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Publisher Dirk Ippen (archive photo): »... that the impression does not arise that we want to harm a competitor economically«
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imago stock & people / imago images / Oryk HAIST
The Ippen media group has commented on reports about a planned, but not carried out publication of its own research on »Bild« editor-in-chief Julian Reichelt.
"As a media group that is in direct competition with› Bild ‹, we have to be very careful not to give the impression that we want to harm a competitor economically," writes the company.
"So the decision was made to avoid any impression that we might be part of an attempt to cause such economic damage." Ippen left it open whether the research might be published at a later date.
The "New York Times" published a long report on the Axel Springer media group at the weekend, also with a view to the plans to take over the US media group Politico.
The article dealt among other things with "Bild" editor-in-chief Reichelt and allegations against him that became public for the first time in the spring.
In the German media there were allegations of abuse of power and exploitation of relationships of dependency.
SPIEGEL also described the Reichelt system.
Springer later examined the allegations in an internal procedure.
In March, the company announced: »The board of directors came to the conclusion that it would not be justified to remove Julian Reichelt from his position as editor-in-chief due to the errors in office and personnel management found in the investigation - which are not of a criminal nature The overall assessment also included the “enormous strategic and structural change processes and the journalistic performance under the leadership of Julian Reichelt”.
After a temporary leave of absence, Reichelt finally returned to Germany's largest tabloid.
The New York Times mentioned in its report that the investigative research team at Ippen - which emerged from the former Buzzfeed News team in Germany - had been researching for months and had actually planned a publication with further details.
This was then withheld after the influence of the publisher Dirk Ippen.
The media house Ippen, whose portfolio includes the »Frankfurter Rundschau«, »Münchner Merkur« and the Munich tabloid »TZ«, wrote of the withheld research that it was not an easy or quick decision, and »there was an intense discussion both sides in the house «.
"A publisher always has the right to set guidelines"
“As the Ippen media group, we are very clear about the fact that editorial teams can and must work freely and independently.
At the same time, a publisher always has the right to set guidelines, and it is also normal to weigh up the legal risks together in large-scale research. "
The research team had expressed their displeasure with the decision in a letter to the publisher and management.
The protest letter circulated on the net.
The media group Ippen emphasized that the investigative team is doing a great job and has already published several impressive stories.
"That is why we naturally want to continue working with the outstanding journalists."
According to the media company, Springer had no influence on the decision to forego publication.
“There were no personal attempts by Springer executives to stop the research.
The exchange with Springer was limited to the usual correspondence between the respective lawyers in these cases. "
A spokesman for the media group Axel Springer announced on request: “With Axel Springer's knowledge, there was no attempt to prevent publications in connection with the compliance investigation.
This does not affect legal notices that serve to protect the legitimate interests of the company and its employees. "
ssu / dpa-AFX
