Fans of Michael Schumacher, casual readers and even the press have reacted in fury over a controversial cover of German weekly women’s magazine Die Aktuelle (loosely translates to ‘The Current’), which had a full spread photo of the former Formula 1 champion holding his wife Corina and the headline “Awake” in big words.
Right under the title, in smaller print, the magazine noted, “Three people report: What happened to them when they awoke from the coma. Plus Schumi’s progress, the latest development, the new concerns”.
However, once readers skimmed through the pages to the article teased on the cover, what they discovered had nothing to do with Schumacher, who has lain in coma since a severe skiing injury in December, but portrayed stories of different individuals who had woken up after a coma.
Many commentators slammed the magazine.
“Such magazines are simply terrible, especially given that the chances of survival with this type of therapy are abysmal. Out of 10 patients 5 would never recover, 3 will be severely disabled and only 2 might recover,” wrote Dr Gerd Hartmann on German portal News.de.
German media ethics expert Christian Schicha told Eurosport:
“This is a clear attempt to deceive the readers. It is an obvious attempt to make money out of a sick man. It is completely tasteless. It is ethically completely out of the question. Die Aktuelle blatantly makes the impression through the headline that they know something new about the case. It is completely irresponsible. Schumacher’s family have suffered enough without this kind of story circulating.”
The German publisher of the magazine, Gong-Verlag, has yet to respond to the outcry.
By John Halas
Story References: Eurosport , IBTimes , Focus
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