Independence for diversity

Audience ratings, circulation, reach – for a large media company like Bertelsmann, these are not just key indicators of success. The higher the figures, the more likely they are to fuel suspicions of “manipulating” and “manufacturing” public opinion. We face up to this criticism – because we have a clear position: Bertelsmann is diversity.

This priority is even codified in the Bertelsmann Essentials. It is no coincidence that our core values give everyone at Bertelsmann a clear mandate: "We promote artistic freedom and freedom of thought, the protection of democracy and human rights, and the respect of traditions and cultural values. Consequently, the content we provide reflects a wide range of viewpoints and opinions."

Our customers’ expectations – diversity

Ultimately, the choices of empowered citizens have made Bertelsmann a leading media company. We cater to the tastes of our customers – anything else would hardly be entrepreneurial: minute after minute, millions of potential customers decide for or against one of our products: whether in bookstores, on their laptops, at newsstands or by wielding a remote control.

It would be impossible for us to please all of them with the same product – all the less so in an increasingly fragmented media world. As a large media company, we know that our customers have and appreciate a wide range of interests, opinions and positions. That is why we see it as our mandate – and challenge – to win them over with maximum diversity: “Who brings a lot, brings something that will pass”, as Goethe writes in “Faust.” Commercial success and diversity are not mutually exclusive. Quite the opposite: They are mutually conditional.

Decentralism and independence – Diversity through autonomy

What’s true for our users is equally true for our authors, journalists and program planners: There is always more than one opinion, whether within Bertelsmann or within an editorial department. So it is a matter of course for us that our media occasionally raise critical voices about Bertelsmann. There is really only one central directive at Bertelsmann: that there are no central directives.

The editor-in-chief principle underscores this. At Gruner + Jahr, for instance, this means that a chief editor and his team decide with complete autonomy what content will be included in “their” magazine, and how. The program directors in our other corporate divisions enjoy the same degree of creative freedom.

This approach of delegating responsibility and granting editorial freedom is not only an important element in our corporate culture of partnership and an expression of our company’s decentralized setup. It also acts as a guarantor for internal diversity and for our commercial success, because it ensures that our products are as multifaceted, multi-opinioned and diverse as our customers.