Hamburg, February 5, 2007
Gruner + Jahr mourns the passing of Alfred Worm. The publisher of Austria´s NEWS magazine died suddenly and unexpectedly Sunday night at the age of 61.

Just last Thursday, Alfred Worm was honored as "Journalist of the Year" by "Der Österreichische Journalist" magazine. Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer held the laudatory speech.

Worm, a construction engineer by training uncovered a number of scandals during his career as an investigative journalist. He first made a name for himself by revealing the goings-on surrounding the building of Vienna´s new General Hospital in the 1970s. Last year, his interview with the kidnapping victim Natascha Kampusch garnered worldwide attention.

His work as editor of PROFIL magazine, as a book author and as publisher of NEWS has been a formative influence on political coverage in Austria in the past few decades.

Dr. Torsten-Jörn Klein, G+J Executive Board member and Director of G+J International: "We are dismayed at the news of Alfred Worm´s sudden death. I knew Alfred Worm as a professionally unflinching and incorruptible journalist, one who was at the same time extremely popular with his colleagues because of his amicable, helpful nature. The News publishing group has lost its best journalist, and we all mourn the passing of a great human being and colleague."

Alexander Adler
Chief of External Communications
Phone: +49-40-3703-2244
E-mail: adler.alexander@guj.de