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Mathias Döpfner: "If the reputation of the industry, the BDZV and especially the presidency have been damaged, I personally deeply regret it."
Photo: Annegret Hilse / SVEN SIMON / imago images / Sven Simon
After criticizing statements in a private SMS, Mathias Döpfner, President of the newspaper publishers association BDZV, expressed his regret in a letter to the publishers.
At the same time, the CEO of the Axel Springer Group asked for support “with the tasks of the association”.
In the letter, Döpfner, as President of the Federal Association of Digital Publishers and Newspaper Publishers (BDZV), addresses the sometimes publicly expressed displeasure in publishing houses: »I take this criticism very seriously. I am grateful for the openness that enables me to orientate myself and make a better assessment. If this has damaged the reputation of the industry, the BDZV and especially the President's office this week, I personally deeply regret it. "
The background is research on the behavior of the then »Bild« editor-in-chief Julian Reichelt, who was subsequently released from his duties by the Axel Springer media group.
The research by the New York Times and an investigative team from the Ippen media group built on earlier internal investigations by Springer against Reichelt, which concerned allegations of abuse of power in connection with consensual relationships with employees and drug use in the workplace.
After Ippen did not want to publish the research, SPIEGEL published it.
"GDR authoritarian state" and "propaganda assistants"
After the test in spring, the Springer Group initially gave Reichelt a second chance.
The New York Times published her article last Sunday.
One day later, Springer announced Reichelt's departure.
A detail in the newspaper report specifically about Döpfner caused resentment among media companies in Germany.
Some publishers made public statements, and the subject of resignation also came up.
In an older private text message, Döpfner described Reichelt as the last and only journalist in Germany who was still courageous against the "new GDR government".
Almost everyone else has become "propaganda assistants."
Springer had classified that as irony.
Döpfner responded to the SMS again in the association circular dated Friday: “You all know that my criticized statements - keywords: GDR government and PR assistants - were made in a private SMS. She was part of a confidential conversation. Words are usually - you will understand this - not put on the gold scales. There is such a thing as an emotional, provocative, irrational and spontaneous inner life of a bilateral conversation among people who are supposed to trust each other. Outsiders will inevitably not understand this at all or at best get it wrong. "
The BDZV President continued: »Against this background I can understand the excitement.
I am therefore very sorry that this unpredictable development also affected the BDZV, the publishers and the feelings of journalists. "Anyone who knows him knows that" my heart beats for free journalism - and also for the rule of law in which we live «.
His work and thinking are precisely geared towards this.
He will not let up in fighting for this.
skr / dpa
