At Axel Springer, Politico’s New Owner, Allegations of Sex, Lies and a Secret Payment

He also said the image workplace culture is not being replicated in the United States. “We will not tolerate any behavior in our organizations around the world that does not comply with our very clear compliance guidelines. We strive to be the best digital media company in the democratic world with the highest ethical standards and an inclusive, open culture, ”he said.

Axel Springer forwarded a letter from lawyers in which it said that Bild was not legally obliged to fire Mr. Reichelt.

But a message from Mr. Döpfner on March 1 to a friend with whom he later argued about how the company dealt with the allegations against Mr. Reichelt, Benjamin von Stuckrad-Barre, suggests that Mr. Döpfner played a central role In deciding how to react as chief executive to the results of the investigation, he may not have been impartial. In the message that was sent after Axel Springer found out about the allegations but before the investigation began, Mr Döpfner referred to an opinion column by Mr Reichelt in which he complained about Covid restrictions.

Mr Döpfner wrote that “we have to be particularly careful with the investigation”, because Mr Reichelt is “really the last and only journalist in Germany who is still bravely rebelling against the new GDR authority state”, according to a copy of the message I received have received. (The reference to the GDR or communist East Germany in this context is a bit like “lively mob”.) Mr. Döpfner also wrote that Mr. Reichelt had “powerful enemies”.

Mr Döpfner’s political statement in this message appears to contradict his stated plans for his new American real estate, which the Wall Street Journal reported last week as “embodies his vision of unbiased, impartial reporting as opposed to activist journalism “, He said, intensifies the social polarization in the US and elsewhere.”

Since Axel Springer struggled to contain the consequences of the image investigation, Döpfner concentrated on Washington. That spring and summer, he had secret, parallel conversations with executives from two rival Washington-based news organizations, Politico and Axios, founded in 2016 by former Politico journalists Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen and Roy Schwartz.

Mr Döpfner’s goal was to buy both and combine them into a powerful competitor of the country’s largest news agencies. The acquisition of Politico, announced in August, was a triumph for his company. But behind the scenes, Axel Springer’s advertising style had alienated its other goal.