Hagen Bossdorf

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Hagen Boßdorf (born August 13, 1964 in Schwedt / Oder ) is a consultant and former German journalist . From 2002 to 2007 he was ARD sports coordinator.

Career

Hagen Boßdorf grew up as a teacher's child in Waldsieversdorf . He first played handball and was appointed to the youth team of the GDR, but could not establish himself there. He decided to become a sports reporter instead and began studying journalism at the Karl Marx University in Leipzig and sports at the German University of Physical Culture . During this time he married Jacqueline Boßdorf, with whom he has a son. After graduating, Boßdorf worked as a reporter for Radio DDR and youth radio DT 64 . From 1990 he worked as a freelancer and author of a weekly sports column for taz -ddr (ost-taz). He later went into business for himself and followed hooligans with his camera for a year .

ARD sports coordinator

In 1992, Boßdorf switched to ARD as a sports reporter , where he helped set up the sports department of the newly founded Ostdeutscher Rundfunk Brandenburg (ORB). In the following years he reported on major sporting events such as the Tour de France , the Olympic Games and the European Football Championship . At the age of 36, he was the first East German to be promoted to the committee of ARD editors-in-chief at the ORB. In 2002 he became ARD sports coordinator. Under his leadership, the broadcasting rights for the Bundesliga were brought back from the private sector to the ARD sports show.

Since 1997, the focus of Boßdorf's reporter work has been cycling . Before his first Tour de France as a reporter, he bought a racing bike and learned French .

criticism

Boßdorf was criticized for its alleged proximity to the T-Mobile cycling team and cycling star Jan Ullrich . He also moderated events for Deutsche Telekom and contributed to the autobiography of the Telekom driver Jan Ullrich. Both activities were viewed as violations of journalistic objectivity. Furthermore, Boßdorf was accused of having made negative comments on television about the behavior of the German Jens Voigt , who rode for the CSC cycling team and who drove his captain Ivan Basso up to the runaway Jan Ullrich on a Tour de France stage in 2004 , the fans on the track against Voigt upset.

Bossdorf was also criticized for his behavior in the Spanish doping scandal , which arose in May 2006. In April 2006 the ARD and Hagen Boßdorf sued the molecular biologist and doping expert Werner Franke because he described cycling as a doping swamp and the ARD as an accomplice. Only a few months later, when the doping scandal in Spain was being discussed in all the media, Bossdorf praised Werner Franke and was grateful that he was a specialist in the field who could be interviewed. Furthermore, Boßdorf was faced with the criticism of his colleagues at the RBB that Boßdorf had not dealt enough journalistically with the doping problem in cycling.

Boßdorf received further criticism when he dropped Hajo Seppelt as swimming commentator. Seppelt is an expert in swimming, but also in the field of doping, on which he has often provided critical reports, especially with regard to cycling. Although Boßdorf justified himself with the fact that Seppelt was to be used more in the area of ​​reporting on doping, many saw the step as more of a disciplinary measure, as Seppelt had criticized the ARD's doping reporting internally. In addition to Seppelt's home broadcaster RBB, Christa Thiel , President of the German Swimming Association (DSV) and the sports policy spokesman for Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen , Winfried Hermann , also criticized Hajo Seppelt's dismissal.

Because of the increasing criticism, Boßdorf was not in the Tour de France in 2006. In the FAZ an advertisement with the text "This man must not remain a sports coordinator" appeared, which had been placed by sports journalists.

Termination of contract

Despite criticism, the ARD directors decided at their general meeting in Schwerin in September 2006 to extend the contract with Boßdorf for another five years from spring 2007. After less than a month, the directors reversed their decision. The reason for this is said to have been unauthorized product placements, so-called “ surreptitious advertising ”, on the ARD's evening program. On Boßdorf's initiative, eleven two-minute programs were started that reported on the “Becel Deutschland Walk”, a walking event sponsored by the margarine manufacturer Unilever .

The contract that Boßdorf should have signed in the spring of 2007 would have contained a clause due to previous misconduct that would have given the director the opportunity to terminate Boßdorf's contract should misconduct occur again.

On February 19, 2007, the ARD announced that they had mutually agreed with Boßdorf to separate on March 31. Details of the agreement were not disclosed.

Later activity

From April 2007 to 2016 Boßdorf worked for the sports rights marketer Sportfive . He works as a lecturer at the private Munich Business School and as a consultant. In this role he works for public corporations , sports associations, leagues, companies and agencies; for example as coordinator of the finals 2019 for the city of Berlin, ARD and ZDF or as coordinator for TV and new media for the International World Games Association .

Stasi allegations

Soon after the fall of the Wall , Boßdorf was suspected of having worked with the Ministry for State Security in the GDR. As early as March 1993, he admitted that he had held talks with Stasi employees in 1988 and 1989. In 2002, card index entries for Boßdorf were found, but they did not show any activity. Boßdorf explained again in the form that he had had contacts, but had not worked as an IM. Further suspicions arose at the end of 2005 when the Birthler authorities found files according to which Boßdorf had been kept by the Stasi as an unofficial employee (IM) "Florian Werfer" at the end of the 1980s. He had regular contact with Stasi officers, met them in a conspiratorial apartment and used his contacts to students in Göttingen for the Stasi’s foreign espionage department, the main intelligence department (HVA) . Thereupon the board of directors of the NDR decided in December 2005 not to appoint him as the successor of Gerhard Delling as head of sport at the station. In April 2007, Boßdorf's file (Stasi registration number XV 6129/88) was found in the BStU branch in Leipzig. 120 of the total of 190 pages were released, according to which, on behalf of the Stasi, he was supposed to have had contacts with two Göttingen students who visited Leipzig in May 1989 . Furthermore, Boßdorf is said to have received 1,500 forints for an order.

Boßdorf himself repeatedly admits that he had contacts with the Stasi, but defends himself against the presentation that he was an IM. He never signed a letter of commitment. Meetings took place in cafes and an apartment. He was not aware that the apartment was a conspiratorial apartment. The personal contacts with Göttingen students came about as part of a larger student meeting, were limited to a short time and were not initiated by the Stasi. He did not spy in this context. The Stasi received no information from him, but intercepted the letters sent and procured an article that Boßdorf had written in a Göttingen student newspaper. He admitted that he would accept money for a trip to Budapest , but it was only the equivalent of 150 GDR marks (the average hourly earnings in the GDR were less than 4.50 marks at the end of the 1980s).

The allegations were also processed legally. In the spring of 2006, the Hamburg regional court refused to issue an interim order against the allegation made by Hubertus Knabe , the head of the Berlin-Hohenschönhausen memorial , that Boßdorf worked closely with the Stasi. In April 2006, Knabe filed a criminal complaint against Bossdorf and a former Stasi officer, because they had allegedly made false statements about the transfer of private mail to the Stasi. Knabe was defeated by Boßdorf in court in May 2006. He was forbidden from spreading the claim that Boßdorf had handed over private mail to the Stasi. In June 2006 , the Berlin district court lifted the ban obtained by Boßdorf against the newspaper Die Welt in an injunction against calling him a “Stasi-IM” . The court emphasized, however, that this was not a generally valid decision as to whether or not Boßdorf should be called a Stasi-IM, since the question of IM activity was not found in the proceedings. According to the court, the subjective statements outweighed the specifically objected report, so that it could be interpreted as a comment, whereby the designation of Boßdorf as Stasi-IM in this case is a permissible expression of opinion. In March 2008 the public prosecutor brought charges before the Hamburg district court for allegedly false affidavit . The indictment was admitted and the trial opened in January 2009. The trial was discontinued in October 2009 with the consent of the prosecution and a fine of 10,000 euros was paid. However, in accordance with Section 153a of the Code of Criminal Procedure, this is not associated with an admission of guilt . The presumption of innocence against Boßdorf remains.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ On his tour . In: Die Zeit , No. 44/2006, advance notification
  2. ↑ Boßdorf ceases secondary employment . ( Memento of March 11, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Netzeitung , August 12, 2004
  3. ↑ taz.de: On the Col de l'Éclat
  4. ↑ sueddeutsche.de: "That was a witch hunt"
  5. ^ Doping: ARD is suing one of its toughest critics . In: FAZ , April 12, 2006
  6. ^ Doping swamp on television . ( Memento of the original of October 13, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. NDR - Zapp , August 2, 2006  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www3.ndr.de
  7. ^ Case of Boßdorf / Seppelt: pressure from the ARD base . In: FAZ , June 18, 2006
  8. ^ ARD case Seppelt: Protest letters against Boßdorf . In: Die Welt , June 19, 2006
  9. ↑ Boßdorf defends itself against criticism of Seppelt's removal . ( Memento of the original from October 7, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. epd , June 14, 2006  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.epd.de
  10. ^ ARD: Boßdorf banishes sports reporters . ( Memento from March 12, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) In: Berliner Morgenpost , June 19, 2006
  11. ↑ Media: No contract extension for ARD sports coordinator Boßdorf . In: FAZ , October 11, 2006
  12. ↑ Media: ARD and Boßdorf separate . ( Memento of the original from June 4, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: FAZ , February 19, 2007  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.faz.net
  13. ↑ Hagen Boßdorf is now negotiating for Sportfive . In: Hamburger Abendblatt , April 14, 2007
  14. ↑ a b c d Hagen Boßdorf website. Retrieved October 11, 2019 .
  15. ^ List of lecturers at Munich Business School
  16. ↑ Jo Herold: The Finals - a successful format with an uncertain future. In: sportschau.de. August 5, 2019, accessed October 11, 2019 .
  17. ↑ Report on Sponsors.com from March 27, 2013 , accessed on March 22, 2018
  18. ↑ a b interview. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , May 17, 2010
  19. ↑ Interview. In: FAZ , December 14, 2005
  20. ↑ Stasi files found burden ARD sports coordinator Boßdorf . In: The world
  21. ↑ IM Boßdorf: File discovery refutes former ARD sports director . In: FAZ
  22. ↑ Overtaken by the past . In: Die Welt , April 13, 2007
  23. ↑ IM Boßdorf: File discovery refutes former ARD sports director . In: FAZ , April 13, 2007
  24. ↑ report. In: Hamburger Abendblatt , February 1, 2006
  25. ↑ Hubertus Knabe files criminal charges against Hagen Boßdorf . In: Die Welt , April 18, 2006
  26. ↑ report. In: Berliner Kurier , May 31, 2006
  27. ↑ Boßdorf loses the Stasi dispute with the “world” . In: Berliner Zeitung , June 29, 2006
  28. ↑ Potsdam Latest News , January 30, 2009
  29. ↑ Merkur online, October 29, 2009
personal data
SURNAME Bossdorf, Hagen
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German sports journalist, unofficial employee of the GDR State Security
DATE OF BIRTH August 13, 1964
PLACE OF BIRTH Schwedt / Oder