A disgraced German journalist who for years filled his award-winning ‘real-life’ reports with fiction is now accused of embezzling from his audience.
Weekly news magazine Der Spiegel has gone to the police with evidence that may support allegations that Claas Relotius, an employee of seven years, solicited money from readers to benefit Syrian orphans featured in one of his reports. Not only does Der Spiegel claim these orphans’ stories were largely fabricated by Relotius, but also that he funnelled donations into his own personal bank account.
The magazine says it passing on what information it has to prosecutors, having filed a criminal complaint against the 33-year-old reporter. Der Spiegel insists it was unaware of Relotius’ fraudulent fundraising campaign and does not know what sums of money are involved.
The report in question was published in July 2016 and claimed to tell the story of Syrian orphans living rough on the streets of Turkey. Relotius is accused of calling for financial donations via email from readers who contacted him about the story. A Turkish photographer who worked with Relotius on the report revealed that many parts of it were merely figments of the writer’s imagination.
SPIEGEL ONLINE English ✔@SPIEGEL_English The fact that DER SPIEGEL journalist Claas #Relotius had for years been including fraudulent passages in his stories only came to light because his colleague Juan Moreno became suspicious during a joint reporting project on the U.S.-Mexico border. http://www.spiegel.de/video/journalistic-fraud-at-der-spiegel-reporter-juan-moreno-on-the-relotius-case-video-99023708.html … 34 9:17 PM – Dec 20, 2018 Twitter Ads info and privacy Journalistic Fraud at DER SPIEGEL: Reporter Juan Moreno on the Relotius Case – SPIEGEL ONLINE -… spiegel.de
✔@SPIEGEL_English
The fact that DER SPIEGEL journalist Claas #Relotius had for years been including fraudulent passages in his stories only came to light because his colleague Juan Moreno became suspicious during a joint reporting project on the U.S.-Mexico border. http://www.spiegel.de/video/journalistic-fraud-at-der-spiegel-reporter-juan-moreno-on-the-relotius-case-video-99023708.html …
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spiegel.de
Details of other invented stories emerged last week after Relotius resigned from Der Spiegel after seven years, having admitted making up much of his journalism. Confessing to his employers, he told them “It wasn’t about the next big thing. It was the fear of failure…The pressure not to fail grew as I became more successful.”
One such fiction published in March 2017 and entitled “In a Small Town” claims to examine the lives of Donald Trump supporters in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, where Relotius had spent three weeks ‘on the ground’. Two Fergus Falls residents, Michele Anderson and Jake Krohn, had the report translated (it was originally published in German) only to find “endless pages of an insulting, if not hilarious, excuse for journalism.” The pair felt compelled to publish their own story debunking the exaggerations, embellishments and downright lies written by Relotius.
Anderson writes: “Not only did Relotius’ “exposé” on Fergus Falls make unrecognizable movie-like characters out of the people in my town that I interact with on a daily basis, but its very basic lack of truth and its bizarrely bleak portrayal of the place I love left a very sick, unsettled feeling in the pit of my stomach.”
Michele Anderson@micheleeamn “The post is perhaps more impressive than anything the award-winning Relotius ever published ― a meticulously researched piece of journalism that lays out the evidence for the reader to see.” Via @HuffPost https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/fergus-falls-claas-relotius_us_5c1c32a2e4b08aaf7a86bd62?fbclid=IwAR3meeXhdSnSADay0aZvBMkW6SFoqY_dX_d4RzPuOeV0p1SufkKenN-YB1Q … 46 7:16 AM – Dec 21, 2018 Twitter Ads info and privacy When An Award-Winning Journalist Came To Town, These 2 Smelled A Phony A conversation with Michele Anderson and Jake Krohn, the two rural Americans who figured out that Der Spiegel journalist Claas Relotius was a fraud. huffingtonpost.com
“The post is perhaps more impressive than anything the award-winning Relotius ever published ― a meticulously researched piece of journalism that lays out the evidence for the reader to see.” Via @HuffPost https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/fergus-falls-claas-relotius_us_5c1c32a2e4b08aaf7a86bd62?fbclid=IwAR3meeXhdSnSADay0aZvBMkW6SFoqY_dX_d4RzPuOeV0p1SufkKenN-YB1Q …
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A conversation with Michele Anderson and Jake Krohn, the two rural Americans who figured out that Der Spiegel journalist Claas Relotius was a fraud.
huffingtonpost.com
The scandal prompted criticism of Der Spiegel’s management from the US ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, who complains of “institutional bias” against the United States.
Der Spiegel’s Editors-in-Chief wrote an apology to readers and have promised to “leave no stone unturned” as they investigate what they admit is their “flawed” fact-checking system. In their words: “We have a lot of questions for ourselves, and the answers will likely result in quite a few changes at DER SPIEGEL.”
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