Springer’s head caused an uproar

New scandals expose Matthias Dupfner to criticism. once again. Because the boss of Axel Springer has already made headlines several times.

Once again, texting leads to group head Axel Springer getting frustrated. “The greats are either communists or fascists. They don’t do it in the middle. Disgusting,” Matthias Dupfner reportedly wrote, among other things. This was reported by Zeit, which managed to view emails and internal chats from the publisher, to which Bild and Welt belong. Letters came from Springer’s closest management, including many from Döpfner himself.

Thus, Döpfner moves into the public eye, more than any other German publishing chief. once again. This is not the first controversy that Germany’s most powerful media manager has stirred up. Overview:

A text message with spicy content was already published in October 2021. At that time, the American media group “Politico” was bought by Springer-Verlag. It was in this context that the New York Times and then-editor-in-chief of Bild, Julien Reichelt, researched him. The American newspaper published a letter sent by Döpfner to the German writer Benjamin von Stuckrad Bree.

The theme was Reichelt: “He is really the last and only journalist in Germany who has bravely rebelled against the new totalitarian German Democratic state,” he wrote with some spurious errors. “Almost everyone else has become publicity assistants.” Just a day after the article appeared, the Springer Group announced that it would relieve Reichelt of his duties after allegations of abuse of power and affairs with employees.

Doepfner himself described the content of his letter as ironic. “Private SMS isn’t a tweet, it’s not a blog post, it’s not public discourse. And if you quote something out of context in a private conversation, you’re suppressing argument, irony, exaggeration,” he said in a video. A message to transit officials. The group also declared that the data had been taken out of context and that Döpfner naturally did not believe the Federal Republic was comparable to East Germany.

Döpfner’s role in handling the Julien Richelt case will also be discussed. There were already internal investigations into the allegations in spring 2021. Then Reichelt was given a second chance. In October 2021, according to a report in The New York Times and research by Eben Media Group’s investigative team, Reichelt was relieved of his duties — on the grounds that the group had gained new insights through research that proved “that even after compliance procedures were completed in the spring of 2021.” Julien Reichelt did not clearly separate private and professional matters and told the Board of Directors that this was not true.

A report by the Financial Times from February 2022 suggests that the group already knew more than it was giving to the outside world. “They knew everything from the start,” with these words one is quoted as saying he was directly involved in the investigation. The report also indicated that Döpfner suspected conspiracy in the allegations against Reichelt. He is said to have appointed a lawyer and to have a list of persons to investigate.

Doepfner was quoted as saying, “If there is more media coverage – about the victims and so on – we should go after them (the alleged plot authors).” If the group is “attacked” again, the company can still directly disclose the names of the accused, but then “it would be acceptable to make those names public.”