Claas Relotius, a journalist for the German magazine Der Spiegel and former CNN Journalist of the Year, was forced to resign after it was discovered he fabricated his stories “on a grand scale” for many years.
Relotius admitted to completely inventing over a dozen pieces by fictionalizing sources, characters, and quotes, following an internal investigation by the magazine.
“I am sick and I need to get help,” he reportedly told colleagues at Der Spiegel.
Relotius had previously been outed for writing an article that tried to portray a small town in Minnesota that supports President Trump as a bunch of racists.
Der Spiegel says top journalist faked stories for years
The “journalist,” Claas Relotius, attacked @realDonaldTrump and our Ambassador @RichardGrenell while literally publishing #FakeNews.
Der Spiegel is Germany’s Mother Jones. https://t.co/5duoHSJFIU
— John Cardillo (@johncardillo) December 19, 2018
CNN Journalist of the Year
Relotius has been showered with several awards for journalism, including the Deutscher Reporterpreis in 2013, 2015, 2016, and 2018, CNN’s “Journalist of the Year” in 2014, and the European Press Prize in 2017.
Here he is accepting the CNN award for excellence in journalism.
Der Spiegel is very anti-Trump
The German magazine has been virulently anti-Trump since he became President.
In 2017, they led rock legend Steven Patrick Morrissey by asking him “If there was a button here and if you pressed on it, Trump would die … would you push it or not?”
Read more HERE
Ask me anything
Explore related questions
