Just yesterday, a blockbuster story came out of Germany, revealing that a prize winning journalist has been exposed as faking his stories for years.
As is the case with most 'journalists,' his tales were 'attack Trump' pieces.
When you see the story below, about how fact-checkers permitted him to get away with it….accidently or with cause, recognize the more important lesson herein:
Scientists are like journalists….and fact-checkers are the vaunted “peer review.”
"Der Spiegel’s first-class faker
How did a magazine with a renowned fact-checking department fall for fabrication?
HAMBURG — Fake news wasn’t invented by the Russians.
The New York Times had Jayson Blair, who faked dozens of articles and interviews over the years. U.S.A. Today had Jack Kelley, who made up sensational stories about events he had not witnessed and places he had not seen. In both cases, the editors were forced to resign.
Now, it’s Der Spiegel’s turn. The fabled German news magazine’s award-winning reporter Claas Relotius, 33, a legend in his time, replaced facts with fantasy. He quoted people he had not interviewed. He described streets and buildings he had seen on Google Earth only. Painted in exquisite detail, the scenes were nothing more than figments of his imagination.
For Spiegel, which prides itself on having the best fact-checking department in the business, this is Armageddon.
To salvage its honor, it has launched a top-to-bottom investigation of the publication, ruthlessly trying to answer the Big Question that tortured the Times and U.S.A. Today as well: How could this have happened — and to us, the best of the best?
“People are people, and journalists are people.” Basically, what we tend to forget is that journalists are human beings driven by vanity, pride, and greed for fame and advancement.
Fact-checkers are humans, too, and so they will not insult the dignity and authority of the greats by doubting their words.
Something similar happened in 1983 — when, in perhaps the biggest, most memorable scandal of them all, German magazine Stern published the “diaries’ of Adolf Hitler.
These 63 volumes — which the magazine trumpeted would turn our view of Nazi history on its head — were fiction from beginning to end, the product of a forger who pocketed millions from the publication.
In Relotius’ case, another, a more insidious dynamic may have been at work — the unarticulated expectations of editors as they send off their reporters, and their anticipation the reported piece that comes back will confirm what they already know to be true.
Among Relotius’ most celebrated articles were his pieces on Donald Trump’s America. They paint a picture of the country Europeans love to despise.
“In This Small Town” — a 7,300-word story about Fergus Falls, where “people pray for Donald Trump on Sundays,” confirmed what we all “know.” It was a tableau of “red-neck” America — a gun-toting, intolerant, anti-immigrant and irrationally religious nation.”
Der Spiegel’s first-class faker
The same rule applies in spades to your teachers and professors.
As is the case with most 'journalists,' his tales were 'attack Trump' pieces.
When you see the story below, about how fact-checkers permitted him to get away with it….accidently or with cause, recognize the more important lesson herein:
Scientists are like journalists….and fact-checkers are the vaunted “peer review.”
"Der Spiegel’s first-class faker
How did a magazine with a renowned fact-checking department fall for fabrication?
HAMBURG — Fake news wasn’t invented by the Russians.
The New York Times had Jayson Blair, who faked dozens of articles and interviews over the years. U.S.A. Today had Jack Kelley, who made up sensational stories about events he had not witnessed and places he had not seen. In both cases, the editors were forced to resign.
Now, it’s Der Spiegel’s turn. The fabled German news magazine’s award-winning reporter Claas Relotius, 33, a legend in his time, replaced facts with fantasy. He quoted people he had not interviewed. He described streets and buildings he had seen on Google Earth only. Painted in exquisite detail, the scenes were nothing more than figments of his imagination.
For Spiegel, which prides itself on having the best fact-checking department in the business, this is Armageddon.
To salvage its honor, it has launched a top-to-bottom investigation of the publication, ruthlessly trying to answer the Big Question that tortured the Times and U.S.A. Today as well: How could this have happened — and to us, the best of the best?
“People are people, and journalists are people.” Basically, what we tend to forget is that journalists are human beings driven by vanity, pride, and greed for fame and advancement.
Fact-checkers are humans, too, and so they will not insult the dignity and authority of the greats by doubting their words.
Something similar happened in 1983 — when, in perhaps the biggest, most memorable scandal of them all, German magazine Stern published the “diaries’ of Adolf Hitler.
These 63 volumes — which the magazine trumpeted would turn our view of Nazi history on its head — were fiction from beginning to end, the product of a forger who pocketed millions from the publication.
In Relotius’ case, another, a more insidious dynamic may have been at work — the unarticulated expectations of editors as they send off their reporters, and their anticipation the reported piece that comes back will confirm what they already know to be true.
Among Relotius’ most celebrated articles were his pieces on Donald Trump’s America. They paint a picture of the country Europeans love to despise.
“In This Small Town” — a 7,300-word story about Fergus Falls, where “people pray for Donald Trump on Sundays,” confirmed what we all “know.” It was a tableau of “red-neck” America — a gun-toting, intolerant, anti-immigrant and irrationally religious nation.”
Der Spiegel’s first-class faker
The same rule applies in spades to your teachers and professors.
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