Copying without identification is not pleasant, but it is not dramatic either. The case of the deputy director of the “SZ” has a few more escalation levels.
The actions of the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” are incomprehensible on several levels Photo: Thomas Einberger/imago
In reality, journalism is based on the fundamental agreement of all involved that you cannot compare apples and pears. This does not provide any information, it simply ends up confusing and destroys this common business base in the long term. Last week was a prime example of this. Since it merged with the South German newspaper a long-simmering story about the rather clumsy and, above all, excessive search for a leak in the editorial office itself (effect) with accusations against the deputy editor-in-chief Alexandra Föderl-Schmid (reason).
The atmosphere was tense. Because the media insider service was already looking forward to the end of 2023 size-editorial meetings in which the consequences were discussed, as the media expert had previously cited lectures in which supposedly anonymous quotes from deputy chief Föderl-Schmid, which the media expert had given, were discussed size had accused.
On the one hand, this is really good because the old pluperfect is finally being used again. At the same time, it's also unfortunate because… size I did some contemporary hara-kiri here. The articles criticized by the media referred to explanatory texts by Föderl-Schmid, including the so-called statutes of Hamas and the Jewish holiday of Simjat, and the passages in question come from websites such as those of the Jewish Museum in Berlin or the Agency Federal Political Affairs. Educational Affairs. These are institutions that expressly want, or are there to guarantee, that their contents and conclusions are widely disseminated.
If Föderl-Schmid now copies a few sentences with information about the Simchat festival in the Jewish Museum and does not clearly identify it, it is stupid. It's better that it doesn't happen to the editor-in-chief – she herself admitted with the necessary contrition. But it is not the end of the world. And so this is certainly not an instant implosion of her journalistic integrity.
Search as you did with the Panama Papers
Not even when the media and their journalists make fun of it. It becomes problematic when the… size That's why I look for a mole like I look for the Panama Papers. This is clearly excessive and shows a very unhealthy level of nervousness within our own ranks. Yes, editorial conferences and the like are subject to editorial confidentiality. Until now, theory and practice have always been a little different. But the problem lies elsewhere: what mood and attitude is present in a store when everything is supposedly distributed in its entirety? And who then reacts with rightly controversial actions, such as mass comparison of IP addresses?
The second stage of escalation followed with specific and clumsy pseudo-revelations from Julian Reichelt's web organ. nius. He teamed up with the Austrian plagiarism inspector Stefan Weber. Weber criticized some passages from Föderl-Schmid's time as correspondent in Israel size. Example: the World According to Weber, he wrote on November 9, 2017: “Military cooperation between Germany and Israel is nothing new. German drone and helicopter pilots receive training in Israel. In 2017 alone, 80 joint projects were carried out between the two armies.” size as of November 15, 2017: “Bundeswehr drone and helicopter pilots have been coming to Israel for training for years. Military cooperation is already active: in 2017 alone, 80 joint projects were carried out between both armies.”
It can be assumed that the information comes from an official statement from the armies. And when journalists evaluate those “useless things,” they can seem quite similar. Weber is aware of the paucity of evidence, so he too believes there may be agency material here, but not labeling. Which, by the way, doesn't have to be that way. The rest of the examples are of similar quality.
That Föderl-Schmid continues to abandon her management position, also because the weber paid by Reichelt is revising her doctoral thesis from 1996, does not make sense. She herself has asked her university to conduct its own independent review. As the Austrian historian Barbara Tóth said on Friday butterfly wrote, a substantial violation of academic norms cannot be expected in this case either. Which, as a reminder, do not conform to journalistic standards.
Editorial indiscretion
In return, Tóth reveals an interesting warning from Weber, who studied at the same university and had problems with Föderl-Schmid's doctoral director, according to Weber, his “first serious scientific conflict.” However, a teacher preferred by Weber had to leave. And “the declared neo-Marxist Manfred Knoche was named. “Then the German Federal Department for Cultural and Gender Studies took over,” says Weber. Which at least makes it clear that Weber and Reichelt fit together perfectly.
It is less clear why size However, a high-profile review committee is responsible for comparing the data with the size directed accusations. In this case too, it goes too far. Whoever is there also ex-Mirror-The editor-in-chief Steffen Klusmann, who has just investigated a real scandal with the case of journalist Hubert Seipel, partly financed by Russia and who always has a touch of relotius, also gives sugar to the monkeys.
And what about the editorial indiscretions that started the whole thing? Previously at NDR there was a regulated procedure for controversial employee meetings. The station management and the editors gave each other cause for concern and a taz was lying behind the sofa taking notes. But only what was really relevant and interesting was published.