Journalist recovered

Sad certainty about the death of journalist

Alexandra Föderl-Schmid was found dead, the shock is great.

(Bild: Prohaska Rene / VGN Medien Holding / picturedesk.com)

Enormous consternation throughout the country! Alexandra Föderl-Schmid, a top journalist from Upper Austria, has been found dead. She was most recently deputy editor-in-chief at the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" and had previously been editor-in-chief at the "Standard" for many years. Following allegations of plagiarism, she had only recently withdrawn from day-to-day business.

The top journalist is said to have said goodbye to her brother in a telephone call on Thursday morning before a major search operation began. The media industry was quickly thrown into turmoil when it became known that the deputy editor-in-chief of the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" (SZ), Alexandra Föderl-Schmid, a native of Upper Austria, was missing.

Her company car, a blue Mercedes with Stuttgart license plates, was discovered in a parking lot at the new border crossing in Simbach. Simbach lies opposite Braunau and is only separated by the River Inn. A witness claims to have seen a woman walking near the car in nearby Kirchdorf am Inn at around 7am. Footprints and documents from the "Süddeutsche" newspaper are also said to have been discovered there.

Numerous firefighters in action
From 8.20 a.m., fire departments on both sides of the border, i.e. Upper Austrian and Bavarian helpers, supported the police in the search for people; a total of around 50 firefighters are said to have been deployed in each case. The Inn Valley was extensively searched for the missing person. Confusion was caused by a witness who claimed to have seen Föderl-Schmid at an ATM at around 10.30 am.

Later there were reports that items belonging to her had been found. Now the sad certainty: the well-known journalist has been found dead, the possibility that she was not at fault has been ruled out. An autopsy has been ordered.

(Bild: Pressefoto Scharinger © Daniel Scharinger)

Campaign brought her career to a crashing halt
One week after her 53rd birthday on January 30, Alexander Föderl-Schmid's career was in ruins. From 2007 onwards, the highly successful journalist, who was also a regular presence on TV, was the first woman in Austria to be editor-in-chief of the "Standard" for ten years. She then worked as a correspondent for the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" in Israel until 2020 and moved to the editorial office there in July 2020.

After Föderl-Schmid was awarded the "MedienLÖWIN" prize in November 2023, her dream career turned into a nightmare in December: the German industry magazine "Medieninsider" quoted excerpts from "SZ" texts by Föderl-Schmid that allegedly showed "strong similarities and even literal matches" with articles by other authors.

Newspaper went on the offensive
The "Süddeutsche Zeitung" went on the offensive on Monday, announcing that Föderl-Schmid was temporarily withdrawing from day-to-day business due to the allegations and that an external commission had been commissioned to investigate.

In addition, Föderl-Schmid had asked the University of Salzburg to review her doctoral thesis submitted in 1996. The background to this were accusations that arose from a plagiarism investigation by the Austrian communication scientist Stefan Weber. The "Nius" portal of former "Bild" editor-in-chief Julian Reichelt is said to be Weber's client.

Email to plagiarism hunters
Weber had published an email from Föderl-Schmid to him on Twitter vulgo "X" on Thursday morning: "I have learned a lot about media, mechanisms, people and business. At least this hunt is over." Weber's witty comment: "I am curious to know what is 'over' and who exactly is 'hunting' whom". There was already a search for Föderl-Schmid - the comment was then quickly deleted from the platform.

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