Comedian Kurt Krömer invited Julian Reichelt to his show. He wanted to grill it. Did he succeed?
Tomasz Kurianowicz
Julian Reichelt in the program Chez Krömer from November 14, 2022.Screenshot rbb/ARD media library
Kurt Krömer gave the journalist bubble a little excitement. The comedian and RBB moderator decided to invite the former Bild editor-in-chief Julian Reichelt to his show Chez Krömer – and Reichelt accepted the invitation. The program will be broadcast on RBB on Tuesday evening. On Monday it was already visible in the media library, whereupon the discussion on Twitter quickly became heated.
After all, Krömer didn’t miss the opportunity to grill Reichelt and to confront him with short, snappy questions with unproven or proven allegations of a private and professional nature. At times you didn’t want to look properly anymore because the show felt like a verbal and bloody gladiator fight.
Kurt Krömer stuck his finger into the wound. First of all, he confronted Reichelt with the low points of photo reporting during Reichelt’s editor-in-chief era. He showed him analyzes showing that the Bild newspaper first supported the welcoming culture during the refugee crisis and later fished on the far right with polemics against Syrian immigrants. Krömer recalled that by publishing private messages, the Bild newspaper had plunged Jérôme Boateng’s ex-girlfriend, Kasia Lenhardt, into despair. The model later took her own life. After the Solingen family tragedy, the “Bild” newspaper quoted from a private chat with the victims and showed unpixelated images. Reputable journalists also described this as an outrageous violation of the press code.
Later it was about the allegations of abuse made against Reichelt
Reichelt knew how to defend himself. He admitted mistakes, as in the Solingen case, but mostly countered with justifications. He said that he had been put under pressure by Friede Springer to support the federal government’s line in the Corona crisis. But he refused and instead organized a campaign against Christian Drosten. At Krömer, he celebrated the numerous attacks on the virologist as the rebellion of a critical journalist – attacks, by the way, which meant that Drosten only went public with protective equipment. He justified the campaign against Kasia Lenhardt by saying that the Pole had already published her chat history on Instagram and that it was not private.
Later it was also about the allegations of abuse made against Reichelt in the picture editors. The official version is that Reichelt lost his job as editor-in-chief at Springer because of compliance violations. Reichelt, in turn, said that to this day he doesn’t really know why he was fired. What you have to leave Reichelt: He showed self-confidence and insisted that he was the victim of a conspiracy – and that they wanted to get rid of him for other reasons. He declined to comment on the allegations of abuse.
Did Reichelt want to cancel the show?
But Krömer remained stubborn. Again and again he asked, aggressively, obtrusively, in his stubborn way, but Reichelt was undeterred. He pointed out that the former relationships with the women in the picture editors were his private affair and that he did not want to comment on them. A cat-and-mouse game began, which had it all. While Krömer made it his business to reveal Reichelt to the public and to expose him as a charlatan – he even showed an American complaint from an alleged abuse victim – Reichelt ironically chose the tactic of accusing the questioner of Krömer’s image or Reichelt methods.
In the meantime, one had the impression that Reichelt would want to stop the show and flee the studio. But it didn’t come to that. He remained calm, dogged, attacking, reacted with a grin and evasively and played the sovereign. Reichelt tried to avoid and steer the conversation to his new format “Achtung Reichelt”, which can (still) be viewed free of charge on YouTube. Of course, he did not want to reveal who is the financier behind the show.
Image methods just feel wrong in journalism
The highlight was certainly Krömer’s question about Reichelt’s drug use. Reichelt initially denied the question. The camera zoomed in on his eye area, trying to capture a tremor, a hesitant reaction. It was the only moment when Reichelt showed uncertainty. Krömer wanted to beat him at his own game. In the industry, it is finally considered almost certain that there was drug use in the editor-in-chief of the Bild newspaper under Reichelt. One almost felt a little sorry for Reichelt and thought that a drug concession would not necessarily make him less sympathetic, but Reichelt preferred to refer again to the protection of his privacy. Here he tucked his tail.
The social networks are now discussing whether the discussion with Reichelt made any sense at all. Wouldn’t that mock the supposed victims of abuse of power? Wouldn’t that give Reichelt a stage? The classic questions that arise when controversial figures have their say. There is no general answer. Nevertheless, after watching the show, you can’t shake the feeling that nobody really left the studio as a winner. Whether Reichelt or Krömer: image methods just feel wrong in journalism.
Do you have feedback? Write us! [email protected]