In a position paper, the “Young Digital Economy” advisory board of the Federal Ministry of Economics called for “disciplining the press” when reporting on IPOs. There was a hail of criticism – Minister Peter Altmaier reacted promptly.
According to a position paper, a committee of the Federal Ministry of Economics, consisting of founders, young IT entrepreneurs from the start-up scene, representatives of established ICT companies and investors, would like to dictate to the media how they should report on IPOs . That reports that. The advisory board wants to prevent journalists from interfering with companies collecting money.
The “position paper on the subject of IPOs by German start-ups” states that the media are partly to blame for the ailing IPO market (IPO stands for initial public offering, the English term for IPO). There is an “IPO” and “new economy bashing”. The state should intervene and ensure “a guarantee of balanced reporting”, quoted the “Handelsblatt”.
“Mistake happens”: final working version not published
The paper mentions measures such as “obligation of the press to report on smaller IPOs” and “discipline of the press to provide factual, correct and complete information”.
Named authors of the paper are, according to “Handelsblatt”, the Amorelie founder Lea-Sophie Cramer, investor Christoph Gerlinger from the German Startups Group and Alex von Frankenberg, managing director of the High-Tech Gründerfonds.
Miriam Wohlfarth, member of the advisory board, apologized on behalf of the company on Twitter. “On behalf of the advisory board we apologize. The advisory board is fully committed to freedom of the press. Unfortunately, we made a mistake here and a non-final working version was published. We will replace the paper immediately.”
Altmaier orders the deletion of the paper from the homepage
However, the Ministry of Economic Affairs quickly pulled the rip cord. The paper can no longer be found on the, only an error code is displayed. That is probably due to the reaction of the Federal Minister of Economics: “Freedom of the press is an outstanding basic right that we are obliged to protect. I was just as ignorant of the position paper of the Young Digital Economy Advisory Board as its publication on the home page (sic!). I have just received the immediate Removal arranged “, wrote Peter Altmaier (CDU) on Monday on Twitter. The chairman of the advisory board has now publicly distanced himself. We will immediately clarify the responsibilities and, if necessary, draw conclusions. “
The ministry also distanced itself: “The BMWi does not share the proposals. The independence of the press is a great legal asset for the BMWi. The Young Digital Economy Advisory Board is independent. All papers of the Advisory Board are published on the Advisory Board’s website as an opinion of the Advisory Board . “
The immediate reaction followed harsh criticism of the paper. The German Association of Journalists (DJV) described the measures mentioned in the paper as “completely absurd demands”. “Even if this should have been a preliminary paper, such demands look deeply. If you are serious about the #press freedom, you don’t even come up with such ideas and write them down,” commented the association.
The body should advise the ministry
“The demands of the advisory board to the address of the media testify to complete ignorance of journalism and its tasks in the democracy”, it said further from the DJV. “Apparently the members of the advisory board have not yet heard of the fundamental right to freedom of the press.”
Stefan Winterbauer, deputy editor-in-chief at the trade magazine, commented: “‘Freedom of the press is an outstanding basic right that we are obliged to protect,” tweeted Altmaier. A matter of course in a democracy. The fact that the founders have to be reminded of this is an indictment . “
The advisory board advises the Federal Ministry of Economics according to its own information “first hand on current issues of digital transformation”. The focus would be on “the development and potential of the young digital economy and new digital technologies in Germany”. The aim is a direct and practical dialogue between the young German digital and start-up scene and politics. Topics that are dealt with include the development of large European AI models, diversity and founders or e-health / digital health.
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