Der Spiegel Exposes One of Its Top Reporters as ‘Fake Stories’ Creator

19:08 GMT, 19 December 2018

The reporter apparently managed to falsify and invent stories and interviews for several years, and was finally exposed when a suspicious colleague decided to thoroughly check his alleged sources.

Sputnik

German weekly news magazine Der Spiegel has announced that one of its star reporters resigned due to committing journalistic fraud "on a grand scale".

An internal investigation reportedly revealed that Claas Relotius, a 33-year old staff who won numerous accolades, including CNN Journalist of the Year award in 2014, and who was named German Reporter of the Year earlier this month, has been inventing stories and faking interviews for several years.

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Relotius’ cheating was apparently exposed when a colleague who worked with him on a story along the US-Mexican border became suspicious and tracked down two alleged sources who were quoted extensively in Relotius’ article, and who said that they actually had never met him.

Other false stories by Relotius reportedly include an article a Yemeni prisoner in Guantanamo Bay and a piece about NFL star Colin Kaepernick.

This development apparently did not amuse a number of social media users who were quick to express their emotions on Twitter.

Commenting on this development, the magazine lamented that it marks "a low point in the 70-year history of Der Spiegel."