Sports reporter criticizes Sky: "the finest bullying"

The football commentator Jörg Dahlmann has made serious allegations against the broadcaster Sky - and the pay-TV broadcaster firmly rejects them.

“What they did to me is the finest bullying,” said Dahlmann in an interview with Bild am Sonntag.

Sky had not extended the reporter's contract, which expired at the end of the previous Bundesliga season, and after statements made in a second division broadcast, it no longer used it from mid-March.

Sky denied the allegations. "The repeated statements of Jörg Dahlmann do not correspond to the facts and are to be classified as clearly defamatory," said a spokesman for the broadcaster of the German press agency. "Above all, we firmly reject any accusation of bullying and that Sky ever linked Jörg Dahlmann with racism in the discussion."

Dahlmann had said in the interview about the premature end of his activity: “The station made the huge mistake of being too guided by Twitter haters. This outrage community has influenced the policy of the station. ”He classified the reactions of Sky“ on the one hand as sad, on the other hand as unprofessional ”. The 62-year-old reporter called it "a journalistic bankruptcy declaration". In a report, Dahlmann described Japan as the “land of sushi”.

The pay TV broadcaster said: “In the past, there have been numerous conversations between Sky and Jörg Dahlmann about the responsible use of language. Jörg Dahlmann, who regularly commented in front of an audience of millions, unfortunately showed no awareness that he, as a multiplier, bears a corresponding responsibility. After the last incident, Sky had decided unanimously to terminate the contract, which was already running out, with immediate effect. "

Dahlmann insists on his point of view and said that Sky “only has fun-free bosses” and praised the public broadcasters ARD and ZDF: “They don't stab their colleagues and employees in the back.” He could use his “reporter style, which I kept for almost 40 years, but didn't change it last year, ”said the journalist who used to work for ZDF and Sat.1. “I comment the way I talk. And not as teacher-wise as some do. "