‘Achtung!’ Germany gets its own GB News as sex-scandal tabloid editor stages comeback
James Warrington
6 min read
Julian Reichelt’s online-only channel Nius bears all the hallmarks of the US style of opinionated news programming - Bernd von Jutrczenka/DPA
“We’re giving you a clear promise,” says Julian Reichelt, looking straight down the camera during his debut broadcast.
“On Nius.de we’ll report on what’s really happening in Germany, from your point of view, with your eyes and, most of all, for you… We are the voice of the majority.”
The opening monologue, released earlier this month, set the agenda for Nius, a new German media venture aiming to shake up what it views as the liberal orthodoxy of the establishment press.
The fledgling online-only channel marks a comeback for Reichelt, who was ousted as editor of German tabloid Bild in the wake of tawdry allegations about his affairs with younger colleagues.
More broadly, though, Nius mirrors the promises of GB News, the controversial opinionated channel that launched in the UK two years ago, as the so-called Foxification of news spreads across Europe.
François Godard, an analyst at Enders Analysis, says: “German news is notoriously centrist, consensual and a little bit boring, so one could think there is an opportunity to be seized.”
Reichelt, a 43-year-old Hamburger with thick-rimmed glasses, appears superficially to fit into Germany’s media circles.
After making his name as a war reporter, sending dispatches from Afghanistan and Iraq, Reichelt worked his way up the ranks of Bild, Germany’s best-selling newspaper.
But after taking over as editor in 2017, Reichelt imposed change, shifting the tabloid sharply to the right by focusing on populist issues such as immigration and launching a bitter campaign against then-Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Germany’s best-selling newspaper Bild, under Reichelt’s leadership, was critical of then-Chancellor Angela Merkel's policies - Fabian Sommer/DPA
Reichelt’s reputation as a hard taskmaster – he is known for sleeping on a military camp bed in his office – was cemented by an Amazon fly-on-the-wall documentary Bild.Macht.Deutschland that followed the day-to-day lives of employees at the paper.
But his fame soon turned to notoriety following a string of damning revelations in the New York Times about numerous affairs with young female colleagues, leading to accusations he abused his position of power.
He denies sexual misconduct and abuse of power, but does not deny the relationships with younger staff.
After initially surviving with just a suspension, Reichelt was sacked by Bild’s parent company Axel Springer in late 2021.
The two sides are still locked in a legal battle over allegations the former editor shared confidential data with a rival outlet.
“His reputation in Germany is in the cellar,” says Hendrik Zörner, a spokesman for the German Union of Journalists (DJV).
Still, Axel Springer handed Reichelt a €2m severance payout, mandated under strict German employment laws. Flush with this cash, the outspoken journalist and commentator this month launched his new venture Nius – pronounced “news”.
He enlisted the help of other high-profile figures on the right of German media and politics, including former Bild political editor Ralf Schuler and columnist Jan Fleischhauer.
“We want to take people seriously,” wrote Nius editor-in-chief Jan David Sutthoff in a statement of purpose. “We want them to trust the media (again).”
“Topics that move millions of Germans and affect their everyday lives, but are reported far too seldom elsewhere, will find a home at Nius.”
The headline show is “Achtung, Reichelt!”, an eponymous talk show hosted by the former Bild editor that first emerged as a YouTube channel.
In its early days, the channel has focused on critical coverage of Olaf Scholz’s coalition government, as well as sceptical views on immigration and climate change.
Reichelt’s outspoken writing and broadcasting has already attracted controversy. Earlier this month a Frankfurt court ruled against the journalist after he referred to Janka Kluge, a transgender woman, as a man in a blog post.
“What Julian Reichelt is trying to do here is classic tabloid journalism… The articles on Nius look as if he wants to compete with Bild-Zeitung,” says Zörner.
“The only unusual thing about Nius is its slogan: ‘Nius gives the majority in Germany a voice.’ That’s nonsense, of course.”
Julian Reichelt’s outspoken writing and broadcasting has been attracting controversy in Germany - Bernd von Jutrczenka/DPA
In many ways, Reichelt’s new venture bears all the hallmarks of the US style of opinionated news programming pioneered by Fox.
In the UK, GB News and Rupert Murdoch’s TalkTV have emerged as new challengers in this space, albeit with limited success to date. In France, media tycoon Vincent Bolloré has attempted to imitate the genre with CNews.
With its low-budget, YouTube-style format, Nius certainly fits the bill. German journalists say the jury is out on whether the startup is an attractive place to work, but Reichelt has already poached a handful of big names.
The executive has been explicit in positioning Nius as a challenger to the incumbent behemoths of the German media world, railing against what he deems as an industry-wide omerta on reporting about certain topics.
One German media insider suggests it may not be a coincidence that Reichelt’s departure came after he became a vocal critic of Merkel, and in so doing went against the deep-seated consensus in German media.
“Reichelt may be the right man for this,” says Godard. “He has a somewhat Trumpian profile – starting with his reported sex life. He also proved keen on populist news coverage.”
The former tabloid editor has chosen his moment wisely. In recent years, ever greater divisions have emerged in German society as voters have grown disillusioned with the Government and establishment institutions.
This was borne out in polling last month, which showed 20pc of Germans would vote for the far-right AfD party, known as a hotbed for neo-Nazis. That is two percentage points ahead of Chancellor Scholz’s Social Democrats.
Recent incidents have spurred these divisions. Earlier this month, a mass brawl at an Eritrean festival in the town of Giessen near Frankfurt left 26 police officers injured.
The far-right AfD party has been gaining popularity among German voters - Omer Messinger/Getty Images Europe
Another worrying trend is a recent spate of unrest – including fights and sexual assaults – at open air swimming pools across Germany.
Nius has seized on these incidents to propagate critical views on immigration. In a tweet, Reichelt wrote: “We used to fear that children would drown in the swimming pool. Now we fear that they will be drowned.”
Other issues will be more familiar to Britons. Nius has leapt on a wave of discontent about Germany’s TV tax – dubbed the GEZ. At just over €18 a month, it is a compulsory fee that funds public service broadcasting, equivalent to the UK TV licence.
Reichelt has frequently criticised Germany’s public media, describing it as “propaganda broadcasting” and calling for the tax to be abolished.
Overall, Reichelt has attempted to harness a groundswell of feeling that the concerns of everyday Germans are not reflected in the media and political elite.
For some analysts, Nius could represent a launchpad for Reichelt’s own political ambitions – similar to the ascent of pundit-turned-far-right-French-politician Éric Zemmour.
But whatever his long term plans, it is clear that Reichelt has identified a chasm in the German media landscape and is determined to fill it with his own brand of opinion-led broadcasting. Whether he can replicate his success at Bild remains to be seen.
