DOther media company Axel Springer It is hoped that a set of rules with information standards will be formulated for internal personal relations before the end of the year. On Tuesday, the Berlin Media Company confirmed this at the request of the German News Agency, which was previously reported by the Financial Times. According to the organization, it essentially informs employers about romantic relationships that may have conflicts of interest, such as when there is a dependency relationship between superiors and direct colleagues. The background is also the result of an investigation conducted earlier in the spring of Julian Reichelt, the former editor-in-chief of Bild.
Relationships should not be generally prohibited, but in some cases, that is, in situations of conflict of interest, employees should be obliged to inform the relationship, as the company says. For example, imagine a trusted person on the team that received this information or the head of the compliance or human resources department. Privacy should be protected as much as possible.
The whole thing should help offset the possible abuse of dependencies or the injustices that may arise in the sector through third-party relationships and disadvantages. Its purpose is to develop international standards applicable to all countries. The company has approximately 16,500 employees.
According to Döpfner, Springer’s CEO, the board of directors decided in April to introduce such regulations. Since then, someone has been negotiating with employee representatives.
Springer Bild dismissed Reichelt as editor-in-chief in mid-October. This occasion is based on news research on Reichelt’s internal procedures since the spring. According to Springer, the core of the investigation is allegations of abuse of power related to voluntary relationships with female employees and drug abuse in the workplace. The team concluded that Reichelt should retain his position.
In mid-October, the media company stated: “As a result of a news investigation, the company has a new understanding of Julian Reichelt’s current behavior in the past few days. The company investigated this information. The management committee learned that even in 2021 After completing the compliance procedures in the spring, Julian Reichelt also failed to clearly distinguish between personal and professional matters, and informed the management committee of the untruth.”
The Federal Association of Digital Publishers and Newspaper Publishers (BDZV) will deal with another detail in the news report about the Reichelt case at the next regular meeting of the Bureau on November 24th-a private text message from the association’s chairman Döpfner. In the older short messages quoted by The New York Times, the latter named Reichert, then editor-in-chief of Bild, as the last and only German journalist who still bravely opposed the “authoritarian state of the new East Germany.” Almost everyone has become a “propaganda assistant.” Springer classified it as satire. This has caused widespread criticism, and some media companies have issued public statements. Döpfner expressed his regret and asked to support the mission of the association.
