Exposed: German weekly Der Spiegel’s star reporter Claas Relotius faked stories for years – he says he is ‘sick’ and needs help
- Claas Relotius, who was CNN Journalist of the Year in 2014, ‘made up stories and invented protagonists’ in at least 14 out of 60 articles for Der Spiegel
- The German news weekly says the scandal is the lowest point in its 70-year history
Germany’s respected news weekly Der Spiegel stunned the media world on Wednesday by revealing that one of its award-winning reporters had for years falsified stories.
Claas Relotius “made up stories and invented protagonists” in at least 14 out of 60 articles that appeared in the magazine’s print and online editions, Spiegel wrote, warning that other outlets could also be affected.
Relotius, 33, resigned after admitting to the scam. He had written for the magazine for seven years and won numerous awards for his investigative journalism, including CNN Journalist of the Year in 2014.
Earlier this month, he was named German Reporter of the Year for a story about a young Syrian boy.
Case study in fake news for all journalism schools
The fakery came to light after a colleague who worked with him on a story along the US-Mexican border raised suspicions about some of the details in Relotius’ reporting.
