How do the publishing houses belonging to the Federal Association of Digital Publishers and Newspaper Publishers (BDZV) feel about the statements made by their President Mathias Döpfner? He had it in a text message to the writer Benjamin von Stuckrad-Barre Federal Republic as a “new GDR authoritative state” because of the Corona measures designated. The SZ asked 14 publishers and managing directors, three of them clearly condemn Döpfner’s statements. The Funke Medien Gruppe (among other things Berliner Morgenpost, Hamburger Abendblatt, WAZ). The statements “are of course in no way tenable and not appropriate to the office of BDZV President”.
The publishers Bärbel Schnell and Sabine Schnell-Pleyer from Verlag Nürnberger Presse (Nuremberg News) condemn Döpfner’s words as “absolutely unacceptable”. They admit that private messages are certainly to be rated differently than public tweets, but state that “there is still a completely inappropriate core of the statements”: “In our opinion, Mr. Döpfner damages the reputation of the entire industry and thus indirectly adds damage our house. For us, the result is a high loss of trust. We will seek a discussion on the Döpfner case within the BDZV. “
The Madsack media group referred to the statement of the chairman of the management, Thomas Düffert: “The statements of Mr. Döpfner for all journalists of the Madsack media group and certainly also beyond an inappropriate and failed disparagement”. Eleven out of 14 publishers asked did not respond, including SWMH, publisher of SZ.