IT'S NOT every day that a German politician declares war on the powerful Bildtabloid.
But that is what German president Christian Wulff did on December 12th last, hours before it published details of loans the president received from an entrepreneur friend. Mr Wulff contacted the editor of Bild, threatening legal action if the newspaper ran the story, but to no avail.
Bildpublished and Mr Wulff looks increasingly damned: abandoned by his allies, the calls for his resignation are growing over his reported attempt to stifle reporting on his personal finances.
What began as a storm in a teacup has turned into a master class in how not to manage a political scandal, with potential collateral damage for chancellor Angela Merkel. The scandal began two years ago when Mr Wulff, then state premier in Lower Saxony, bought a home with his second wife. The house was financed with a low-interest loan of €500,000 from the wife of local industrialist Egon Geerken. Quizzed in the Lower Saxon parliament about his relationship with Mr Geerken, Mr Wulff denied any business connections but kept quiet about the loan from Ms Geerken.
When the loan story appeared last month, Mr Wulff first declined to comment, then denied any wrongdoing, then fired his press officer, and then made another statement conceding that he should have told the whole truth.
In a televised pre-Christmas address, Mr Wulff expressed regret for not being “straight” with the public. He continued to deny doing anything wrong, though Mr Geerken accompanied him on official visits. Mr Wulff conceded he should have disclosed the loan before becoming president last June.
The story was dying down when Bildeditor-in-chief Kai Diekmann confirmed media reports that Mr Wulff had called him, demanding he spike the original story.
When he failed to reach the Bildeditor, Mr Wulff left a long voicemail threatening legal action and promised to "lead a war" against the tabloid. Mr Wulff then called chief executive of Bild's publishing company Springer, Matthias Döpfner, as well as Friede Springer, majority shareholder and widow of the company's founder. Both told Mr Wulff they do not intervene in Bildaffairs.
But the leaked voicemail has revived the calls for his resignation from opposition leaders and the German journalists’ union.
Resignation would be complicated for Ms Merkel: she nominated Mr Wulff for the largely ceremonial role last year after his predecessor, Horst Köhler, resigned in protest at his treatment by the media in another scandal.
This latest fuss has cast fresh light on the relationship between Bildand leading German politicians. It published regular, exclusive interviews with Mr Wulff which, media analysts suggest, guaranteed favourable coverage during the end of his 18-year marriage five years ago.
"It is possible to govern in Germany without Bild, but only if you haven't tried to govern with Bildbeforehand," said Lukas Heinser, editor of the "Bild Blog". "If you don't do private stories you have a certain independence. If you do, it's very much a Faustian pact."