The “mirror” reported on in the latest of a case of fraud in-house. Thereafter, the multi-award-winning Reporter Claas Relotius had forged “a large volume of his own stories and protagonists are invented, he deceived the readers and his colleagues.” Been uncovered, so it is in the case of mirror Online, be it through internal references, own Research and, finally, a comprehensive confession of the editor itself. The 33-year-old Journalist has been published in the past years, around 60 articles in the news magazine.
First suspicion would have arisen after the publication of the text “Jaeger’s border,” a US-vigilantes on the border between Mexico and the United States, published in November of 2018. According to the “mirror”depiction report, Mr Juan Moreno, who researched this story, along with Relotius for the “mirror” was, suspicious. Moreno reported the editors responsible for his concerns. Initially, he was running against walls like a Whistleblower, will not be believed. But he did not let up and took advantage of a research trip, in any other case in the United States to gather Material against Relotius and to protect themselves. Because his Name is on the doubtful story.
“This is perhaps the most serious journalistic crisis in the “mirror” said the new editor-in-chief Steffen Klusmann in Hamburg. “It is all shattered. The hits the Mark,“ said managing Director Thomas hate. “In the public Fake News debate, we will now be arranged. We need to ask ourselves is,“ said the Deputy editor-in-chief Dirk Kurbjuweit.
First Denial, then confession
In the workup, due to mirror Online it is, Relotius have confessed after initial Denial finally, at the end of last week. It turned out that he had invented entire passages, not only in the story, “Jaeger’s border”, but in a variety of texts.
include the concerned texts, The last witness, “a Story about an American woman driving allegedly as a witness to executions (nominated for report price 2018),” child’s play “about a Syrian boy, with a Anti-Assad graffiti on the civil war in Syria as well (report price 2018), as well as” No. 440 “about the alleged prisoners in Guantanamo (Konrad-Duden-journalists’ award), among other things,”. Relotius’ own reckoning, at least 14 stories are affected, and at least in part falsified.
The Reporter Forum, which awards the report price, reacted with horror and anger “over the almost criminal energy, with the Claas Relotius for all of us to be misled, the organizers of the German reporter award, the jurors, and jurors, have awarded to him a total of four Times by this award,” The Jury is now consulting on whether Claas Relotius would be stripped of his four report prices.
the Jury of The Ulrich Wickert award has already responded and Claas Relotius deprived of the Peter Scholl-Latour prize of 2018, says a press release. Was awarded Relotius for his documentary “lion boy”, which is fake. New winners star”correspondent Raphael Geiger for his contribution, “”ruins the lives”.
the “mirror” sets Commission
On Wednesday, it was announced that the management of the “mirror” will create a Commission made up of experienced internal and external colleagues, “engaged as internal auditors all Point to Manipulation – and their findings should be publicly documented”. The Commission should, according to the former Deputy editor-in-chief of the “mirror”, Clemens Hoeges, and Stefan Weigel, previously Deputy editor-in-chief of the “Rheinische Post” and from 1. January “mirror”-head of news, belong.
With a third, external Person was in the conversation. In addition, work processes, documentation requirements and organizational framework conditions in the house should be checked, in order to renew “the reliability of Search and verification” and the confidence in the work of the editors. The trust of the editors in the high-meticulously applicable documentation in the “Spiegel”building, which checks every article before printing. But, as it says in mirror-Online-Recurrence “can be, even with the best will, not to exclude”.
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Claas Relotius ,has left the “mirror” in the meantime, in his time as a freelance Journalist for other media: “Cicero”, “Neue Zürcher Zeitung am Sonntag, Financial Times Deutschland”, “taz”, “world”, “SZ-Magazin”, “time Online”, “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” and “Tagesspiegel”. Currently, the editorial staff of this newspaper will examine what the quality of the two day-to-day mirror published posts. The Text “The man that left Hollywood in fear,” the Hacker Christopher Chaney includes conversation scenes, the invented Relotius. The daily mirror has removed this post now tagesspiegel.de .
