Editor fired over ‘tasteless’ Schumacher interview

The editor of German magazine Die Aktuelle has been sacked after using an artificial intelligence programme to generate fake quotes from seven-time Formula One champion Michael Schumacher, the media group Funke announced.

Anne Hoffmann had stirred up a storm of controversy when on Wednesday the magazine published the interview – the first since Schumacher suffered a serious brain injury in a 2013 skiing accident in the French Alps.

Schumacher’s family, who have carefully guarded the 54-year-old’s privacy since the accident, said they were planning legal action.

Bianca Pohlmann, director of the Funke magazine group, apologised to the family yesterday.

“This article was in bad taste and misleading and should never have appeared,” said Pohlmann in a statement.

“It does not meet in any way the standards of journalism that we – and our readers – expect of a group like Funke.

“The editor in chief of Die Aktuelle, Anne Hoffmann, who has been in charge since 2009, has been relieved of her role as of now.”

An ailing elephant at a Pakistan zoo died yesterday, vets said, calling on the ill-equipped menagerie to evacuate her “mourning” partner to avert a second tragedy.

Pakistan’s zoos are frequently accused of being blase about animal welfare, and the plight of Noor Jehan (pictured) was cited by animal rights activists campaigning to shut the wildlife exhibition in southern Karachi city.

This month the 17-year-old African elephant underwent emergency treatment for a tumour which had crippled her back legs, but while in recovery she became trapped in her enclosure’s pool.