Publishing giant Axel Springer plunged into anti-semitism row
‘These media tactics have to stop. They can destroy people without a chance to defend themselves’
GERMAN publishing giant Axel Springer has been plunged into an anti-semitism row over an article accusing an Israeli academic of plagiarism.
The Business Insider (BI) website reported last week that Neri Oxman, a high-profile professor and wife of American hedge fund tycoon Bill Ackman, copied large parts of her university dissertation. The report came after Mr Ackman led calls to oust Claudine Gay as Harvard’s president over accusations of plagiarism. She has since resigned. In a post on social media, Ms Oxman admitted that she had failed to properly credit sources in part of her dissertation and apologised for the errors.
The decision to publish the article has sparked an internal investigation at Axel Springer, which owns BI, amid concern it could be viewed as anti-semitic. Ms Oxman was born and raised in Israel before studying in London and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Axel, which also publishes Politico as well as Bild and Die Welt newspapers, has an explicitly pro-israel stance. Mathias Döpfner, chief executive of the Berlin-based company, has described support for Israel’s right to exist as a “German duty” and employees in Germany are required to sign a mission statement asserting this worldview.
Politico and BI staff are not required to sign such a declaration but Mr Döpfner has said he expects employees to adhere to the company’s values. Last October, Axel reportedly fired a Lebanese employee who questioned the pro-israel stance.
Axel said it had launched a review into the processes behind the stories “to ensure that our standards as well as our journalistic values have been upheld”.
A spokesman said: “While the facts of the reports have not been disputed, over the past few days questions have been raised about the motivation and the process leading up to the reporting – questions that we take very seriously.
“All Axel Springer publications are committed to journalism that meets rigorous editorial standards.”
While Mr Ackman has not denied the plagiarism allegations against his wife, he attacked BI for a lack of “due process”. On social media, the billionaire said Ms Oxman was given just 90 minutes to respond to the allegations. By contrast, he said, Ms Gay was given weeks to review accusations against her.
Mr Ackman added: “These media tactics have to stop as they can destroy people or worse, well before they have a chance to defend themselves.”
In a note to staff, seen by news website Semafor, Nicholas Carlson, the BI editorin-chief, said: “I know our process was sound. I know our newsroom’s motivations are truth and accountability.” The controversy comes at a fraught time for BI following a failed rebrand and attempt to broaden its appeal.
The company has been grappling with an advertising downturn that has hammered digital publishers and, last April, it cut a tenth of its US workforce.
Last month, however, Axel Springer announced it had struck a landmark deal with CHATGPT maker Openai allowing the tech giant to use articles to train its software.
The agreement, which is the most significant in the news industry to date, includes a one-off payment for past content as well as a licensing fee worth tens of millions of euros per year.