Stern Parts Ways with Wichmann
Stern magazine is parting ways with its editor-in-chief Dominik Wichmann after less than one and a half years. The 42-year-old will be succeeded by Christian Krug, who is currently editor-in-chief at the magazine Gala.
This was decided by the Gruner + Jahr Executive Board, the magazine publisher announced in Hamburg on Thursday. The magazine publisher and former Stern editor-in-chief Andreas Petzold will temporarily take over as editor-in-chief. The company is in separation talks with Wichmann.
Wichmann, who had made a name for himself as the editor-in-chief of the Süddeutsche Zeitung magazine, joined Stern in 2011, initially as deputy to the long-standing editor-in-chief duo Thomas Osterkorn and Andreas Petzold. After the generational change in May 2013, Wichmann reorganized the editorial structures with the aim of integrating print and online content more closely.
"Wichmann has strengthened the journalistic profile of Stern with great enthusiasm and energy, modernized its face and given it a new freshness," said Gruner + Jahr CEO Julia Jäkel. He has provided many important impulses. There was speculation in the industry media that Wichmann's management style was the reason for his replacement. A spokesperson for the publishing house declined to comment on this.
The future editor-in-chief Krug has previously worked for Stern - as a political correspondent and department head as well as for the culture and entertainment sections.
Dramatic decline in readership
Like other print media in Germany, the magazine founded in 1948 by Henri Nannen (1913-1996) has felt the effects of changing reading habits and the advance of digital offerings on the internet and mobile devices. While the magazine still sold 1.12 million copies per issue in 1999, this figure was 756,659 in the second quarter of 2014.
To this end, the brand was strengthened with extra issues, editions and Stern spin-offs such as Neon, Nido and View. The digital offering was also advanced under Wichmann. (SDA)
