Julian Reichelt

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Julian Reichelt
Reichelt in 2018
Born	(1980-06-15) 15 June 1980 (age 41) Hamburg, West Germany
Alma mater	Axel-Springer-Academy
Occupation	Journalist
Years active	2002–present
Notable credit(s)	Editor-in-chief of Bild

Julian Reichelt (born 15 June 1980) is a German tabloid journalist. From February 2017 to October 2021, he was chairman of the editors-in-chief and editor-in-chief digital of Bild.^[1] Reichelt was fired as editor-in-chief of Bild over a sexual misconduct probe, after a story about his misconduct appeared in The New York Times.

Biography[]

Düzen Tekkal, Friede Springer, Mathias Döpfner, Kai Diekmann and Julian Reichelt on the roof of the US Embassy in Berlin (2019)

Both of Reichelt's parents work as journalists.^[2] Reichelt attended the Gymnasium Othmarschen, and graduated in the year 2000.^[3] From 2002 to 2003 he worked as a trainee for Bild, before completing his training as a journalist at the Axel-Springer-Akademie.^[4] He reported from Afghanistan, Georgia, Thailand, Iraq, Sudan and Lebanon partly as war correspondent, and did works as a culinary reporter in 2007.^[5] Reichelt served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Internet offshoot of Bild since February 2014 as successor to  [de],^[6] and was announced as the successor to Kai Diekmann as chairman of the editor-in-chief in February 2017.^[7]

In August 2015, Reichelt opposed an accreditation agreement and in his position as editor-in-chief, accused alleged IS fighters in a trial before the Higher Regional Court of Celle only to show their pixelated faces, as their guilt had not yet been proven. As a result, Reichelt was excluded as a reporter.^[8]

The German Press Agency criticized the misrepresentation of Russian military operations in Syria by Bild.de under the title "Putin and Assad bombs on" in February 2016. The reference was an agreement on a ceasefire within a week. The article was said to have gave an untruthful impression that the ceasefire that had just been decided has been broken by Russia, and was assessed to have expressed disapproval in accordance with Section 12 of the Complaints Regulation.^[9] Reichelt stated that because of this case, that the German Press Agency would "make itself the stooge of the Kremlin propaganda [...]".^[10]

Legal issues[]

In March 2021, a report by Spiegel announced that Reichelt would have to face an in-house investigation. Among other things, it described a "Reichelt system" of institutionalized abuse of power and the exploitation of dependency relationships against young female employees. In response, Bild publisher Axel Springer SE released a statement explaining that it was investigating "accusations of abuse of power in connection with consensual relationships and drug consumption at the place of work."^[11][12] In March 2021, Reichelt admitted a mixture of professional and private relationships.

On October 17, 2021, the US newspaper New York Times reported in a long article about the Springer media group, also with a view to the plans to take over the US media group Politico, and on the testimony a female employee gave investigators from the law firm Freshfields hired by media group Springer for the internal inquiry. "If they find out that I’m having an affair with a trainee, I’ll lose my job," Reichelt told her in November 2016 according to her testimony. Just before the editor spoke those words, another woman at the paper had lodged a sexual harassment complaint against the publisher of Bild. However, he continued the relationship, even after he was promoted to chief editor in 2017. He had her come to a hotel room near the Axel Springer high-rise in Berlin and promoted her to a management role in the newsroom. She felt overwhelmed by the leadership role in the newsroom. After she was transferred to another position in the newsroom, another editor told her that he was tired of employing women with whom Reichelt had relationships.^[13][14]

The New York Times article also dealt with the allegations against Reichelt that had become known in the spring and brought research into play that the Ippen Investigative Team ("Frankfurter Rundschau", "Münchner Merkur", "TZ") had carried out over the past months and thereby gained access to internal documents. Through the "New York Times" article, new details of the Reichelt case become known. The Bild boss, who married in 2016, is said to have forged divorce papers in order to convince one of the employees of his availability. In addition, he had instructed an additional payment of 5000 euros for an employee, with the request not to say a word about it.^[15] But publisher Dirk Ippen stopped the publication without giving legal or editorial reasons.^[16] Following the New York Times article, Reichelt was removed from his duties - with immediate effect - at Bild, Germany's largest and highest-circulation tabloid. The reason for this were new allegations that were made against Reichelt after the compliance proceedings were overcome.^[17][18]

The Süddeutsche Zeitung reports: "Döpfner's role in the Reichelt affair and his suitability as President of the Bundesverband Digitalpublisher und Zeitungsverleger will have to be examined very carefully."^[19]

Awards[]

In 2008, Reichelt was awarded the Axel-Springer-Prize for young journalists in the category Supraregional / National Contributions for his report from Afghanistan"You can kill us, but never defeat us", published in two parts on 12 and 13 October 2007 in Bild,^[20]

In October 2018, Reichelt was nominated for "The Golden Potato" award from the New German Media Makers association for "particularly one-sided or unsuccessful reporting on aspects of the immigration society".^[21] Reichelt attended the ceremony but turned down the award, stating that "the word 'potato' has become an abuse of race and origin in elementary schools where migration is not a success story".^[22]

Publications[]

• Kriegsreporter. Ich will von den Menschen erzählen. Bastei Lübbe, Köln 2010, ISBN 978-3-404-61669-5.
• Mit Jan Meyer: Ruhet in Frieden, Soldaten! Wie Politik und Bundeswehr die Wahrheit über Afghanistan vertuschten. Fackelträger, Köln 2010, ISBN 978-3-7716-4466-6.

References[]

External links[]

• Literature by and about Julian Reichelt in the German National Library catalogue
• Julian Reichelt at IMDb