"We will not accept this"

Editors of the Süddeutsche Zeitung wiretapped

The headquarters of the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" in Munich

(Bild: AFP/Christof Stache)

Journalists at the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" were wiretapped at the end of 2023. Details from the editorial conference became known, such as the handling of sources in texts by Deputy Editor-in-Chief Alexandra Föderl-Schmid. A search has since been launched for an informant from within the company.

"If the heart of an editorial office is tapped, we cannot accept that," said "SZ" editor-in-chief Wolfgang Krach on Saturday. "That destroys the working basis of an editorial office." The target of the search operation was possible contacts from the editorial office to the industry service "Medieninsider", as it had reported extensively on the details from the conference. According to Krach, only technical data was checked. It was about whether audio or video files had been sent to its domain between the editorial conference at the end of 2023 and the publication of the first industry service report.

We did not look at any personal accounts or the content of emails or phone calls.

Wolfgang Krach, „SZ“-Chefredakteur

The procedure was agreed with the works council. "We did not view any personal accounts or the content of any emails or phone calls." Sensitive data was therefore not at risk. According to Krach, the search did not yield any results.

Information was leaked again
"The protection of editorial confidentiality is essential for our work. That is why there is no question for us that we will try to track down colleagues who violate editorial secrecy," reads a statement from the editorial team, works council and editorial exclusion. The wiretapping was also the subject of an editorial meeting last Tuesday. From this, information has already leaked out again, which was again reported by "Medieninsider".

Danger for sources
"Many editors see editorial secrecy and the corporate culture threatened by the repeated alleged recording and disclosure of entire internal conferences," announced the editorial committee, which represents the interests of the newspaper's journalists. The organization Reporters Without Borders warned that this also means that the sources of journalism are not sufficiently protected.