If The Truth Will Set You Free, Fake News Will Hobble Forever

Michael Hedges January 9, 2019 - Follow on Twitter

Credibility and trust, of course, are fundamental to fending off fake news and charges thereof. An award winning “star” reporter for an illustrious national news magazine was discovered recently to have richly blended fiction with fact in a series of published dispatches. This came at a time when publishers and journalists brooded over their separate and collective dilemma.

Der Spiegel reporter Claas Relotius’ employment was terminated from the German news magazine in mid-December. An internal investigation by publisher Spiegel Verlag found he had "committed large-scale journalistic fraud over several years,” said the publisher’s statement, quoted by Reuters (December 19). A colleague, wary of certain story elements, investigated and turned findings over to senior editors. Several of the fabricated stories, at least 14, painted dark word pictures of a Trump-supporting vigilante group along the Arizona-Mexico border and a gun-toting city administrator and xenophobic residents of Fergus Falls, Minnesota. Right-wing populist politicians and pundits couldn’t believe the Christmas gift.

Many writers over the recent two years fanned out across the American hinterland - oft referred to as “fly-over country” - seeking clarity, ostensibly, for Donald Trump’s election as US president. They came from across the globe, packing laptops, microphones and cameras into rental cars armed with roadmaps and expense accounts. Gossip-tinged reports from far-off places, editors know, are welcome distractions for readers and viewers back home oppressed with their own mundane day-to-day lives.

These discoveries revealed three basic themes: supporters of President Trump easily verbalized their preferences, welcomed the outsiders and really liked living at some distance from coastal “elites.” Some, occasionally, voiced a conspiracy theory or two. Eventually, the novelty wore off.

German media watchers found fault everywhere. Herr Relotius sought “fame” rather than the “truth,” wrote journalist Annette Ramelsberger in Bavarian daily Süddeutsche Zeitung (December 22). “In society, reporters have a job to do: put together a picture of the world. If they lie, the world is no longer real.”

“This is all a disaster, a lot of damage has been done” said sports journalist Gerhard Delling, quoted by Hamburger Abendblatt (January 8), “We all became journalists to show attitude… by always distinguishing truth from untruth.”

“I’m sick and need help,” Herr Relotius said to the confronting editors, quoted by Der Speigel (December 20). “The pressure not to fail grew as I became more successful.” Public television ARD host Alexander Bommes found that justification “too superficial.”

A day after the faked stories were exposed, Der Speigel dispatched reporter Christoph Scheuermann to Fergus Falls, part fact-finding mission and part apology. “Fergus Falls appears to be the most forgiving city in the Western Hemisphere,” he wrote (December 23). “Spending three days in the real Fergus Falls, and not in the imaginary one, provides a lesson in humility.”

Two senior editors were subsequently “suspended” pending further internal investigation, including Ullrich Fichtner, who had been tapped to become Der Spiegel editor-in-chief this year. Further revelations of Herr Relotius activities include, allegedly, setting up a fake charity for Syrian children. The publisher has filed a lawsuit against their former star reporter.

Suddenly, stories appeared about other reporters playing fast and loose with the truth, strictly speaking. There have been several across the world. The New Republic’s Stephen Glass and New York Times’ Jason Blair have been recalled. Neither currently work in journalism or publishing.

American humorist and novelist Samuel Clemens, best known by the pen name Mark Twain, began his long career with words as a journalist. He wrote most clearly about the center of America in the later 1800s. He allegedly coined the fabulists motto: “Never let the truth stand in the way of a good story, unless you can’t think of anything better.”

This story doesn’t end with the tumult over truth and untruth. A “fraudster” posing as Herr Relotius, noted German public broadcasters NDR and RBB (January 7), contacted several media outlets offering interviews. Conspicuously wary, they were inclined to check first. "Our client does not currently intend any public appearances or to give interviews,” said a lawyer for the real Herr Relotius. This is the age of Photoshop.

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• Hot Topics - Media in Germany

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