Politico employees will not have to sign their new parent company’s pro-Israel mission statement
Two coffee mugs showing the Politico logo. Photo by Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images
(JTA) — Ben Smith hid a significant nugget deep within his latest New York Times story, on the billion-dollar sale of Politico: The magazine and news site’s new owners, German publishing powerhouse Axel Springer, will not require its newly acquired American employees to sign the company mission statement pledging support of Israel.
Axel Springer, named after the journalist who founded it in the 1940s, has long been a staunch supporter of Israel. On its website, the second of the company’s five core principles reads, “We support the Jewish people and the right of existence of the State of Israel.”
The company, which owns some of Europe’s most-read publications, including Die Welt and Bild, apparently requires its European employees to sign a pledge in support of “the trans-Atlantic alliance and Israel, among other favored values,” according to Smith’s report.
In May, during the latest round of fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, the company’s headquarters raised an Israeli flag as a show of support. In June, Matthias Dopfner, CEO of the German company, reportedly said that any employees disgruntled by the move should leave the company.
“I think, and I’m being very frank with you, a person who has an issue with an Israeli flag being raised for one week here, after antisemitic demonstrations, should look for a new job,” he was quoted as saying by Israel Hayom.
Smith’s column dissects the Axel Springer purchase and its significance in the wider American media landscape. Dopfner told Smith the Politico purchase “cemented the company’s American future.”
—
The post Politico employees will not have to sign their new parent company’s pro-Israel mission statement appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
