Kai Diekmann

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Kai Diekmann (born July 27, 1964 in Ravensburg) is a German journalist. From 1998 until 2000 he was the head editor of the Welt am Sonntag (English:World on Sunday). Since January of 2001 he has been the head editor of the Bild. He is also a member of the executive board of the Turkish daily Hürriyet. [1]

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[edit] Life

Diekmann grew up in the German town of Bielefeld. After his Abitur (roughly equivalent to high school graduation) and his mandatory military service, which he completed in the editorial staff of a military newspaper, he began his university studies at the University of Münster. There he became a member of the Burschenschaft Franconia, which was a member of a union of Bursenschaften highly critical of the extreme right in German politics. He interrupted his studies in 1985 when he began his Volontariat(roughly: apprenticeship) at the Axel Springer AG through the Axel Springer Journalist School, from which he quickly began a career for the publsher, beginning as a correspondent in Bonn.

From 1989-1991 he was the chief reporter for the Hubert Burda Media published illustrated weekly Bunte. After a short detour at the Ullstein-Verlag published daily B.Z, he transferred to the Bild in 1992 where he stayed until he became head editor of the Welt am Sonntag in 1998. Then in 2001 he became head editor of the Bild. Since 2004, in addition to editor, he is also the publisher of the Bild as well as the Bild am Sonntag. In March of 2004, the first volume of the definitive memoirs of former Bundeskanzler Helmut Kohl was published, having been edited by Diekmann.

As head editor, Diekmann is responsible for the journalistic quality of the newspaper's work, which in the recent past had been the subject of several negative media reports. Afterwards, the Bild has allegedly been in violation of basic journalistic principles more often than other German media. This claim that the Bild's offenses against the German Press Codex has increased since Diekmann took over, is supported by the clear rise in the number of rebukes from the German Presserat (Press Council) during this time.

Diekmann is a member of the Atlantik-Bruecke [2].

[edit] Lawsuits

Kai Diekmann sued the Berlin daily, die tageszeitung, after, on May 8, 2002, the paper's satire page "Die Wahrheit" (The Truth) claimed that he had sought an operation to use parts of corpses to enlarge his allegedly extremely small penis. Diekmann sued the tageszeitung for 30,000 Euros in damages for illegal violations of his privacy as well as libel and defamation of character. A Berlin court ruled that there was indeed negligence on the part of the tageszeitung, but denied the monetary compensation demanded by Diekmann saying that as editor of the Bild, he "consciously seeks economic advantage from the violation of others' privacy" and therefore "is less heavily burdened by the violation of his own privacy." And furthermore that he should "assume that those standards that he lays on others are also of importance for himself."[1] An appeal against the ruling was given no chance of success by the higher court and both sides withdrew their appeals. [2]

[edit] Family

From 1995 until 1997 Diekmann was married to Jonica Jahr, the daughter of Hamburg publisher John Jahr jr. On January 28, 2002 he married Bild columnist Katja Kessler with former Chancellor of Germany, Helmut Kohl as his best man. Diekmann and Kessler have three children.

[edit] Publications

  • Helmut Kohl, Kai Diekmann, Ralf G. Reuth (Bearb.): Ich wollte Deutschlands Einheit. Ullstein, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3548362648
  • Kai Diekmann: Hat die christliche Botschaft keinen Platz mehr in den Medien? Referate und Stellungnahmen bei einer Medientagung zum 25jährigen Jubiläum der Nachrichtenagentur Idea. Idea e.V. Evangelische Nachrichtenagentur, Wetzlar 1995, 20, ISSN 1614-502X

This article incorporates text translated from the corresponding German Wikipedia article as of September 4, 2007.

[edit] References

  1. ^ „bewusst seinen wirtschaftlichen Vorteil aus der Persönlichkeitsrechtsverletzung Anderer sucht“ und daher „weniger schwer durch die Verletzung seines eigenen Persönlichkeitsrechtes belastet wird“. Er müsse „davon ausgehen, dass diejenigen Maßstäbe, die er anderen gegenüber anlegt, auch für ihn selbst von Belang sind“. Auszug aus dem Urteil des Landgerichts Berlin zum Penis-Prozess
  2. ^ Penis-Prozess nicht verlängert, taz, 3.5.2003 (in German)
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