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Julian Reichelt in January 2020
Photo: Jörg Schüler / IMAGO
Former »Bild« editor-in-chief Julian Reichelt spoke in detail for the first time in an interview with »Zeit« about his dismissal and the related allegations.
In the interview, Reichelt disagreed on many points with the presentation of the Springer Group and its boss Mathias Döpfner about the circumstances and reasons for his expulsion.
Reichelt was relieved of his duties with immediate effect in October because, after an internal investigation in spring 2021, he was alleged to have had a relationship with a "Bild" employee on allegations of abuse of power and to have lied to the board about it.
Group boss Mathias Döpfner himself had subsequently told the workforce in internal video messages that Reichelt had not learned from his mistakes and had not told the board the truth.
Then one had to act.
The New York Times and SPIEGEL published research in October;
Parts of the research by the "Ippen Investigative" team, according to which Reichelt had several relationships with female employees, also flowed into the SPIEGEL report.
Springer stays with the "previous representation"
Reichelt does not deny these relationships in the "Zeit" interview, but he does deny the accusation of having abused his power as editor-in-chief. He never put pressure on the women, nor did he molest them. In addition, Reichelt rejects the untruth of having told Springer boss Döpfner about an ongoing relationship with an employee. “I didn't lie to Mathias Döpfner about that. That's why I was very surprised at how surprised he claims to have been, "says Reichelt. The bottom line was that he was thrown out for his relationship - "for loving someone".
In addition, in the interview, Reichelt raised allegations of a targeted campaign against several media outlets - including SPIEGEL and the ARD “Tagesthemen”.
The goal was an "extermination campaign against a journalist";
he had got the impression that it was not about him as a person, but "about the annihilation and extermination of political opponents".
The former editor-in-chief therefore refuses to apologize to affected people: "I don't know who and what for."
On request, Springer-Verlag announced: "We have nothing to add to our previous presentation."
fdi / rai
