Taking Stock Search

The Magazine for the Axel Springer Family June 2015 Digital Digest TAKING A SECURE SEARCH STOCK Qwant want to be Julian Deutz looks different from „Google“ back at his year on the Board THE TURBO THINKER Samir Fadlallah is the new Chief Information Officer at Axel Springer – and an achiever with both feet planted firmly on the ground EDITORIAL Dear Reader, I recently came across the following quote: “Would the cleaning lady understand it, and also be interested in it?” It was a vital question posed by Eduard Rhein, one of the employees closest to Axel Springer during the founding years, and its aim was to make the editorial teams more sensitive to the needs of the readers. Te intention behind Rhein’s question remains as important today – especially for a digital publisher like Axel Springer. Tim Tolsdorff Like back then, media users today are also on the lookout for high-quality, Managing Editor relevant products – whether news reports, job offers or price comparisons they can rely on. And as the digital business marches forward, the way the media is used is changing rapidly, especially among young people. Tis prompted inside.mag to seek out members of the Axel Springer family who are treading new paths in order to understand such users. We found what we were looking for at Totaljobs Group in London, for example. Big data and powerful algorithms are being used there to help job see- kers and companies find one another. Simple, service-oriented and mobile. “Te news lives where the users are” – these words were uttered by the maker of US video platform NowTis, in which Axel Springer acquired shares at the beginning of this year. Tese residents of New York distribute their news videos solely via social media and rely on the symbiosis between editorial teams and sophisticated software to make sure they strike the right note on all channels. We tell you what you need to know about the company. Te colleagues at BILD and Transfermarkt. de have been relying for some time on the expertise of their users and we look at how they make use of “user-generated content”. Technology plays a significant role for this issue’s “United Artist” – Samir Fadlallah, the new Chief Information Officer at Axel Springer. And of course no issue of inside.mag would be complete without stories by and about the journalists, as our pieces about the “Germanwings” tragedy and POLITICO Europe demonstrate so clearly. Julian Deutz, Chief Financial Officer for a good year now, knows the con- tribution that the work of creative employees makes to a company’s books better than anyone. In an interview he takes stock for the first time, and states that “we don’t live from physical assets, but from the know-how of our employees who design excellent products.” Tese words would almost certainly have found resonance with Eduard Rhein and Axel Springer. Enjoy reading our latest issue of inside.mag! Yours Tim Tolsdorff 02 CONTENT CONTENT 04 10 PROFESSION: REPORTER NEW FAMILY MEMBER The Axel Springer media and The start-up Qwant the “Germanwings” tragedy operates a search engine and its goal is to protect user data 14 18 INTERVIEW NOWTHIS Julian Deutz talks about Eleven things you need decisions, parental leave and to know about the digital increased responsibility video specialists from New York 20 24 POLITICO UNITED ARTIST The new political and journal- Samir Fadlallah is Axel istic platform that aims to stir Springer’s new CIO and up Brussels – editor Florian wants to shape the digital Eder talks about the founding transformation months 26 30 ON SITE FAMILY LIFE Totaljobs Group in Britain Colleagues worldwide do everything they can to reveal what they’re up to – direct customers to their both professionally and in dream job their private lives 32 USER-GENERATED CONTENT User-generated content: at BILD and Transfermarkt.de the readers provide the editors with valuable news stories The Magazine for the Axel Springer Family Axel Springer SE, Corporate Communications, 10888 Berlin Tel: +49 30 2591-77640, [email protected] 03 The worst tragedy in a generation Te crash of “Germanwings” flight 4U9525 three months ago brought death and grief to the victims and their families and friends. Te air disaster also pushed many journalists to their limits. Tey had to report fast and precisely – and found themselves bang in the middle of a media crossfire caused by diffuse public criticism. Editor-in-Chief of the B.Z. Peter Huth tells us here how he experienced the first days after the crash. “united in pain”: The front page of the B.Z. from March 25, 2015 focused on the mourning throughout Europe 04 Alliance Photo: Picture PROFESSION: REPORTER The worst „Airbus A320 the moral compass of newspaper read ers and It was so close to home, so familiar online users, who do not appreciate that kind We thought about it: What does crashes in France of treatment. Flight 4U9525 mean to us? Charlie Hebdo (security circles) However, beyond that – and this ap- affected us deeply because we are journalists. cp/jes AFP“ plies to any tragedy – we must get to the core And the “Germanwings” tragedy affected us of the matter, to the point which differentia- because we are the “Easyjet generation”, able Tese few words announced as brea- tes it from other disasters. In the case of the to travel throughout Europe to see concerts, king news by AFP on March 24 at 11.43 a.m. Concorde inferno, it was the shattering of our visit museums, enjoy tapas or watch a foot- tragedy in a triggered off the biggest German news situati- faith in high technology and its belief that ball game thanks to cheap flights costing not on since the 1998 ICE tragedy in the town of “anything goes”. Eschede made us realize that much more than a taxi trip across town. We Eschede. Only minutes later it was clear that the railway, which we believed to be an extre- looked at the photos: the Spanish royal couple most of the passengers on the plane flying to mely safe form of transport, had weaknesses. with the head of the French government, Hol- Düsseldorf were German. Tis statement alo- And what was special about Charlie Hebdo lande and Merkel, the mourners in Barcelona ne – that the victims were mainly Germans was the attack on freedom of opinion. and Düsseldorf, and later on the pictures from – released a first wave of indignation and in Haltern. Is it not true that cheap air travel has the following days a collective shitstorm raged done more for the European idea than any against what is generally referred to as “the number of persuasive speeches? Tis was how media”. Tis storm got underway at a point we thought about the crash only hours after it generation PETER HUTH in time when the digital media were only just happened and long before the dramatic turn finding their way around the story and not of events, when the first suspicions about a one single newspaper had yet been printed. suicide were expressed by the public prosecu- Fears were expressed about boundaries being tor the Tursday following the crash. crossed, and some even deigned to instruct the An idea emerged for the front page media on how to act and what they were to “Europe united in pain” – to be expressed by a desist from. You might say that this was the collage of photos: the display board, the crash point at which the critics already discredited site, the politicians, the rescuers and of course themselves. the people in Düsseldorf waiting for news. In the initial hours after a tragedy like is 46 years old and lives with his family in Relatives. this, a lot of what happens is routine. News Berlin. He began his career working as a I’ve been working for almost 30 years stories are seen, a rough online schedule is trainee at the newspaper “Mitteldeutscher as a journalist and have been involved in re- established, new teams are put together, ca- Express” in Halle, going on to work for sev- porting dozens of disasters as a reporter, as a pacities rearranged and, above all, more space eral years there as a reporter and freelance news boss, as an editor-in-chief. Whether after is ordered. Te objective of the print issue journalist. He became head of news at the the 1996 airport disaster in Düsseldorf or the must be to present the news in a way that B.Z. in 1998, before transferring to the edi- disappearance of flight MH370 a year ago, we not only informs people and structures the torial office of BILD Hamburg in 2001 where have always shown the relatives grieving. It is, information, but also moves them. 150 dead he advanced to position of Chief Editor. to my mind, right to do so and absolutely in is a number. But behind that there are 150 Following a heart attack he brought out his line with the press codex. I consider the pro- human beings who should not end as a mere autobiography Infarkt. Eine Betriebsstö- tection of personal privacy to be extremely im- statistic. Tat is journalistic empathy. Any one rung” (literally: Heart attack. An operational portant, but I consider the right of the public who reduces this to voyeurism underestimates disruption), for which he was awarded the to receive extensive information to be more so. 2004 “Hamburger Förderpreis für Litera- tur”. In the same year he returned to his profession and became Editor-in-Chief of the B.Z.

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