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‘Zionism above all’: Telegraph takeover sparks fears over Israel loyalty test

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Mathias Döpfner, CEO of Axel Springer in Berlin, Germany on 18 March 2021 [Bernd von Jutrczenka/Pool/Getty Images]

Support for Israel is set to become a virtual purity test for Telegraph journalists after the newspaper’s takeover by German media giant Axel Springer, whose chief executive, Mathias Döpfner, has reportedly described his political credo as “Zionism above all”. 

The acquisition, cleared by UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, puts one of Britain’s most influential newspapers under the control of a company that formally lists support for Israel as one of its core institutional values.

According to details published by Owen Jones, Döpfner wrote to Telegraph staff to say they would operate within Axel Springer’s “Essentials”, a set of principles that the company presents as its editorial compass. 

Among them is a commitment to support “the right of existence of the State of Israel” and to oppose “all forms of antisemitism”, placing Israel second only to freedom, free speech, the rule of law and democracy in the company’s hierarchy of values.

The singling out of Israel for special protection out of 193 UN member states has raised concern. Israel alone is explicitly granted this level of institutional protection in Axel Springer’s declared values, raising immediate questions about how far editorial independence can really extend under the new ownership. 

READ: MEMO Monitoring: Exposing the German media’s pro-Israel bias

Axel Springer insists its “Essentials” create the conditions for “maximum journalistic freedom and intellectual independence”, but critics argue that requiring adherence to a fixed political position on a specific foreign state undermines any claim to neutrality.

Döpfner’s outspoken support for Israel is also likely to deepen concern about whether the Telegraph can cover Palestine fairly under its new owners. The Guardian reported that leaked messages attributed to him using the phrase “Zionism above all”.

Döpfner’s public remarks have also repeatedly blurred the line between support for Palestinians and support for Hamas. In an internal Axel Springer transcript published by the company, he described more than four million social media posts under “Free Palestine” and similar hashtags as “pro-Hamas topics”. 

That framing is likely to deepen concern among journalists and readers alike about how criticism of Israel may be treated at the Telegraph under its new owners.

A Telegraph journalist told Owen Jones that being informed by the incoming owner’s chief executive that support for Israel was effectively a core principle was “more than a little concerning”, adding that it raised questions about “how any reporting from the paper can be considered factual if that is our core principle”.

READ: Anti-Palestinianism is the modern day McCarthyism

This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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