Reporter’s sham stories

GERMANY’S respected news weekly Der Spiegel has stunned the media world by revealing one of its top reporters had for years falsified stories.

Claas Relotius, 33, “made up stories and invented protagonists” in at least 14 articles.

Relotius resigned after admitting to the scam. He had written for the magazine for seven years and won many awards for his investigative journalism, including CNN Journalist of the Year in 2014.

The cheating came to light after a colleague who worked with him on a story along the US-Mexican border raised suspicions about some of the details in Relotius’s reporting.

The colleague tracked down two alleged sources quoted by Relotius. They said they had never met Relotius.

Other fraudulent stories included one about a Yemeni prisoner in Guantanamo Bay, and one about NFL star Colin Kaepernick.

In a lengthy article, Spiegel apologised to its readers and anyone who may have been the subject of “fraudulent quotes, made up personal details or invented scenes at fictitious places”.

The Hamburg-based magazine, renowned for its in-depth investigative pieces, described the episode as “a low point in Spiegel’s 70-year history”.

Relotius told Spiegel he deeply regretted his actions.

“I am sick and I need to get help,” he was quoted as saying.