The President of the Federal Association of Digital Publishers and Newspaper Publishers (BDZV), Mathias Döpfner, has encouraged media houses to focus more on digital innovation.
After the transformation from analogue to digital and the advent of social media, it is now important to shape the next wave of creativity, said the Axel Springer CEO at the #beBeta digital congress in Berlin.
In his speech, Döpfner did not respond to his announcement three weeks ago that he would resign from his position as President of the BDZV early in the fall.
"With Russia's war against Ukraine," he said, "it became clear again how immensely important truthful, fact-based information is." Kyiv Independent”, for example, are available to everyone.
With regard to digital news distribution, Döpfner said this was a "historic moment in journalism".
The industry has reason to be optimistic about the future.
The biggest mistake would be to do nothing, it is important "to put oneself at the forefront of the movement with selective creative projects".
His credo is: "The best is still ahead of us - as a force for democracy and hopefully also as a business model."
Digital Minister Volker Wissing was also optimistic.
The Reuters Institute's Digital News Report shows that the willingness to pay for digital news services is growing in Germany.
Journalism, said Wissing, “lives on quality.
And quality lives from the fact that it is also rewarded.” Wissing described the new digital laws of the EU, the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Digital Markets Act (DMA), as “milestones”.
It is now a question of implementing these consistently.
Döpfner announced his resignation as BDZV boss after a long controversy in which the publishers Funke and Madsack accused him of his behavior when replacing the former "Bild" boss Julian Reichelt.
The personnel and strategic questions of the association are currently open.