Springer takes action against Bildblog's complaints

 For around three and a half years, Bildblog has been scrutinizing the work of the German tabloid Bild. Now Axel Springer Verlag, which publishes the Bild newspaper, is taking action against the website: It wants to ensure that the operators of the blog are no longer allowed to submit complaints to the German Press Council. Since the launch of their weblog, the Bild bloggers have submitted twelve complaints to the Press Council. The Press Council has dealt with nine cases so far; in none of them has it issued a reprimand, according to the blog. However, Axel Springer wants to make complaints to the Press Council impossible for Bild bloggers. It is of the opinion that the creators of the site are not interested in pointing out abuses, but rather in increasing their own profits.
As Der Spiegel reports, the media group is convinced that the bloggers want to use the complaints to gain material for their own reporting. This generates more traffic on the site, which in turn drives up advertising revenue. It is fundamentally unacceptable that the Press Council and Bild "have to go to great lengths" to increase the attractiveness and indirectly the revenue of Bildblog, Spiegel quotes a lawyer from Axel Springer Verlag. The German Press Council is now to discuss on March 12, 2008 whether bloggers will be barred from making submissions in future.
The Bildblog is not overly concerned about the whole story: it is amused by Axel Springer's concern for the welfare of the Press Council and the preservation of journalistic principles such as "truthfulness" and is happy to be surprised by the Press Council's decision, it says.