Until Monday evening it looked as if nothing and no one could harm the Bild editor-in-chief.

But then came the end for Julian Reichelt.

And octagonal: He was released from his duties with immediate effect, announced the Springer publishing house.

Johannes Boie, previously editor-in-chief of the newspaper Welt am Sonntag, will replace Reichelt as chairman of the Bild editor-in-chief.

Axel Weidemann

Editor in the features section.

  • Follow I follow

Michael Hanfeld

responsible editor for features online and "media".

  • Follow I follow

"As a result of press research, the company had gained new insights into the current behavior of Julian Reichelt in the last few days," said Springer.

Information was followed up.

In doing so, "the board of directors found out that Julian Reichelt did not clearly separate private and professional matters even after completing the compliance procedure in spring 2021 and that he told the board the untruth about it."

Reichelt, said Mathias Döpfner, Chairman of the Springer Board of Management, “developed Bild in an excellent journalistic way and, with Bild Live, made the brand fit for the future.

We would have liked to continue the path of cultural renewal we have embarked on with the editorial team and the publishing house together with Julian Reichelt.

This is no longer possible. "

New indications of wrongdoing

“In the context of recent media research”, the publisher “has been aware of new indications of current misconduct by Julian Reichelt for a few days”. The board of directors had “found out that Julian Reichelt still does not clearly separate private and professional matters and has told the board of directors the untruth. Therefore, the board now considers a termination of the activity to be inevitable. "At the same time, legal steps have been initiated against third parties," who tried to influence and exploit the compliance investigation from spring with illegal means, apparently with the aim of defeating Julian Reichelt to remove the office and to damage the image and Axel Springer ”.

This concerns "in particular the prohibited use and use of confidential protocols from the questioning of witnesses as well as the disclosure of business secrets and private communication".

It started with the New York Times

By late Monday afternoon, the advance had looked very different.

The New York Times (NYT) published a comprehensive report on Springer and the abuse of power allegations against Reichelt on Sunday.

The newspaper reported on the extensive research by a German team of investigative reporters, which had been put on hold by a German publisher two days before its publication on Sunday.

So it was: The publisher Dirk Ippen had put a comprehensive research by the publisher's own investigative team on the files, without substantive justification.

What was Ippen afraid of?

The background: In March, the law firm Freshfields, commissioned by Springer himself, investigated possible “compliance violations” against Julian Reichelt.

It was about the accusation that Reichelt had not properly separated private relationships from the professional sphere.

The result: twelve days of forced absence, reintegration, an apology.

Springer stated, as is now again emphasized, that no evidence of sexual assault was found.

Julian Reichelt was never accused of sexual harassment or sexual assault.

But there have been "the accusation of amicable love affairs with Bild employees and indications of abuse of power in this context".

A previous relationship with an employee of Bild was proven and acknowledged.

What remained controversial was “whether this employee was granted professional advantages”.

That was the status in spring, which has now evidently changed dramatically.

There is no other explanation for the fact that Springer puts Reichelt, whom Döpfner is very fond of, in front of the door.

Döpfner can dance

The New York Times report, however, is a piece full of details that extend to Mathias Döpfner's “impressive” dance skills.

At the same time, the Times speaks of war and a “bunker mentality”, but also - in a quote from a private message from Mathias Döpfner to the author and former friend Benjamin von Stuckrad-Barre - of the last courageous rebel against “the new authoritarian GDR -Country".

The rebel is Reichelt.