The editorial team of a Berlin newspaper is to be investigated by historians after two of its senior journalists were identified as former Stasi informants.
The editor of the Berliner Zeitung, Joseph Depenbrock, called for an independent inquiry into the backgrounds of 120 editorial staff to ”preserve the credibility of the newspaper”.
In a commentary in the paper, Depenbrock said that journalists had been shocked by the revelations.
Firstly Thomas Leinkauf, editor of the Berliner‘s magazine and a prominent page-three news feature slot, admitted he had worked for the Stasi as an informant after a file detailing his activities surfaced at the paper. Leinkauf worked for the Stasi for two years as a student in the 1970s informing on fellow students.
It has emerged that in recent years he wrote articles for the paper criticising campaigners who tried to bring Stasi officers to justice.
Two days after Leinkauf’s admission, a 50-year-old assistant political editor, whose name has not been disclosed, told colleagues in a news conference that he had been a Stasi informant for a decade.
Depenbrock said the paper’s staff was aware that its reputation was on the line. ”Some colleagues sank their heads, others fought back tears. Our credibility and independence had been damaged,” he said.
In Wednesday’s newspaper the editorial staff went on the offensive, announcing in an article that the majority had agreed to access their official records to prove their innocence.
”After an intensive debate … the majority of editorial staff voted in favour of lodging applications to look into records,” said Thomas Rogalla, a spokesperson for the editorial staff, adding that journalists wanted to show the public that they were willing to look into possible links with the Stasi.
The Berliner Zeitung, now owned by British businessman David Montgomery, was one of the main East Berlin newspapers during more than four decades of communist rule. After the collapse of communism it made a successful transition in the new-market economy, becoming the reunited capital’s largest subscription daily.
”For the Berliner Zeitung this is an utter disaster,” a member of staff said. ”We are the newspaper that can least get away with something like this.”
After the reunification in 1989 the paper dismissed 70 members of staff thought to have been close to the old regime. In the mid-1990s a further 12 journalists were identified as Stasi informants.
”We thought we had driven out any Stasi affiliation years ago,” said Depenbrock. — Â