Claas Relotius, a news hound and editor, admitted to fabricating parts of at least 14 stories following the magazine’s internal investigation. The publication said the issue "marks a low point in the 70-year history of Der Spiegel."
"I am sick and I need to get help," he reportedly told the magazine.
The news hound contributed around 60 articles to Der Spiegel, one of the leading German magazines for investigative reporting. He previously worked for other publications in Europe
...also known as Moslem Lebensraum...and won awards such as CNN Journalist of the Year in 2014.
The fabricated articles include a phone interview with the parents of free agent NFL player Colin Kaepernick
Formerly a petulant second or third string quarterback for the San Francisco Giants, now looking for a job. He was willing to stand up for his princles by kneeling during the national anthem, which he had every right to do, but not willing to take the consequences, which he apparently thought didn't apply to him...
and a story about an American woman who claims to have volunteered to witness the executions of death row inmates.
Relotius also drew the fury of locals in Fergus Falls, Minn., after spending three weeks in town and fabricating facts, characters and quotes from people in an effort to portray the town in a negative light.
"What happened is beyond what I could have ever imagined: An article titled ’Where they pray for Trump on Sundays,’ and endless pages of an insulting, if not hilarious, excuse for journalism," wrote Michele Anderson and Jake Krohn who investigated Relotius’ Der Spiegel article about the town.
Both Anderson and Krohn went on to reveal that the article doesn’t contain any truth except for the town’s population, the average temperature, and names of the businesses or public figures.
Nearly everything else, including a coal plant employee named Neil Becker, who doesn’t actually exist, or quotes from a restaurant employee, who was falsely called the owner of a restaurant and whose son was given a fictional illness, was made up.
Relotius’ work was first called into question in November after another news hound for the magazine worked with him on a story about a border militia in Arizona. The news hound found that the supposed interviews never happened.
The Relotius case resembles past instances where journalists have been caught fabricating stories. Those accused previously have included Stephen Glass, who was fired from the New Republic magazine, Jayson Blair, fired from the New York Times
...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...
, and Janet Cooke, a Washington Post news hound whose story about a child addicted to heroin won a Pulitzer Prize before it was revealed to be a fabrication.