CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
Where we could be biased
Those who check others must let themselves be checked. So we disclose what could influence our judgement, and we draw lines before it comes to that.
Rules for the editorial team
- Nobody on our editorial team holds a party office, an elected mandate or a paid position with a party, a parliamentary group or a government.
- We disclose party memberships. Anyone who is a member of a party checks no statements by that party and no statements about it.
- Nobody from the editorial team appears in an election campaign. Positions on substantive questions are taken only in opinion pieces that carry a name and a disclosure; fact checks and background pieces take no position.
- Anyone who might be biased in a particular check says so before the check begins and hands it over.
- Where a fact check touches a possible conflict of interest despite these precautions, that is said in the fact check itself, not in the small print.
Disclosure for each person
| Name | Role | Party membership | Elected offices | Secondary activities | Shareholdings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andreas W. Herb | Herausgeber | keine | keine | CEO der MBG Group; Geschäftsführer der MBG International Premium Brands GmbH | Gesellschafter der MBG Holding GmbH, alleinige Gesellschafterin der Betreiberin |
Disclosure as of 09/10/2026
Rules for the operator and the owner
The operator is MBG International Premium Brands GmbH, Paderborn, a company of the MBG Group (beverage industry). The sole shareholder of the operator is MBG Holding GmbH; the publisher is a shareholder of that company. The publisher is Andreas W. Herb, CEO of the MBG Group and one of the two representatives of the operator. He is responsible for the content under § 18(2) Medienstaatsvertrag, the German interstate media treaty, and publishes opinion pieces that carry his name; pieces that touch the MBG Group carry a disclosure.
Reporting a possible conflict
info@mbgglobal.com. We check every report and publish the outcome on this page.
Where our money comes from is set out on a page of its own: funding.