Axel Springer is pursuing a felony criticism and civil authorized motion in opposition to a former prime tabloid editor sacked for alleged misconduct, in a serious escalation of a brawl that has shaken Germany’s media world.
In a felony criticism filed late final week, the German publishing group accused Julian Reichelt, a former editor of the tabloid Bild, of sharing confidential inner information with one other German media outlet after giving written assurances that he now not possessed this information.
In a parallel civil lawsuit filed final week at a Berlin labour courtroom, Axel Springer claimed Reichelt had breached the phrases of a monetary settlement agreed after he was ousted from Bild in October 2021. The corporate is pushing for the return of his severance pay, a seven-digit-figure in response to folks conversant in the main points, and can be claiming vital damages for alleged breach of contract.
Reichelt, 42, is a longtime confidant of Axel Springer chief govt Mathias Döpfner and was as soon as one of many nation’s strongest journalists. He was sacked after allegations of sexual misconduct and abuse of energy that he denies.
Axel Springer confirmed that it had filed the civil lawsuit and the felony criticism however declined to remark additional.
The Berlin labour courtroom confirmed that the civil criticism, first reported by the German publication Der Spiegel, had been acquired. Prison prosecutors instructed the FT that that they had not but formally processed any felony criticism in opposition to Reichelt, however added that this course of may take a number of days.
Reichelt’s lawyer Ben Irle instructed the FT that neither he nor his consumer have been conscious of any lawsuit or felony criticism by the writer, including that leaking such data to the media was an “try and intimidate and distract” from alleged flaws in an inner investigation of his consumer’s conduct.
Reichelt was accused of exploiting his place at Bild by having frequent affairs with interns and subordinates and rewarding them with promotions. He has repeatedly acknowledged that each one allegations in opposition to him have been primarily based on “lies”.
The authorized case and criticism have been filed after Axel Springer acquired a warning from one other media group that Reichelt, unsolicited, had provided at hand over confidential inner communication from Axel Springer, in addition to personal communications involving Springer staff that doubtlessly violated their privateness rights, in response to folks near the main points. The rival writer instructed Springer that it had destroyed the information.
Really useful
The scandal that prompted the ousting of Reichelt resurfaced this month with the publication of a novel impressed by the saga, written by a former Döpfner confidant who performed a key function in encouraging girls to talk up about their experiences.
Every week earlier than the novel got here out, a trove of personal textual content messages from Döpfner to Reichelt have been leaked to German media. Within the messages, Döpfner acknowledged that East Germans have been “both communists or fascists”, railed in opposition to “illiberal Muslims” and praised local weather change. In addition they appeared to point out he had lobbied for constructive protection of the pro-business Free Democrats within the weeks earlier than a nationwide election in 2021.
Döpfner, who has run Axel Springer since 2002, later apologised for the messages.
The run of unfavourable headlines underlines how the scandal at Bild continues to reverberate in Germany, the place the tabloid is feared and revered by the political elite. It has additionally raised questions for KKR, the US personal fairness agency that along with the Canadian pension fund CPPIB owns a 48.5 per cent stake in Axel Springer at a time when the writer is striving to turn out to be a number one media firm within the US.
