German press mogul Axel Springer announces separation from tabloid editor Julian Reichelt Bild, the most widely read daily across the Rhine. “As part of recent press investigations, new evidence of Julian Reichelt’s misconduct has been brought to the attention of the company”, writes the group in a communicated, Monday October 18.
The 41-year-old journalist was the subject of an internal investigation in the spring. He was particularly suspected of having promoted women with whom he had relations, before dismissing them. He was reinstated in his post at the end of March, this time in tandem with a journalist. He had “Admitted the mixture of professional and private relations, but denied [tout harcèlement] under oath “, had then informed the group.
But, on Monday, Axel Springer’s management said they had “Learned that Julian Reichelt still does not clearly separate private and professional matters and that he has said false things about it in front of the board of directors”. The newspaper does not detail the precise facts that are accused of its editor-in-chief, a controversial figure in the journalistic world.
It is a survey of New York Times published Sunday which seems to have precipitated the decision of the Springer group. According to the latter, Mr. Reichelt notably promoted to a position of responsibility a young journalist with whom he had an affair. “If they find out that I have an affair with an intern, I will lose my job”, Mr. Reichelt had told her in November 2016, according to comments she reported to the internal commission of inquiry and cited by the New York Times.
Replaced by the editor-in-chief of “Welt am Sonntag”
Mr. Reichelt will be replaced in his functions by Johannes Boie, until then editor-in-chief of the conservative weekly Welt am Sonntag (the Sunday edition of the daily Die welt).
Approximately 2 million copies printed, Bild, created in 1952, has focused on news items, sports and celebrity news to become the first German daily. Axel Springer announced in August the takeover of the American news site Politico, the largest acquisition in its history, as part of its digital development strategy.