This past week, I essayed over the Claas Relotius episode with Spiegel and his fake story (stories, it might be multiple episodes).
Most folks were thinking that it'd come to a closure and that'd be the end of Spiegel's 'woes'. Well....no.
Today, ARD (public TV, Channel One) reports that two chiefs with Spiegel are on some form of suspended leave, until all the facts are laid out before the company. Accusations? Apparently some exist.
One of the two was the guy who discovered Relotius had talent, and the second guy is the one who hired Relotius.
Another odd story popped up two days ago in that the photographer who accompanied Relotius to the US for his January 2017 story....laid out the various issues that he felt Relotius had not done enough interviews to base his story on anything....spoke up and said that management really didn't want to hear or discuss the matter. In simple terms, they didn't believe that Relotius could be that stupid.
The problem here for Spiegel is that people will ask if other stories or other reporters might have done the Relotius 'routine' as well, and maybe dozens of stories are suspect. The news magazine really needs to clean this episode up and quickly move on. As for these two management guys? Perhaps poor judgement was exercised and when questions arose....they refused to believe their employee (Relotius) was guilty of anything.
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