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Seven-times world champion Schumacher, now 54, has not been seen in
public since he suffered a serious brain injury in a skiing accident
on a family holiday in the French Alps in December 2013.
His family said this week that they were planning legal action
against weekly magazine Die Aktuelle, owned by the Essen-based Funke
media group.
Funke apologised in a statement on their website .
"This tasteless and misleading article should never have appeared.
It in no way meets the standards of journalism that we – and our
readers – expect from a publisher like Funke," said Funke magazines
managing director Bianca Pohlmann.
"As a result of the publication of this article, immediate personnel
consequences will be drawn.
"Die Aktuelle editor-in-chief Anne Hoffmann, who has held
journalistic responsibility for the paper since 2009, will be
relieved of her duties as of today."
The latest edition of Die Aktuelle ran a front cover with a picture
of a smiling Schumacher and the headline promising 'Michael
Schumacher, the first interview'.
The strapline added: "it sounded deceptively real".
Inside, it emerged that the 'quotes' had been produced by AI.
Schumacher's family maintains strict privacy about the former
driver's condition, with access limited to those closest to him.
"We live together at home. We do therapy. We do everything we can to
make Michael better and to make sure he's comfortable, and to simply
make him feel our family, our bond," Corinna Schumacher said in a
2021 Netflix documentary.
"We're trying to carry on as a family, the way Michael liked it and
still does. And we are getting on with our lives."
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Christian Radnedge)
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