Why Der Spiegel is Discredited?
By: Ted Fred Franky, Refuting misinformation, January 15, 2024 6 months ago
Why you should not believe any of their hype or articles
Der Spiegel published the original allegations from Football Leaks (Rui Pinto) about Manchester City here on 05 Novermber 2018. This led to the UEFA case against City. This is also the foundation of the Premier League case against City, for pretty much the same reasons.
Originally, The New York Times turned down Football Leaks information because Rui Pinto could not prove any of it was true or how he had obtained it, ie there was no proof that what his information alleged was true. The libel laws in the USA meant that if they publsihed such stories and couldn’t prove they were true, then they would be open to prosecution, so the New York Times turned Football Leaks down.
Under German law, libel / defamation is different. In layman’s terms, if someone else has already published it or said it is true, you are simply quoting them and cannot be sued yourself. This meant Der Spiegel could print them without worrying about their authenticity. This in principal shows that this newspaper has no interest in actual telling the truth, rather it is all about sensationalism to sell copies.
However, the whole journalistic back catalogue of Der SPiegel was exposed, just six weeks after publishing the articles about Manchester City.
Claas Relotius was the editor of Der Spiegel, and he is described as having committed journalistic fraud ‘on a grand scale’.
- Relotius, 33, resigned after admitting to the scam on 19 December 2018.
- Claas Relotius, falsified his articles on a grand scale, inventing characters to deceive his readers. Ultimately, a comprehensive confession gave away part of the story.
- He won Germany’s Reporterpreis for his story about a young Syrian boy. It has since emerged that much of what he wrote was made up.
It wasn’t just Relotius who was sacked, several of his coleagues were too. It has also emerged that Relotius also embezzled donations meant for Syrian refugees.
According to the Guardian:
- Claas Relotius had, “made up stories and invented protagonists” in at least 14 out of 60 articles that appeared in its print and online editions, warning that other outlets could also be affected. “
- “At least 14 articles by Relotius for Der Spiegel were falsified, according to Steffen Klusmann, its editor-in-chief. “
- “Klusmann admitted the publication still had no idea how many articles were affected “
Elsewhere the Korean Herald reports:
“The contracts of Ullrich Fichtner, an editor in chief, and Matthias Geyer, a chief editor, have been “suspended until the (magazine’s) internal commission has completed its investigation into the affair,” the editor in chief Steffen Klusmann said in an internal letter, of which AFP obtained a copy on Friday. “
So we have several editors and journalists who are now discredited, who were likely involved, approved and no doubt edited the stories about Manchester City in Der Spiegel.
What we have is a series of 6 damning articles about Manchester City, being the cornerstone of all the accusations and charges against Manchester City. These were published by dishonest men, in a discredited newspaper, relying on the unsubstantiated fabricated stories of convicted criminal. You couldn’t make it up!
It really is a case of, if you throw enough dirt, eventually some will stick.
