You can make big appearances at Springer. When CEO Mathias Döpfner gave up his presidency of the Federal Association of Newspaper Publishers and Digital Publishers prematurely, he spoke of the colossal challenges that would be associated with the Springer purchase of “Politico” in the USA.
The message back then: Döpfner is urgently needed in God’s own country, so he can’t take care of the worries of the little publisher in Hinterpfuideifi. Logical.
What the Almighty can do with Springer, a “Bild” editor can do as well. Journalist Judith Sevinç Basad has made her resignation from the tabloid public.
In an “open letter” to Döpfner (read here) she justifies her step with Springer’s “buckling” in front of “woken activists”.
What is meant is Döpfner’s handling of a “Welt” guest contribution, in which five authors accuse ARD and ZDF of indoctrinating the young audience with false information about sexuality and diversity.
Döpfner had described the guest contribution in a separate contribution as “underground” and scientifically “roughly one-sided at best”.
In her text, Basad wonders whether Döpfner is trying to “not annoy the company’s woken US editors.” She reports from a debate with the CEO.
In it, Döpfner emphasized the “moral obligation of an editorial team not to reproduce every statement in a newspaper just because it gives the impression of being scientific”.
As an example, he is said to have named “studies of Holocaust deniers”. Basad judges: “Anyone who draws such comparisons to Holocaust deniers is not far from relativizing the Holocaust itself.” The text reads like a guide to self-radicalization.
Once in a rage, Basad also accuses “Bild” of “preventing” one of her articles with quotes from the controversial child psychiatrist Alexander Korte, a co-author of the guest article. She was asked to criticize the call for scientists, otherwise her text would not appear.
“Bild” editor-in-chief Johannes Boie responded to this accusation with a tone that is unusual at Springer. He contradicts Basad – with irony.
He wrote on Twitter: “I had said ‘Do it!’ replied – it’s a pity that the text didn’t live up to what your proposal had promised.”
Boie begins his tweet by saying, “That’s right, Judith, we’re on the left now! Döpfner just called again and told me to do it.”
Basad then accuses him of a “condescending tone” and writes that she was hoping for “a more respectful approach” with her “sincere criticism”.
That’s just the thing with irony. Not everyone can handle it, Basad can’t. However, it fits very well into the Springer series, where journalism is often confused with campaigns. That was the rule with Boie’s predecessor Julian Reichelt, with Boie it’s the exception.
The question arises as to whether Basad actually wrote a letter of application to Reichelt, who is currently setting up a platform.
If that starts, then something can happen that hasn’t happened to “Bild” for a single day in almost 70 years: “Bild” will then be left, simply because Reichelt
