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Ex "Bild" editor-in-chief Julian Reichelt
Photo: Norbert SCHMIDT / imago images / Norbert Schmidt
A strangely prudish tone has crept into the reports on the case of the fired »Bild« editor-in-chief Julian Reichelt in the last few days. In the meantime, the impression arises that women are always and fundamentally the victims in relationships with male superiors - even if they themselves want such a relationship. Behind such a view lies a worldview in which women are unable to make a self-determined decision about who they want to go to bed with. This is a particularly perfidious kind of discrimination because it disguises itself as care.
Dear colleagues: Have you, who are now setting the standard moral tone with astonishing unanimity, have never, never had a love affair at work - perhaps even, God forbid, with someone at a higher or lower hierarchical level than you? Or do you not at least have someone in your circle of friends with such a past? Really not? Amazing. Apparently I know people other than you.
The point here is not to defend Julian Reichelt or even to whitewash it. A manager who secretly arranges for a company money to be paid to a loved one or who gives promotions for personal reasons harms the company and need not be surprised at being fired. If, however, consensual sexual relationships are now generally classified as an "abuse of power", then those who are at the bottom of the professional hierarchy are incapacitated. "Numerous women probably suffered from the Reichelt system," writes the "Neue Zürcher Zeitung". Possible. But not every love affair is the result of reprehensible action.
As a young woman, I once had an affair with a supervisor, from which, however, I did not get any professional or financial benefit. I thought the man was great, something like that should happen. If the management of the house we worked for had asked us about our relationship at the time, then we would both have outraged this interference in our private lives - and had public opinion on our side. The superior hadn't been overbearing towards me, and certainly not forcing me to do anything. Nothing happened without my consent. Someone like me at the time does not need the protection of the #MeToo movement, which has great merits in other cases.
Mathias Döpfner, CEO of the Axel Springer Group, certifies that the "Bild" newspaper has a "cultural problem". I totally agree with him, but I would define it differently than he does. Now I might not really care what kind of homely morality Springer-Verlag would like to impose on its employees - if there wasn't the possibility that a cultural change is emerging here that can also affect other publishing houses and even society as a whole. The background to this should not lie in Reichelt's behavior, but something completely different. As is so often the case, it's probably just about money.
At the weekend, the New York Times published a detailed report on the Bild newspaper and Julian Reichelt. On Tuesday, the Axel Springer Group completed the announced takeover of the influential US online portal Politico. Anyone who thinks this is a coincidence also believes that capitalism is always nice and moral and has nothing to do with the fight for market share.
Springer boss Mathias Döpfner addressed the staff of the publishing house with a speech and described his point of view. The »Süddeutsche Zeitung« regards the video, which is »a great plea for diversity, respect, inclusion and so on«, as a »wink« to the investors of KKR, »who are unlikely to be enthusiastic about what happened«. Indeed, and Döpfner cannot be indifferent to that. The US subsidiary has been Springer's largest shareholder since 2020.
The author of the "NY Times" article, Ben Smith, told "Die Zeit" on the Reichelt case that a US manager would have been fired immediately for "any small subset of these allegations, even five percent of the allegations."
Yes, that is quite possible.
After all, high-profile politicians in the United States have been chased from court with abuse and disgrace for betraying their wives.
The question is: Would it be desirable if morals, as in the USA, also prevailed in Germany?
That can certainly be argued.
But I wouldn't be thrilled.
