Alexandra Föderl-Schmid
After suspected plagiarism: Deputy SZ editor-in-chief is allowed to keep her doctorate
May keep her doctorate after a check due to suspicion of plagiarism: Alexandra Föderl-Schmid, deputy editor-in-chief of the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”
© Eventpress Roland / Picture Alliance
In 1996, the later deputy editor-in-chief of the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, Alexandra Föderl-Schmid, submitted her doctoral thesis. Suspicions of plagiarism arose months ago. The University of Salzburg has now completed the study of the dissertation.
After allegations of plagiarism were examined, the deputy editor-in-chief of the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, Alexandra Föderl-Schmid, was allowed to keep her doctorate. The Paris Lodron University of Salzburg announced on Thursday that a commission had completed the review of the dissertation and concluded in its report that “no relevant scientific misconduct” could be identified. The proceedings were discontinued.
It was the beginning of February Suspicion of plagiarism arose. The journalist then asked the university to examine her doctoral thesis. Föderl-Schmid submitted the work in 1996. It is entitled “From Monopoly to Market: Ten Years of the Dual Broadcasting System in Germany”.
Suspicion of plagiarism in doctoral thesis dispelled
Föderl-Schmid has been deputy editor-in-chief of the national daily newspaper in Munich since July 2020. Previously, she was editor-in-chief of the Vienna daily newspaper “Der Standard” for many years.
In addition to the suspicion of plagiarism regarding her doctoral thesis, her journalistic work also came into focus because of allegations about her handling of sources. The Austrian-born journalist therefore temporarily withdrew from day-to-day operations at the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” (SZ). An external commission is examining these allegations on behalf of the SZ. The committee consists of the former “Spiegel” editor-in-chief Steffen Klusmann, the head of the German School of Journalism, Henriette Löwisch, and the Eichstätter journalism professor Klaus Meier.
SZ checks texts by Alexandra Föderl-Schmid
The SZ editor-in-chief announced on Thursday that the review of the journalistic texts was still ongoing. “This is about clarifying the allegations that Alexandra Föderl-Schmid handled sources improperly when writing the texts and thereby violated journalistic standards. We are confident that the commission will complete its work in the coming weeks and we will do so on this basis can make a final assessment.”
The suspicion of plagiarism regarding the journalist’s doctoral thesis was raised by communication scientist Stefan Weber, who had already made allegations of plagiarism against doctoral theses in other cases. According to his own statements, he claims to have identified at least around 160 positions so far. The client for the plagiarism check for the doctoral thesis was the media portal “Nius”, whose most prominent journalist is the former “Bild” editor-in-chief Julian Reichelt. The SZ editor-in-chief called the fact that the University of Salzburg had completed the examination a “good result for our colleague”.