has gained new insights into Reichelt’s current behavior in recent days. “The company followed up on this information. The management board found out that Julian Reichelt did not clearly separate personal and professional matters even after completing the compliance procedure in spring 2021 and told the management board that it was untrue,” said the publisher in a statement .
Springer boss Mathias Döpfner is quoted in the message: “Julian Reichelt developed ‘Bild’ brilliantly in journalistic terms and made the brand sustainable with ‘Bild live’. We would have gladly continued the path of cultural renewal we have taken with the editorial team and the publishing house together with Julian Reichelt. This is no longer possible. “
The new chairman of the three-person editor-in-chief will therefore be Johannes Boie. The 37-year-old is currently editor-in-chief of the Springer newspaper “Welt am Sonntag”.
Allegations of abuse of power
Since the beginning of March there have been allegations of abuse of power against Reichelt. At that time, the “Spiegel” reported that around half a dozen female employees had reported incidents from previous years to the media company.
After the allegations were published, Reichelt was released at his own request, and the company initiated a compliance investigation to examine the allegations. Reichelt returned to his place of work at the end of March. The reason given at the time was that the board of the media group did not see it as justified to dismiss Reichelt from his post, despite identified errors in office and personnel management.
The “New York Times” published a long report on Axel Springer at the weekend, also with a view to the plans to take over the US media group Politico. The article also dealt with Reichelt and the allegations against him that became public for the first time in the spring. The newspaper also referred to previously unpublished months of research by an investigative team of the Ippen media group.