Blick editor-in-chief Christian Dorer has to take six months' time off
Christian Dorer, editor-in-chief of the Blick Group, must take a six-month leave of absence. He is alleged to have violated the «Code of Conduct.» It has not yet been decided whether he will return, as Blick reported in a statement on Wednesday.
The decision to take time off as of Monday was made by the management of the Ringier Group in agreement with Dorer. There are allegations of preferential treatment of a certain group of employees and insufficiently clear differentiation between private and business, according to the statement.
Ringier will investigate the reports and observations, clarify them completely and work them up. "My absence will simplify the clarification, therefore this time out is also in my sense - although the step is enormously difficult for me," Dorer is quoted as saying. Should he have harmed the well-being of the group or individuals through his actions without intention, he regrets this beyond all measure.
During his sabbatical, Steffi Buchli, Editor-in-Chief, will take over View Sports, and Andreas Dietrich, Editor-in-Chief View, will assume journalistic responsibility. All other management responsibilities will be handed over to Ladina Heimgartner as CEO and Roman Sigrist as COO of the Blick Group on an interim basis.
Now, with the help of external experts, a detailed analysis of the corporate culture within the Blick Group is to be carried out. According to Heimgartner, the topic of "corporate culture" will be "an absolute focus topic" in the coming weeks and months.
Media groups under fire
Already at the beginning of the month, the media company Ringier Axel Springer had taken over from Werner de Schepper, Co-Editor-in-Chief of the magazine Interview by Ringier, separated because of "differences" and "different views (Werbewoche.ch reported).
In 2017, the Tages-Anzeiger published an article about alleged sexual harassment of de Schepper at the workplace. The media office of Ringier Axel Springer Switzerland stated at the time that it had no knowledge of such incidents. De Schepper did not comment publicly on the matter. The allegations did not have any criminal consequences.
At the beginning of January, Ringier's Board of Directors had announced that it would set up a working group to draw up a "journalistic mission statement". Earlier, the alleged direct line from the spokesman for Health Minister Alain Berset to Ringier CEO Marc Walder had made headlines, referring to the reporting of the Blicks is said to have had an impact.
The Tamedia Group is also facing criticism. A former employee had given the former MagazineThe company's editor-in-chief Finn Canonica was accused of abuse of power, bullying and sexism. Canonica defended himself against the accusations, but also admitted mistakes in part (Werbewoche.ch reported). Tamedia also admitted to omissions. The investigation of the case had taken too long. (SDA)
