Gruner + Jahr | Hamburg/Cologne/Berlin/Munich, 04/08/2021

Bertelsmann Content Alliance Campaigns For Quality Journalism

The companies in the Bertelsmann Content Alliance companies are advocating for quality journalism with a campaign under the heading “JAhr zur Wahrheit. Weil’s stimmen muss” (roughly: “Y[ear of Y]es to truth. Because it has to be true”). They started a big marketing campaign in radio, TV, and print. It focuses on employees who address the significance of truth and lies for society on a daily basis in their professional routine.

The German Bertelsmann Content Alliance companies are making a case for good journalism this year with a campaign under the heading “JAhr zur Wahrheit. Weil’s stimmen muss” (roughly: “Y[ear of Y]es to truth. Because it has to be true”). They launched a high-reach, cross-divisional radio, TV, and print marketing campaign. It spotlights the role of professional media and their responsibility to society.

The campaign focuses on employees at Bertelsmann Content Alliance companies who deal with the importance of truth and lies for society on a daily basis in their jobs. Its protagonists include Tom Johann (news editor and news anchor at 104.6 RTL), Marc Lepetit (producer at UFA Fiction), Jasmin Gebele (reporter and editor at “RTL News”), Andreas Greuel (head of the Verification team at “RTL News”), Cornelia Fuchs (head of Foreign Affairs at “Stern”), and Michael Lehmann (fact checker on the Quality Board at Gruner + Jahr). In their respective roles they all stand for the key traits of quality journalism: fact-oriented, responsible, and transparent. The marketing campaign was conceived by the Mediengruppe RTL and Gruner + Jahr Communications and Marketing departments.

“We are setting an example for independent, reliable journalism,” says Julian Weiss, Chief Marketing Officer of Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland. “Our ‘JAhr zur Wahrheit’ campaign is designed to make it clear, especially in these times, that we are facing up to our responsibility with the full force of the Bertelsmann Content Alliance. Our journalists work every day to provide our viewers, listeners and readers with reliable facts and to put things into context. With this campaign, we give them a voice and a face. For good, broad, and serious journalism.”

Frank Thomsen, Head of Communications and Marketing at Gruner + Jahr, says: “A society that wants to get along well needs good journalism where facts are never ‘alternative’. The many-voiced Bertelsmann Content Alliance stands for reliable, serious, and entertaining information. The wide-reaching ‘JAhr zur Wahrheit’ campaign underscores this claim – while also sending out a signal. Because good journalism needs many friends and fans to be effective.”

Mediengruppe RTL stations have been airing various image spots, Gruner + Jahr is promoting the initiative in print ads, and RTL Radio Deutschland radio stations are running radio ads. The Bertelsmann Content Alliance companies are also running the campaign online and on their various social media channels.