Daniel Funke (born 23 July 1981)[1] is a German journalist. Since 2019 he has been the head of the Berlin office and lobbyist at BurdaVerlag, a division of German media company Hubert Burda Media.[2]

From 2002 to 2009, he studied German studies ("Germanistik") and history at Humboldt-Universität Berlin. Between 2004 and 2007, he also worked at the private TV channel Sat. 1 and the magazine Blitz ("Flash"). In 2007, he became an editor at Bunte, a German people magazine, and in 2012, the head of its Berlin office.

Personal life

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Funke has been married to German politician and former federal secretary of health Jens Spahn (CDU) since 2017.[3]

General

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Funke caused controversy with a story he wrote for Bunte magazine about the then-new US ambassador Richard Grenell, which presented Grenell in a very positive light. The story didn't reveal that Funke and Spahn were friends with Grenell and his partner Matt Lashey and could therefore be seen as a political favour to ease Grenell's entry into German politics.[4]

FFP 2 masks dealings

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Funke again caused controversy in March 2021 when it was revealed that his employer had sold 570,000 FFP 2 masks without a formal bidding process conducted by the Federal Ministry of Health, which was led by his husband, Jens Spahn.[5]

References

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  1. ^ "Daniel Funke kressköpfe - Detail: kress.de". kress.de.
  2. ^ "Mein Freund, Seine Exzellenz". 8 June 2018.
  3. ^ "Jens Spahn hat seinen Partner geheiratet - heimlich". Die Welt. 24 December 2017.
  4. ^ "Mein Freund, Seine Exzellenz". 8 June 2018.
  5. ^ "Firma von Spahns Ehemann verkaufte Masken ans Gesundheitsministerium". 21 March 2021.