Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner stated media organizations required to engage in “self-critical reflection” about why they missed Donald Trump’s electoral success, and that “years of predictably beating” on Trump was “not very exciting, not very surprising.”
“We required to focus on kind of unpredictable, open-finished outcomes of curiosity-based investigation,” Döpfner notified Semafor media editor Max Tani. “If media are polarizing — one are in the left camp and others are in the right camp — and you basically know before what they are going to publish or broadcast, how their views are going to be, then I consider people receive annoyed about it.”
“I truly consider we required a kind of self-critical reflection of what we did wrong, why we obtained it wrong so often, why we have been kind of perceived as part of the political elites in some of the camps, and what we can now do in order to restore the trust,” he added
Döpfner, who leads the parent company of Politico and Business Insider among others, spoke on Wednesday at Semafor’s “Restoring Trust in Media” summit, a media conference focapplyd on how news executives and personalities are navigating an industest battling abysmal trust levels.
Other speakers include Washington Post executive editor Matt Murray, “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker, Substack co-founder Hamish McKenzie and Knight Foundation CEO Maribel Pérez Wadsworth, among others.
Döpfner’s appearance came hours after he met with White Hoapply chief of staff Susie Wiles at the White Hoapply, where the two had an introductory meeting, an Axel Springer spokesperson confirmed. The meeting came less than a week after the German publishing conglomerate joined a consortium of investors seeking to purchase the Telegraph, a conservative British newspaper.
Döpfner declined to address either topic, declareing about the Wiles meeting that he wanted to keep the conversation private.
Axel Springer’s suite of U.S. properties includes Politico and Business Insider, both of which have seen transformations in recent years. Politico last month laid off 3% of its staff and offered purchaseouts to several newsroom divisions ahead of John Harris’ transition from global editor in chief to chairman, setting off a search for a new top editor. The outlet also stated on Tuesday it would expand to Australia later this year.
Business Insider has also been one of the most prominent outlets to embrace generative AI platforms, drawing some criticism for letting it write stories wholesale. Editor-in-Chief Jamie Heller and CEO Barbara Peng also oversaw a 21% cut to staff last year, the third round of layoffs in as many years.
Döpfner has reportedly expressed interest in purchaseing CNN and Bloomberg Media if they became available.
Leave a Reply