58-400: Bild ( German: [bɪlt] , lit. ' Picture ' ) or Bild-Zeitung ( German: [ˈbɪltˌt͡saɪ̯tʊŋ] , lit. ' Picture Newspaper ' ) is a German tabloid newspaper published by Axel Springer SE . The paper is published from Monday to Saturday; on Sundays, its sister paper Bild am Sonntag ( lit. ' Bild on Sunday ' )
116-504: A Social Democrat , in his bid for chancellor in 1998. In 2004, Bild started to cooperate with fast-food giant McDonald's to sell the tabloid at its 1,000 fast-food restaurants in Germany. The cooperation still goes on, often enough by advertising the restaurant chain in "news" articles. Photos of young, topless women appeared on Bild's page one below the fold as Seite-eins-Mädchen or "Page One Girls". On 9 March 2012 Bild announced
174-484: A brutal dictator that should not have been welcome in West Germany. The protest was repressed by police and Iranian agents who beat protesters and resulted in the fatal shooting of Benno Ohnesorg . The police officer involved, Karl-Heinz Kurras , was acquitted on the grounds of self-defense. Protests against police brutality erupted across the country and led the mayor of Berlin and the police chief to resign. In
232-569: A few months. Defunct Defunct From the outset, the editorial drift was conservative and nationalist. The GDR was referred to as the Soviet Occupation Zone (German: Sowjetische Besatzungszone or SBZ ). The usage continued well into the 1980s, when Bild began to use the GDR's official name cautiously, putting it in quotation marks. Bild (along with fellow Springer tabloid B.Z. ) heavily influenced public opinion against
290-404: A generally anti- Angela Merkel line, and strengthened its anti-Putin, pro-NATO, pro-Israel position. Spiegel magazine often accuses Bild of pushing Germany further right and questions Bild's moral standards and journalistic quality. Its motto , prominently displayed below the logo, is unabhängig, überparteilich ("independent, nonpartisan"). Another slogan used prominently in advertising
348-584: A rebuke of Dutschke and his associates in the West Berlin SDS chapter. Unsurprisingly, Marcuse did the opposite in a speech emphasizing "solidarity of sentiment". The event was followed by street demonstrations which led to the arrests of Dutschke, his wife, and 84 others. In June 1967, during a state visit by the Shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi , the SDS organized a protest of his visit, criticizing him as
406-555: A scathing open letter to Bild's advertising agency after they asked her to star in a campaign. "Bild is not a harmless guilty pleasure", she wrote, but a "dangerous political instrument—not only a high-magnification telescope into the abyss but an evil creature". Writer Max Goldt has described the paper as "an organ of infamy" and posited that "one has to be as impolite to its editors as is legally possible; they are bad people who do wrong" . For 28 years from 1984 to 2012, Bild had topless women featuring on its first page; in total,
464-498: A significant turning point in the relations between celebrities and tabloid journalism, increasing the willingness of celebrities to sue for libel in the U.S., and somewhat dampening the recklessness of U.S. tabloids. Other celebrities have attempted to sue tabloid magazines for libel and slander including Phil McGraw in 2016 and Richard Simmons in 2017. Tabloids may pay for stories . Besides scoops meant to be headline stories, this can be used to censor stories damaging to
522-411: A sit-in to demand involvement in the reform process of universities, included democratic management of colleges. Echoing Marcuse, Rudi Dutschke considered the politically complacent working classes to be a lost cause when it came to revolutionary agitation. Instead, he hoped to build a coalition between Western intelligentsia and third world communist revolutionaries. To that end, Dutschke organized
580-553: Is Bild dir deine Meinung! , which translates as "Form your own opinion!" (by reading Bild ), a pun based on the fact that, in German , Bild is a homophone of the imperative form of the verb bilden (English: to form, to build, to educate ) and the noun Bild (English: picture, image ). Bild is printed in Ahrensburg , Hanover, Berlin, Leipzig, Essen , Neu-Isenburg , Esslingen , Munich, and Syke . Outside of Germany it
638-585: Is also printed in Madrid, Palma de Mallorca , Las Palmas , Milan, Athens, and in Antalya . The foreign locations cater mostly for German tourists and expatriates. Der Spiegel wrote in 2006 that Bild "flies just under the nonsense threshold of American and British tabloids ... For the German desperate, it is a daily dose of high-resolution soft porn". It is argued Bild' s thirst for sensationalism results in
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#1732773147315696-498: Is often considered to be the British national newspaper The Sun , the second-highest-selling European tabloid newspaper. Bild was founded by Axel Springer (1912–1985) in 1952. It mostly consisted of pictures (hence the name Bild , German for picture). Bild soon became the best-selling tabloid, by a wide margin, not only in Germany, but in all of Europe, though essentially to German readers. Through most of its history, Bild
754-447: Is published instead, which has a different style and its own editors. Bild is tabloid in style but broadsheet in size. It is the best-selling European newspaper and has the sixteenth-largest circulation worldwide. Bild has been described as "notorious for its mix of gossip, inflammatory language, and sensationalism" and as having a huge influence on German politicians. Its nearest English-language stylistic and journalistic equivalent
812-410: Is reflected in its mix of celebrity gossip, crime stories and political analysis. However, its articles are often considerably shorter compared to those in British tabloids, and the whole paper is thinner as well. In June 2012, Bild celebrated its 60th anniversary by giving away free newspapers to almost all of Germany's 41 million households. Bild said Guinness World Records in Germany has certified
870-859: The Daily Mirror , and the Daily Record . In the early 21st century, much of tabloid journalism and news production changed mediums to online formats. This change is to keep up with the era of digital media and allow for increased accessibility of readers. With a steady decline in paid newspapers , the gap has been filled by expected free daily articles, mostly in the tabloid format. Tabloid readers are often youths, and studies show that consumers of tabloids are on average less educated. It can often depict inaccurate news and misrepresent individuals and situations. German student movement Incidents The West German student movement ( German : Westdeutsche Studentebewegung ), sometimes called
928-595: The 1968 movement in West Germany ( German : 1968 Bewegung in Westdeutschland ), was a social movement that consisted of mass student protests in West Germany in 1968. Participants in the movement later came to be known as 68ers . The movement was characterized by the protesting students' rejection of traditionalism and of German political authority which included many former Nazi officials . Student unrest had started in 1967 when student Benno Ohnesorg
986-746: The Außerparlamentarische Opposition . The more leftist wing of the SDP in the Sozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund (Socialist German Students Union - SDS) split from the party line and joined the Außerparlamentarische Opposition. In 1965, Rudi Dutschke was elected to the political council of the West Berlin SDS. With Michael Vester, SDS vice-president and international secretary, Dutschke imported ideas from
1044-668: The Bild tabloid in Hanover , giving himself the pseudonym of "Hans Esser". In his books Der Aufmacher ("Lead Story") and Zeugen der Anklage ("Witnesses for the Prosecution") he portrays his experiences on the editorial staff of the paper and the journalism which he encountered there. The staff commonly displayed contempt for humanity, a lack of respect for the privacy of ordinary people and widespread conduct of unethical research and editing techniques. Wallraff's investigations were also
1102-494: The Bild television channel was created. The Berlin offices have a 19-storey paternoster lift , whose continued operation was vigorously defended editorially by the newspaper. Tabloid journalism Tabloid journalism is a popular style of largely sensationalist journalism which takes its name from the tabloid newspaper format : a small-sized newspaper also known as half broadsheet . The size became associated with sensationalism, and tabloid journalism replaced
1160-604: The German Autumn of 1977, Habermas said the charge of fascism had been an overreaction. At a conference in September 1967, Dutschke and Hans-Jürgen Krahl called for the creation of "action centers" at universities to organize "urban guerrillas ". The International Vietnam Congress ( German : Internationaler Vietnamkongress ) was an event that took place in West Berlin on 17 and 18 February 1968 to oppose
1218-432: The German student movement and left-wing terrorism in the years following 1966, and was blamed by some for the climate that contributed to the assassination attempt on activist Rudi Dutschke in 1968—a popular catchphrase in left-wing circles sympathetic to student radicalism was "Bild hat mitgeschossen!" ("Bild shot at him too!"). In 1977 investigative journalist Günter Wallraff worked for four months as an editor for
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#17327731473151276-609: The Nazi Party during the Nazi regime. Social movements grew as younger people became disillusioned with the political establishment, worrying it was reminiscent of Germany's Nazi past. West Berlin became a center for these movements since many left leaning people would take residence in West Berlin to avoid the military draft that was in effect in the rest of West Germany. These social movements were also becoming popular among
1334-500: The Red Army Faction , which continued to engage in arson and other terrorist acts for more than a decade. Dutschke, Enzenberger, and Nirumand wrote an apologia for terrorism based on Walter Benjamin 's Critique of Violence and Herbert Marcuse's Repressive Tolerance . Despite the failure of the student movement a change in political consciousness lasted throughout the country. Criticisms of West German officials' ties to
1392-562: The Vietnam War . It was organized by Rudi Dutschke and Karl Dietrich Wolff, with an estimated 3,000–4,000 people attending the conference and a total of 12,000–15,000 people involved in the following demonstration. At the congress, Dutschke and his Chilean friend Gaston Salvatore presented their translation of Che Guevara 's letter to the Tricontinental Conference , which called for bloody guerrilla warfare against
1450-718: The supermarket checkout lines. In the 1960s, the National Enquirer began selling magazines in supermarkets as an alternative to newsstands. To help with their rapport with supermarkets and continue their franchise within them, they had offered to buy back unsold issues so newer, more up to date ones could be displayed. These tabloids—such as the Globe and the National Enquirer —often use aggressive tactics to sell their issues. Unlike regular tabloid-format newspapers, supermarket tabloids are distributed through
1508-645: The 1975 movie based on it, used a fictional stand-in for Bild to make a point about its allegedly unethical journalistic practices. Böll's essay in the edition of 10 January 1972 of Der Spiegel (titled " Will Ulrike Gnade oder freies Geleit? [ de ] ) was sharply critical of Bild's sensationalist coverage of the Baader-Meinhof Gang . In the essay, Böll stated that what Bild does "isn't cryptofascist anymore, not fascistoid, but naked fascism. Agitation, lies, dirt." Judith Holofernes , lead singer of German band Wir sind Helden , wrote
1566-866: The 21st century to more online platforms that seek to target and engage youth consumers with celebrity news and entertainment . Scandal sheets were the precursors to tabloid journalism. Around 1770, scandal sheets appeared in London, and in the United States as early as the 1840s. Reverend Henry Bate Dudley was the editor of one of the earliest scandal sheets, The Morning Post , which specialized in printing malicious society gossip , selling positive mentions in its pages, and collecting suppression fees to keep stories unpublished. Other Georgian era scandal sheets were Theodore Hook 's John Bull , Charles Molloy Westmacott 's The Age , and Barnard Gregory 's The Satirist . William d'Alton Mann , owner of
1624-649: The American SDS ( Students for a Democratic Society ) and New Left , such as direct action and civil disobedience . Drawing inspiration from Herbert Marcuse , Dutschke sought to build a coalition of marginalized identity groups to be a vanguard for socialism in Europe. Finding that Germany had no population group with revolutionary potential comparable to America's Black Power movement, Dutschke sought to mold Germany's student movements into seeing themselves as an oppressed minority . His plan for accomplishing this
1682-644: The SDS looked to Hans-Jürgen Krahl for leadership. Krahl however favored theory to direct action. In May the West German government considered using the Emergency Acts in response, allowing the Cabinet to suspend parliamentary rule and enact laws in times of crisis. On May 11 protesters gathered in the West German capital Bonn to demand that the laws not be used. The government agreed with protesting labor unions to only use limited concessions, passing
1740-402: The United States. Holger Meins presented an instructional film on making Molotov cocktails . On 11 April 1968, Rudi Dutschke was shot by the far-right Josef Bachmann . Dutschke was injured but survived the shooting. The attempted assassination of Dutschke would be later regarded as the formal beginning of the West German student movement. Dutschke had previously been labeled an " enemy of
1798-601: The basis for the 1990 film The Man Inside . After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War in Europe, Bild focused on celebrity stories and became less political. Despite its general support for Germany's conservative parties and especially former chancellor Helmut Kohl , its rhetoric, still populist in tone, is less fierce than it was thirty years ago. Its traditionally less conservative Sunday paper Bild am Sonntag even supported Gerhard Schröder ,
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1856-408: The decline in recent years. By the end of 2005, the figure dropped to 3.8 million copies. Its daily circulation in 2010 was 3,548,000, making the paper the fifth in the list of the world's biggest selling newspapers. Bild is published in tabloid format . In the paper's beginnings, Springer was influenced by the model of the British tabloid Daily Mirror , although Bild's paper size is larger, this
1914-579: The earlier label of yellow journalism and scandal sheets . Not all newspapers associated with tabloid journalism are tabloid size, and not all tabloid-size newspapers engage in tabloid journalism; in particular, since around the year 2000 many broadsheet newspapers converted to the more compact tabloid format . In some cases, celebrities have successfully sued tabloids for libel , demonstrating that their stories have defamed them. Publications engaging in tabloid journalism are also known as rag newspapers or simply rags . Tabloid journalism has changed in
1972-562: The elimination of the "Page One Girls", instead moving its fleshy photos to its inside pages. In 2004 Bild was publicly reprimanded twelve times by the Deutscher Presserat [ de ] (German Press Council). This amounts for a third of the reprimands this self-regulation council of the German press declared that year. Up until 2012, it had received more reprimands than any other newspaper from this watchdog body. After Julian Reichelt became editor in 2018, Bild took
2030-521: The event "Vietnam – Analysis of an Example" ( German : Vietnam – Analyse eines Exempels ) at the University of Frankfurt Institute for Social Research with Marcuse as the headline speaker. SDS president Walmot Falkenburg privately requested that Marcuse emphasize solidarity with the Vietnamese on the basis of traditional Marxist concerns with labor and material interests, which would have been
2088-471: The fall of 1967 students established "Critical Universities"; students occupied classrooms and gave critiques of university structure as well as educating other students in New Left thought. It was revealed in 2009 that Kurras had been a Stasi informant. Prosecutors revisiting the evidence concluded Ohnesorg had been murdered as a premeditated act, but not enough evidence survived to evaluate whether Kurras
2146-404: The history of U.S. supermarket tabloids was the successful libel lawsuit by Carol Burnett against the National Enquirer ( Carol Burnett v. National Enquirer, Inc. ), arising out of a false 1976 report in the National Enquirer , implying she was drunk and boisterous in a public encounter with U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger . Though its impact is widely debated, it is generally seen as
2204-467: The laws on May 30. This agreement dealt a blow to the growing student movement and signaled its demise. The SDS formally dissolved on March 21, 1970. On 22 May 1967, a fire at the L'Innovation department store in Brussels killed hundreds of people. Kommune 1 issued a leaflet celebrating the fire and calling for more such occurrences to bring parity between Western countries and Vietnam. The leaflet
2262-562: The lurid and profane, sometimes used to grind political, ideological, or personal axes, sometimes to make money (because "scandal sells"), and sometimes for extortion. A Duluth, Minnesota example was the Rip-saw , written by a fundamentalist journalist named John L. Morrison who was outraged by the vice and corruption he observed in that 1920s mining town. Rip-saw regularly published accusations of drunkenness, debauchery, and corruption against prominent citizens and public officials. Morrison
2320-468: The magazine distribution channel like other weekly magazines and mass-market paperback books. Leading examples include the National Enquirer , Star , Weekly World News (later reinvented as a parody of the style), and the Sun . Most major supermarket tabloids in the U.S. are published by American Media, Inc. , including the National Enquirer , Star , Globe , and National Examiner . A major event in
2378-638: The new law could be used to shut down Rip-saw . The Saturday Press was another Minnesota scandal sheet. When the Public Nuisance Bill of 1925 was used to shut down The Saturday Press , the case made its way to the United States Supreme Court which found the gag law to be unconstitutional. In the United States and Canada, "supermarket tabloids" are large, national versions of these tabloids, usually published weekly. They are named for their prominent placement along
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2436-605: The normalisation of sexism in German society. The petition had over 35,000 signatures in January 2015, and Springer , the newspaper's publisher, responded by issuing a statement of values. These include the importance of mutual respect and maintaining respectful interactions. Bild stopped publishing "topless productions of our own with women" in March 2018, three years after The Sun , while continuing to publish photos of provocatively-posed models dressed in underwear alone. In 2021,
2494-493: The old Nazi Party brought the concept of Vergangenheitsbewältigung (coming to terms with the past) to the forefront of political discussion. Other various left-wing causes also gained popularity and helped solidify a protest culture in Germany. Those who were involved in the protests of 1968 in West Germany would come to be known as the "1968 generation". Some would develop unique political paths, with some finding roles in government, while others embraced terrorist activities of
2552-469: The paper had a circulation of slightly more than four million copies, making it the most read newspaper in the country. In the period of 1995–96 its circulation was 4,300,000 copies. In 2001 Bild was the most read newspaper in Europe , and also in Germany, with a circulation of 4,396,000 copies. Although it is still Germany's biggest paper, the circulation of Bild , along with many other papers, has been on
2610-720: The paper published more than 5,000 topless pictures. In 2014 Sophia Becker and Kristina Lunz launched a campaign, Stop Bild Sexism , to end the use of sexualized images of women in Bild. The campaign was inspired by the No More Page 3 campaign to get The Sun in the United Kingdom to stop publishing images of half-naked women on page 3 . Lunz argues that Bild' s frequent use of images of unclothed women makes its reporting of sexual assault and harassment " sexist and voyeuristic ." Becker says that Bild contributes to
2668-466: The paper's allies. Known as " catch and kill ", tabloid newspapers may pay someone for the exclusive rights to a story, then choose not to run it. Publisher American Media has been accused of burying stories embarrassing to Arnold Schwarzenegger , Donald Trump , and Harvey Weinstein . The term "red tops" refers to British tabloids with red mastheads , such as The Sun , the Daily Star ,
2726-510: The people " in the Axel Springer -owned tabloid newspaper Bild-Zeitung . Student activists believed the shooting was inspired by critics of the student movement such as Springer's tabloids . Demonstrations and clashes later occurred outside Springer offices in reaction to the shooting. In the aftermath of the shooting, student leaders became more willing to embrace violent tactics in their movements. With Dutschke incapacitated, many in
2784-432: The print run as "the largest circulation for the free special edition of a newspaper". In 2018 on average 2.2 million copies of the paper were printed across Germany and 416,567 readers took advantage of the paid digital offer Bild plus. In terms of subscribers, it is the largest in Europe and the fifth largest worldwide. In 2019 Bild started a weekly politic newspaper, named Bild Politik , which ceased publications after
2842-584: The scandal sheet Town Topics , explained his purpose: "My ambition is to reform the Four Hundred by making them too deeply disgusted with themselves to continue their silly, empty way of life." Many scandal sheets in the U.S. were short-lived attempts at blackmail . One of the most popular in the U.S. was the National Police Gazette . Scandal sheets in the early 20th century were usually 4- or 8-page cheap papers specializing in
2900-526: The strength of the West German military, worried some in West Germany that there was a return of authoritarian government. In the fallout of the affair, the suddenly-unpopular Christian Democratic Union formed a political coalition with the Social Democratic Party (SPD), known as the grand coalition . Critics were disappointed with the parliament's appointment of Kurt Georg Kiesinger as chancellor of West Germany, as he had participated in
2958-662: The terrorizing of prominent celebrities and stories are frequently based on the most dubious evidence. The journalistic standards of Bild are the subject of frequent criticism. BILDblog [ de ] is a popular German blog that when founded was dedicated solely to documenting errors and fabrications in Bild articles. In 2005 BILDblog received the Grimme Online Award for its work. Since 2009 BILDblog has also reported on errors and fabrications in other newspapers from Germany and elsewhere. Heinrich Böll 's 1974 novel The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum , and
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#17327731473153016-426: The youth of West Germany. The movements included the opposition to the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War , opposition to consumer culture , liberation for the third world , and criticisms of middle class moral values. Some were embracing communal lifestyles and sexual liberation . All these various social movements and the non-parliamentary organizations that hoped to spearhead them, grouped together as
3074-559: Was acting under official orders. On the occasion of Ohnesorg's funeral , a conference was held which is most remembered for a debate between Rudi Dutschke and Jürgen Habermas . Dutschke argued that the time was ripe for students to engage in direct action. Habermas, although generally sympathetic to the student movements, criticized Dutschke's plan as action for its own sake without regard for consequences. When Dutschke would not clarify his stance on employing violence, Habermas accused him of Linksfaschismus ("Left fascism"). Later, during
3132-463: Was based in Hamburg. The paper moved its headquarters to Berlin in March 2008, stating that it was an essential base of operations for a national newspaper. It is printed nationwide with 32 localized editions. Special editions are printed in some favoured German holiday destinations abroad such as Spain, Italy, Turkey and Greece. Bild sold more than five million copies every day in the 1980s. In 1993
3190-507: Was convicted of criminal libel in one instance, but his scandal sheet may have contributed to several politicians losing their elections. After Morrison published an issue claiming that State Senator Mike Boylan had threatened to kill him, Boylan responded by helping to pass the Public Nuisance Bill of 1925. It allowed a single judge , without jury , to stop a newspaper or magazine from publishing, forever. Morrison died before
3248-482: Was shot by a policeman during a protest against the visit of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi , the Shah of Iran . The movement is considered to have formally started after the attempted assassination of student activist leader Rudi Dutschke , which sparked various protests across West Germany and gave rise to public opposition . The movement created lasting changes in German culture. The Spiegel affair of 1962, in which journalists were arrested and detained for reporting on
3306-546: Was to provoke violent confrontations with government authorities. He wrote in 1965, "Authorized demonstrations must be guided into illegality. Confrontation with state power is essential and must be sought out." The West German parliament had proposed to expand government powers in the Emergency Laws , as well as to reform universities. On 22 June 1966, 3,000 students from the Free University of Berlin staged
3364-521: Was widely condemened and caused a split between Kommune 1 and the SDS. On 2 April 1968, members of the Außerparlamentarische Opposition, Andreas Baader and Gudrun Ensslin committed arson at a department store in Frankfurt to protest the Vietnam war. Although convicted, they were released while pursuing an appeal and went underground when it was denied. They were joined by Ulrike Meinhof in forming
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