DAPD ceases operations
The insolvent German news agency DAPD is shutting down. Insolvency administrator Petra Hilgers announced on Thursday that the agency will stop providing news reports to its clients.
The German Association of Journalists called the insolvency administrator's decision a "catastrophe for editors and freelance journalists". DAPD employs 175 people. The Berlin-based news agency filed for insolvency for the second time in five months at the beginning of March (Werbewoche.ch reported). Journalist Ulrich Ende took over DAPD on February 1, but was then left in the lurch by partner investors, according to his own statements. DAPD and its predecessor agency DDP had gone bankrupt a total of four times in the company's 42-year history.
Regret in the media industry
The end of Germany's second-largest news agency was greeted with regret in the media industry. The Federal Chairman of the German Journalists' Association DJV, Michael Konken, called the insolvency administrator's decision a "catastrophe for the editors and freelance journalists at DAPD". The agency scene in Germany will become poorer with the end of DAPD: "This is a loss for media diversity in our country."
Cornelia Hass, Federal Managing Director of the German Journalists' Union DJU in the trade union verdi, spoke of a "consequence of irresponsible business management". The DJV and DJU unanimously called on other agencies to take on former DAPD editors. They also accused the former dapd owners Peter Löw and Martin Vorderwülbecke of a "kamikaze course", "which ultimately led to a total loss". They had tried to "stir up the agency market with dumping offers, then fled before the personal crash landing and left the employees to their fate". (SDA)
