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Springer boss Döpfner: "The protection of minors is clearly disregarded in this case"
Photo: Malte Ossowski / Sven Simon / imago images
Springer boss Mathias Döpfner has admitted the misstep of the "Bild" reporting on the children killed in Solingen.
"We made mistakes at Axel Springer. 'Bild' published WhatsApp messages from a child who survived one-to-one in an article. We clearly disregarded the protection of minors in this case," said Döpfner, President of the Association of Newspapers BDZV on Tuesday at its congress.
Other media would have rightly criticized this border crossing, emphasized Döpfner.
"Some, although they had also quoted in detail from the boy's private messages. 'Bild' quickly withdrew the article. And other media outlets also adapted their reports."
The chairman of the board of the Springer Verlag went on to say that there had been a lot of internal discussions about this process that were very critical.
"Values in the field of tension"
"We want to and we must do better in the future. Perhaps this case can be the occasion for a broad debate about standards and values in the area of tension between freedom of the press on the one hand and the legitimate protection of personal rights."
Matthias Döpfner has been President of the Association of Newspaper Publishers since July 2016 and was unanimously confirmed when he was re-elected on Monday.
In the run-up, individual voices had called for protests against the journalistic methods of the "Bild" newspaper in the run-up to the election.
Despite the harsh criticism, there was no vote against on Monday.
At the beginning of September, five dead children were found in an apartment in Solingen, North Rhine-Westphalia.
The 27-year-old mother is suspected of having killed her.
Only her eleven year old son remained alive.
"Bild" was massively criticized because the newspaper had quoted from the boy's chat messages that he had written after the death of his siblings.
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cpa / dpa