There is a change at the head of the news magazine “Der Spiegel”: Steffen Klusmann (57) gives up the position of editor-in-chief. The old “Mirror” author Dirk Kurbjuweit (60) immediately takes over. The media house announced this on Thursday in Hamburg.
In the past, there were rumors of power struggles at the top of the “Mirror”. Since Wednesday there has been increasing pressure from the outside, the pressure has increased. The media house initially did not comment on “rumours”. On Thursday evening it was said: Klusmann is leaving the editor-in-chief after implementing major reforms in recent years “by mutual agreement”. The 57-year-old has been editor-in-chief since the beginning of 2019.
Klusmann was quoted in the statement as saying, “We have achieved a lot together. Lately, however, management and I have all too often failed to agree on critical strategic issues – which has now led to my resignation.”
“Spiegel” director Thomas Hass said: “We are deeply indebted to Steffen Klusmann for his groundbreaking work over the past five years, especially for merging the print and online editors and the successes in our digital subscription strategy.” A better person could not have been imagined in recent years. It is regretted “that in the end it was not possible to continue our always very good cooperation for the future.”
For the successor, it was important for shareholders and management to continue ongoing reform projects with reliable stability and to intensify the prioritization of digital offerings.
Co-director Stefan Ottlitz said of new editor-in-chief Kurbjuweit that he had “a clear vision of how our journalism, both digital and print, needs to evolve between speed and depth, and he’s shown how to do it.” this sharpens the profile of the »mirror« both as an author and in management positions. Our remuneration strategy in particular depends on further brand profiling and its success is essential for our journalistic and economic independence.”
Kurbjuweit has been working for the magazine for a long time. In 24 years he was already deputy editor-in-chief from February 2015 to December 2018, since then he has been an author in the municipal office. The award-winning 60-year-old has also written more than ten books.
According to Medienhaus Clemens Höges (62), Melanie Amann (45) and Thorsten Dörting (48) are among the editors-in-chief of the news magazine, which has been one of Germany’s largest national media for decades. Before that you were also editor-in-chief – at Klusmann.
Der Spiegel, founded by Rudolf Augstein in 1947, has a circulation of over 700,000 copies. The Spiegel Group achieved a turnover of 267 million euros in 2022, a slightly decreasing result. The advertising market, which is so important to media companies, has been weakening for some time and is also depressing the figures at the Spiegel Group. There was a plus in the distribution of journalistic offers.
The Hamburg-based media company has been expanding its digital strategy for some time now and has bundled its paid offerings under the “Spiegel+” brand, which now has more than 300,000 subscribers. The strategic brain behind it is managing director Ottlitz, who moved from the Süddeutsche Zeitung to the Spiegel years ago and gained increasing influence in the Hamburg publishing house.
Klusmann’s start as editor-in-chief in 2019 was a bumpy one, as he fell while processing what was arguably the magazine’s biggest scandal involving forged texts by previously celebrated “Spiegel” author Claas Relotius. Leading the editorial team during this difficult time earned Klusmann respect. Another topical subject was the merger of the online and print editorial departments, also related to the salary structure.
At “Spiegel”, the limited partnership for employees (KG) is a powerful player with influence in the house. She has half of the shares in the publishing company and can participate in top positions. Not all employees are part of the investment company, which also leads to resentment because not everyone necessarily feels represented by it. A letter from the editors on Wednesday criticizing the KG leadership and Spiegel’s management, which should be interpreted as a sign of support for Klusmann, again exposed this conflict.
At the top of “Mirror” there have always been changes in the past. Most recently, in April 2021, Barbara Hans, who was responsible for the digital offering, left the editor-in-chief under Klusmann’s leadership after internal friction.
In 2019, Klusmann himself succeeded Klaus Brink Bäumer, who is now program director at the public broadcaster Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR). At that time, Klusmann moved to the top position within the Spiegel publishing house of “Manager Magazin”, of which he had been editor-in-chief since November 2013. Before that, the native of Karlsruhe was deputy editor-in-chief of “Stern” of competitor Gruner + Jahr for several months.
His previous professional positions include, with interruptions, his position at the “Financial Times Deutschland” since 1999. In 2004 he became editor-in-chief there. The newspaper (Gruner + Jahr) was discontinued in 2012.
In an interview with the German news agency at the end of 2021 on the 75th anniversary of the existence of “Spiegel”, Klusmann said: “The fact that it can quickly bring you down at the top of the “Spiegel” must be taken into account if you are the job, otherwise you will do nothing out of sheer fear or you will do everything wrong.”
Klusmann performed differently from some of his predecessors, who were seen as more prominent figures in public. In the dpa interview he said: “The role of the editor-in-chief can be filled very differently. There are editors-in-chief who are the main commentators for their medium. Then there are people who see themselves more as representatives who are on the road a lot, on stages and being on talk shows. And then there are the newspaper editors who run the shop, set themes, edit and create titles. I always saw myself primarily as a record maker.” It is not yet known where Klusmann could go in the future.(sda/dpa)
Soource :Watson
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
