The Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner had to leave urgently on Wednesday - to Washington.

Because there was the first big appearance in front of new employees, namely those of the Politico media group, which Springer has just bought for more than 630 million euros.

But before that, Döpfner sent a video message to all of the approximately 16,000 employees of the publishing house to declare himself to be the case of the editor-in-chief of Bild, Julian Reichelt, who was dismissed without notice.

It is also about the criticism that the Springer boss sees himself exposed to.

Critics accuse him of inconsistent behavior and a weird understanding of democracy and ask whether he is in the right place as President of the Federal Association of Digital Publishers and Newspaper Publishers (BDZV).

Michael Hanfeld

responsible editor for features online and "media".

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In his almost seven-minute speech, Döpfner repeated what Springer had announced in the past few days: The Reichelt case was never about allegations of sexism, sexual assault or sexual abuse, but about amicable relationships that Reichelt had with employees, their superiors he was who would therefore have had advantages.

Men acted in the background, "all of them former employees of Bild", who wanted to get Reichelt away.

Ambiguous result

The result of the compliance investigation in the spring was ambiguous and stated that Reichelt had a relationship with an employee in at least one case. This was discussed in the board of directors and the supervisory board and called this a serious but not “unforgivable” mistake. Reichelt should have got a second chance. Now, however, when various media did research, two witness reports were received that stated that Julian Reichelt was still in a relationship with an employee, which he had previously denied. Reichelt was confronted with this, and only then did he admit the relationship. “That made it clear,” said Döpfner: “First of all, he had learned nothing from the cases from back then. Second, he didn't tell us the truth. And so it was clear:We had to act immediately and we reorganized the editor-in-chief of Bild and installed Johannes Boie as the new chairman of the editor-in-chief. "

All of this is "very bad", but it is not a cultural problem for the entire Springer publishing house, it is about image. Springer, according to Döpfner, “has to be a role model when it comes to modern, respectful, diverse corporate culture”. Döpfner rejected the claim that one wanted to influence the reporting in the Reichelt case as "untrue". Regarding the quote from a text message he sent the publicist Benjamin Stuckrad-Barre, he said it was taken out of context, it was not a tweet and did not represent a public speech, it was about polemics, irony and exaggeration in a private one Entertainment, not crossing borders. In the SMS in question Döpfner had written that Julian Reichelt was - with a view to the corona policy of the federal government - a "rebel", the only onewho rebelled against “the new GDR governmental state”, “almost everyone else” had become “propaganda assistants”.