Berlin | The editor-in-chief of the German daily BildJulian Reichelt, targeted by an internal investigation after complaints from several women, asked to be temporarily removed from his duties, the Axel Springer group announced on Saturday.
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“To allow for clarification and not to burden the work of the drafting, it [M. Reichelt] asked the board of directors to be temporarily released from its functions until the allegations have been clarified, ”said the group that owns the leading German daily in a statement, adding that the request had been“ granted ”.
Mr. Reichelt is the target of several internal complaints for moral harassment and abuse of authority.
The group had decided, after these complaints to open an investigation, led by a law firm, into “possible violations of compliance” with the values and rules of the newspaper by the editor, aged 40 years. .
He is suspected, according to an investigation by the weekly Der Spiegel, to have promoted interns with whom he had an affair, before dismissing them, even firing them. Employees would have alerted management for several months, but it would have been slow to verify the allegations against the all-powerful editor-in-chief of the tabloid, according to the weekly.
Julian Reichelt, at the head of the editors-in-chief of the title, “rejects these accusations”, specified the group.
“The investigation is still ongoing,” said the German group, which does not wish to give “for the moment details on the procedure and the allegations”.
Approximately 2 million copies printed, Bild, created in 1952, has focused on news items, sports and celebrity news to become Germany’s leading daily newspaper.
Another response to the MeToo movement, the City of Berlin announced on Saturday the opening of an internal investigation targeting Klaus Dörr, the artistic director of the Volksbühne in Berlin, one of the main theaters in the German capital.
The investigation relates to accusations in early 2021 of abuse of power and inappropriate “behavior” towards women, according to the Berlin Senate press release, ensuring that if the accusations are true, “all legal possibilities would be examined. “.