Klaas-Hendrik Relocius ( German: Claas-Hendrik Relotius ; born November 15, 1985 , Hamburg ) is a German journalist who worked for Der Spiegel , winner of the CNN Journalist of the Year award (2014), European Press Prize (2017), German Reporter Prize (2013, 2015, 2016, 2018), who massively lied in his reports.
| Klaas Relocius | |
|---|---|
| him. Claas relotius | |
| Date of Birth | November 15, 1985 (33 years old) |
| Place of Birth | Hamburg |
| Citizenship |  Germany |
| Occupation | , |
| Language of Works | German |
| Awards |
|
Biography
Klaas Relocius was born on November 15, 1985 in the city of Hamburg (Germany).
As a freelance reporter, Klaas Relocius wrote for a number of German publications, such as Cicero, Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung , NZZ am Sonntag , Financial Times Deutschland , taz , Die Welt , SZ-Magazin , Die Weltwoche , Zeit Online and Reportagen [1] .
Since 2017, he has been a regular journalist for Der Spiegel, where he has published about 60 articles. For his detailed and colorful reports, Klaas Relocius received many awards, including the CNN Journalist of the Year Award (2014) [1] , the European Press Award (2017), and the German Reporter Award (2013, 2015, 2016, 2018). In 2018, he was also awarded the Relotius Reporterpreis Award for Best Reporting in early December in Berlin.
In December 2018, Der Spiegel sent Klaas Relocius on a business trip to the United States to write about the attitude of Americans towards Mexican immigrants, and he was given an assistant, Juan Moreno, who exposed the lies. [2] Juan Moreno did not immediately like the style of Relocius, which he let the editors know about, but he was ignored.
During his research, Juan Moreno decided to meet with those quoted by Klaas Relocius. After the meetings it turned out that they all never spoke with Klaas Relocius [2] . Moreover, the poster with the inscription “Mexicans are not admitted”, about which Relocius wrote that he allegedly saw him in Minnesota, was also a lie [2] .
At first, Der Spiegel did not want to expose and supported Klaas, believing that Juan Moreno slandered him, but under the growing evidence of fraud Relocius was forced to admit the facts of fraud. On December 19, 2018, the Der Spiegel newspaper announced that Klaas Relocius admitted that he “falsified his articles on a large scale”, invented facts, people, and quotes in at least 14 of his stories in Der Spiegel [3] [4] . Two residents of Fergus Falls , Michelle Anderson and Jake Cron, had previously turned to Der Spiegel for falsification, but the magazine ignored the appeal [5] .
The leaders of the right-wing German party Alternative for Germany wrote that they confirmed their opinion of the media as a “false press” [6] .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 CNN Journalist Awards 2014 .
- ↑ 1 2 3 The best journalist in Europe admitted that many of his articles are fakes .
- ↑ Answers to the Most Important Questions .
- ↑ Der Spiegel says top journalist faked stories for years .
- ↑ Der Spiegel Fires Award-Winning Writer, Citing Fabrication on 'Grand Scale' .
- ↑ After German Journalism Scandal, Critics Are 'Popping the Corks' .