Temporary withdrawal

Plagiarism allegations against journalist Föderl-Schmid

Alexandra Föderl-Schmid, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the "Süddeutsche Zeitung"(Bild: APA/Herbert Neubauer)

On Monday, the deputy editor-in-chief of the "Süddeutsche Zeitung", Alexandra Föderl-Schmid, temporarily withdrew from day-to-day business. The reason for this are accusations about her handling of sources, which also concern her dissertation.

According to "Der Spiegel", the right-wing populist portal "Nius", where former "Bild" editor-in-chief Julian Reichelt is on board, commissioned an audit from Austria's plagiarism hunter Stefan Weber. He received a low four-figure sum for his work. This included both Föderl-Schmid's diploma thesis and the dissertation she submitted in 1996. The handling of sources was allegedly not always correct.

No connection to articles
Weber emphasized that he was not involved in researching articles by Föderl-Schmid, which came under criticism a few months ago due to unidentified sources. Both Weber and the deputy editor-in-chief of the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" studied at the Institute for Journalism and Communication Studies in Salzburg, but they are said not to know each other personally. However, Weber said that he knew the reviewer of the dissertation. As a young research assistant, he had "his first serious academic conflict" with him.

Further examination commissioned
Föderl-Schmid herself has already asked the staff at the University of Salzburg to examine her dissertation. The "SZ" also called in an external commission. The 53-year-old is one of Austria's most prominent journalists. She worked for "Der Standard" for 27 years, becoming editor-in-chief in 2007. Since 2017, she has been with the "Süddeutsche Zeitung", where she started as Israel correspondent.