Mathias Döpfner’s Medal and the measure of loyalty

There are awards that glitter and awards that clarify. When President Isaac Herzog conferred Israel’s Presidential Medal of Honor on Mathias Döpfner on October 22, 2025, it clarified something essential: in an age of wobbling spines and performative neutrality, Mathias chose clarity and accepted the consequences that come with it. 

That is why he was honored, and that is why I call him a giant.

I have known Mathias for a quarter century, not because of photo opportunities but because we inhabit the same constellation of commitments. 

Our conversations, long and steady, have always returned to the same core: Israel’s security and dignity, an unambiguous stand against antisemitism, a serious free press that resists the algorithmic mob, the transatlantic bond between the United States and France, stewardship of culture and the environment, and the mental resilience of our young. Friendship keeps you close, purpose keeps you aligned.

Some public figures change their tune with the crowd. Mathias built his principles into the architecture of his company. 

Axel Springer’s Essentials explicitly state support for the right of the State of Israel to exist and opposition to all forms of antisemitism, alongside freedom of speech, the rule of law, and the U.S.–Europe alliance. This is not corporate decoration; it is a compass he uses

He has also made bold bets on journalism when it would have been easier to chase clicks. In 2021, under his leadership, Axel Springer completed its acquisition of POLITICO, a move that reinforced the company’s commitment to serious political reporting at the core of democratic life. 

That was a strategic decision with civilizational consequence.

When the world tried to soften the truth after October 7, Mathias refused to let memory be diluted. Axel Springer used the public face of its platforms to project the images of hostages on its Berlin headquarters, centering human lives over narratives and reminding a forgetful continent that Jewish lives are not negotiable. That was civic courage, not publicity.

It is through people like Mathias, people of conviction and courage, that peace and conflict resolution become possible. 

Real peace is not the absence of noise; it is the result of principled pressure and clear will. The West needs leaders who will stand for truth even when it is costly, and Mathias has been willing to carry that cost.

I speak as a Jew who believes culture must come first and freedom is not optional. Our shared work has always put integrity before trend: defending Israel’s right to exist, calling out antisemitism without flinching, and protecting journalism that interrogates power instead of auditioning for it. 

Across the United States and France, in the institutions we touch, we have tried to create real room for debate, for curiosity, and for the work that sustains a free society.

Cynics will call this politics. They always do. But the Presidential Medal of Honor is not a trinket; it is a verdict about moral constancy. Mathias called this honor the most emotionally meaningful award of his life, and that personal testimony tells you what this recognition truly represents.

Beyond the headlines he is a builder. Builders make room. He has made room for journalists to do hard work without bowing to fashionable orthodoxies. 

He has made room for Jewish life to stand upright in Europe without apology. He has made room for arguments where facts matter and bad faith is not tolerated. 

In our long collaboration across arts, media, education, and civic causes, I have been a loyal friend and an unembarrassed supporter because loyalty is not blind. Loyalty is the willingness to call a friend higher and to defend him when he is right. With Mathias, that defense never required euphemism.

To those who label values in a newsroom as bias, be honest about what you mean. Hidden values are bias. 

Cowardice is bias. Declaring your principles up front and then empowering journalists to test every claim with evidence is honesty. That is the model Mathias enshrined at Axel Springer. If it offends the fashionable gods of equivocation, so be it. Journalism must discomfort liars and comfort the honest. The rest is theater.

I oppose Islamism, the totalitarian political ideology, not Islam or our Muslim neighbors. A free, plural society can and must draw that distinction. Mathias has drawn it in public, where it is hardest, and the Medal recognizes that clarity.

So celebrate the ceremony in Jerusalem, but do not mistake ceremony for the substance behind it. 

This was not a salute to a media title; it was a salute to a civilizational stance. It affirmed freedom over fear, memory over amnesia, and solidarity over the ugly revival of antisemitism. It affirmed what kind of West we intend to keep.

Mazel tov, Mathias. Wear the honor lightly, keep carrying the weight. I will keep standing with you, pushing alongside you, and defending the truths we share.

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Mathias Döpfner is a German journalist, author, and the chairman and CEO of Axel Springer SE, one of Europe’s largest digital publishing groups. 

Under his leadership Axel Springer transformed into a global news engine that spans tabloids, broadsheets, and major digital platforms, including BILD, WELT, Business Insider, POLITICO and Morning Brew.

Those properties together deliver tens of millions of monthly digital visits and still reach hundreds of thousands to over a million print readers on legacy titles. 

Döpfner is known for driving Axel Springer’s clear editorial principles and for visible stands against antisemitism; he received Israel’s Presidential Medal of Honor on October 22, 2025 in recognition of his public commitment.