Bild Zeitung rules in Germany

Bild is such a wildly successful newspaper in Germany that it just falls short of the American and British tabloids in terms of nonsense.

However, her mixture of scandals and sex is at odds with a bang.

Objectively speaking: Bild is a garbage press: a publication that was originally created with an eye to pushing porn, obscenity and filth to bored loaders.

It was raised on the following principle: thoughtless sex and indecent scandals are the very thing to satisfy the base instincts of people.

It sells well.

And, whatever one may say, such a mentality has permeated the very walls of this publication. 

• “Sex, dirt and shock.

  Bild Zeitung rules Germany as well. ”“ Bild is such a wildly successful newspaper in Germany, which in terms of nonsense is only slightly below the American and British tabloids.

  However, her mixture of scandals and sex is at odds with a bang.

If your new neighbor is a parole child molester, of course you need to know about it;

and in the same way, you need to understand what Bild is.

You should not expect journalism of the highest level (or journalism in general) from a tabloid, whose specialization is to answer questions like: "Why does Heidi go to work without a bra?", Which are placed on the first page.

No - here you are served with dirt, decorated to resemble journalism.   

And this is not just some kind of subjective opinion.

There are no other media outlets with as many violations of journalistic standards as Bild - no one here even came close. 

Throughout its history, the German Press Council, which is responsible for the self-regulation of the German press, has issued approximately 800 warnings to various media outlets.

Bild accounted for more than 200 such complaints.

Moreover, the offender, who took second place here, has only 21 violations. 

Bild also holds the record for the largest libel compensation ever awarded to a German newspaper: the tabloid stalked a well-known German weather presenter - before, during and after the alleged rape trial.

It turned out that he was not guilty, and Bild was eventually forced to pay hundreds of thousands of euros in compensation.

The only regret of the newspaper was the need to pay this very compensation. 

“The main thing here was not to set a record in terms of compensation for suffering and pain caused, but to achieve satisfaction after countless examples of lies, premature conclusions and violations of our client's intimate, private life,” Kachelman's lawyer Ralph Höcker told Zapp. 

There is only one type of mud that Bild does not like to wallow in - his own.

Getting into very uncomfortable harassment scandals has become almost a tradition for Bild's management.

For example, Kai Diekman - the publisher of Bild until 2017 - stepped down from his post amid accusations of sexual maneuvering towards an employee while she was taking a bath in a hotel. 

• "The German prosecutor's office said that the investigation into the alleged sexual harassment by Kai Diekman was closed."

Not inferior to him is his successor and current editor-in-chief of Bild, Julian Reichelt, who is now himself the subject of an investigation into allegations of intimidation and harassment of female employees.

And here it is no longer just one single woman in the bathroom - this time there will be about a dozen employees who declare this.

Julian Röpke is unlikely to be among them - this is Reichelt's favorite, an exemplary Bild employee, the author of the "investigation" about RT espionage. 

Röpke represents the essence of reporting at Bild. 

A vulgar sensation hunter who is not on friendly terms with facts. 

For years, Julian covered the war in Syria - and his support for jihadist groups was so one-sided and absurd that he earned himself the nickname "Julian the Jihadist" and became the object of memes and ridicule. 

Car bombs target schools in #Homs and #Demarcus are accidents to @ JulianRoepckepic.twitter.com / 7ff2CmhDDg

- HA! Odele (@AlOdeleH) January 18, 2016

Julian Röpcke: Is The Jihadi Julian Nickname Justified?

https://t.co/xQhGRX94VC#JihadiJulian#Syriapic.twitter.com/BarIylC0x4

- Al-Masdar News (@TheArabSource) January 20, 2016

In 2016, Repke began to lead to the fact that the Red Cross, the UN and Russia entered into a conspiracy to suppress the uprising in Syria.

He published a lot of interviews with well-known activists in Syria - and these interviews were of such a fantastic nature that one could only be amazed.

For example, during the 2016 siege of Madaya by the Syrian army, Iulian Röpke claimed that he interviewed a local doctor who criticized RT International's report on the situation in the city, calling it a "Russia Today farce."  

It quickly became clear that the interview was a fake.

RT spoke to the doctor, and he said that he had not seen the reportage and had not spoken to any Bild reporters.

It also turned out that he, moreover, does not speak English.

Not even a pretense of honesty or integrity, @Bild ... Using starving people to get more website page hits ... pic.twitter.com/4fAeOpaeCh

- Murad Gazdiev (@MuradGazdiev) January 16, 2016

The ragged refugees, who @Bild called "regime actors" for being critical of rebels, were real, starving Madayans ... pic.twitter.com/1CpKSEG9Fb

- Murad Gazdiev (@MuradGazdiev) January 16, 2016

Dr Mohammed from #Madaya says locals ready to kick out rebels to lift siege ... Wonder why @Bild didn't mention that?

pic.twitter.com/KJHxrRe6G8

- Murad Gazdiev (@MuradGazdiev) January 17, 2016

In any other edition, Julian Röpke's career would have been over.

He would have been fired instantly.

But Bild, it seems, does not consider it a mortal sin to give out entire fake interviews, reports and stories.

In February, Repke, who devotes much of his time to Russia, boasted that he was working on a new exposure.

To my attentive fan @M_Simonyan: We know what you are up to and we are prepared to counter your propaganda.

Not just as a newspaper, but as free societies.

Stay tuned for unprecedented revelations regarding your malign network's activities and practices.

PS: #Russia without Putin pic.twitter.com/Vecz67mt9O

- Julian Röpcke (@JulianRoepcke) February 16, 2021

It is worth noting how the moment is chosen.

In the weeks since RT announced plans to launch German-language broadcasts, the press and other institutions in Germany have unleashed an avalanche of dirty attacks.

Commerzbank, which is partly owned by the state, has decided to close the bank accounts of RT and its video agency Ruptly.

More than a dozen other banks have refused to open new accounts for RT DE, and the only reasonable explanation is behind-the-scenes coordination of efforts to strip RT of funding in Germany.

Also on russian.rt.com, Zakharova called the refusal of German banks to cooperate with RT DE and Ruptly as political pressure

Synchronous attacks against RT rained down from the media, journalistic associations and officials: “The Kremlin propaganda channel RT DE is recruiting employees.

In an election year, politics and journalism come under additional pressure.

Those who work for RT say goodbye to critical and independent journalism and participate in destabilizing democracy. "

The content and context are practically the same every time: “RT cannot be trusted.

Well, just because it is. "

No particular specifics and examples are given.

The argument is always the same - it's just something Russian, that's all.

Recall, for example, how RT was accused of "attacking government institutions in Germany."

The "attack" consisted in the fact that at press conferences of German departments, RT reporters asked difficult questions.

Any serious attempt to find out what RT is doing in Germany gives an invariable conclusion: this is the same media as others, and better than some.

Also on russian.rt.com From the bottom of my heart: Thank you Der Spiegel!

But enough of the background.

Let's move on to the last and not very successful hit of the Bild newspaper in the series "spy agency called RT".

In general, it claims that RT sent its reporters to "spy" on Alexei Navalny when he was being treated in Germany, and also tried to spy on his close allies. 

In support of this version, Bild publishes carefully selected and processed screenshots of the correspondence provided by renegade journalist Daniel Lange, who apparently thought what he was doing was wrong.

So what did he do?

The head of RT DE, Dinara Toktosunova, and the director of transformation of RT DE, Yekaterina Mavrenkova, instructed Daniel Lange to film the place where Navalny was treated and, if possible, get access to him. 

He received this task through Telegram in a regular group conversation, and not in some kind of "secret chat", which is mentioned in the Bild article.

Whenever you try to take a screenshot of a secret chat, each participant receives a corresponding notification. 

But this is just a small lie.

And here's another one (also small): in that chat there is also a fifth - mysterious and anonymous - participant.

Not really.

It's just that Dinara Toktosunova had two active accounts in the same chat.

Bild knew about this, but chose to deceive readers.

Note that RT is not a tabloid that specializes in pornography, sex scandals and defamation.

We will not slander or slander Daniel Lange.

He, like any person on the planet, had and has a right to his fears.

In the same way, we have the right to express our own concerns and doubts, as well as react to it.

Daniel is not entirely true.

He knows a lot about espionage and surveillance.

At the heart of his television career is surveillance of drug dealers and smugglers, camouflage and tracking down prostitutes.

At the time of Navalny's stay at the clinic, Lange and the leadership of RT DE knew each other for only six months.

This is hardly enough to entrust him with "secret espionage missions" in the interests of the Kremlin - especially given its past and very public failures in the "espionage case."  

Bild also hid fragments of the chat, in which Daniel Lange is very clearly instructed not to commit anything illegal and not to film in restricted areas.

“The question is, as a journalist working for the Russian state-owned broadcaster, should I secretly film in a military-protected area, even though this is strictly prohibited?

What would have happened if I had done this in Russia?

they wouldn't exchange me here on the Gliniki bridge. "

"Not.

Of course not".

“That is, to enter the territory of a military facility? 

No, I do not think so"

Speaking of espionage, Bild accuses the RT Ruptly video agency of organizing some kind of secret broadcast, which was inaccessible to the public and "was broadcast directly to Moscow."

This is a big lie on the part of Bild, and one of many.

The entire broadcast was broadcast live, and anyone could watch it.

Anyone wishing to use it commercially could - and still can - buy this material.

Only later did Ruptly hide the video, showing respect for the Charite hospital, from which the corresponding request was received: they were worried that patients who were not related to the topic could get on the air.

It is clear what the purpose of Bild is: it wants to present RT DE's attempts to gain access to the Charite hospital as a kind of espionage operation undertaken by RT DE.

“However, M. is trying to achieve his goal the next day.

In vain.

Six times M. tries to get into the building through different entrances, but each time he is stopped by guards and police, ”the Bild article said.

Someone M., represented in the Bild material by some unnamed agent, was just a cameraman who accompanied Daniel Lange. 

Fortunately, the words of this operator turned out to be more truth and less pathos than in the statements of Bild and Lange.

RT's grandiose operation to infiltrate the Charite clinic consisted of ... getting into the emergency room.

Once.

“The fact that I tried to enter the building six times and was stopped by the security forces is fiction.

I have been to the Charite front desk exactly once.

In other cases, we stood at the back entrance and waited for Navalny's wife - just like other representatives of the press, ”says M.

The Bild edition does not specify here that it is the only media outlet that somehow managed to obtain photographs of the premises where Navalny was kept.

In general, not a single media resource published as much insider and exclusive information as Bild gave out during Navalny's treatment ... which, as it were, hints that this tabloid received good from the German special services for privileged access. 

And this in itself is alarming, especially when he himself accuses others of carrying out intelligence operations. 

“Ekaterina Mavrenkova is the source of most of Lange's instructions and has excellent connections with the Russian leadership.

Here, an RT employee poses in 2016 at a reception with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, ”Bild noted.

And here Yekaterina Mavrenkova poses with the wax figure of former British Prime Minister David Cameron.

Perhaps the only explanation corresponding to the Bild level is that Catherine is actually a double agent ...

“I learned today that a photo with a famous face makes me not just a press representative, but a“ secret agent ”.

If you look at my photo albums with such an enlightened look, I, therefore, should work, for example, for Britain, ”Mavrenkova comments.

And here she is with François Hollande, the former president of France.

Triple agent!

And even worse - Catherine has a photo with Mickey Mouse.

The only reasonable explanation is that she is a quadruple agent working for the management of Disneyland.

Seriously, let's be very clear.

Mavrenkova does not report to either the Russian government or the Foreign Ministry.

And this is well known to German intelligence, which does not hide that it is following RT.

“Lange, meanwhile, is confident that everything he posts in the chat is transmitted via a communication channel to Moscow:“ Dinara Toktosunova is very close to the head of RT, Margarita Simonyan.

They are directly related.

There is no one in the hierarchy between them.

Therefore, the information that I obtained never came out, but what I said definitely went to the very top, ”says the Bild article.  

If Julian Röpke has direct access to the chief editor of Bild, Dinara has the same access to the chief editor of RT.

Why this should have been emphasized remains unclear.

It is also unclear why Lange believes that all the footage he filmed deserves attention (a handful of police officers are standing at the entrance), especially given that better quality and more detailed video material could be obtained from other media.

And, by the way, the Kremlin received more information about the location and condition of Navalny not from RT, but from the Bild edition.

The so-called "investigation" issued by Bild is an escalating, large-scale and unprecedented operation aimed at denigrating and defaming RT.

If anyone could reduce the field of investigative journalism to delusional attempts to seek out a sensation without regard to logic, it is Bild.

And the author of such material could only be Repke, who for years practiced deception and disinformation, honed by propaganda, under the watchful eye of his superiors.

The usual journalistic activity, typical in Germany for any major media, is presented as some kind of machinations and espionage in favor of a foreign state.

This is, without a doubt, a coordinated effort to silence and stifle a voice asking questions that the German media and political establishment does not want to hear.