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<\/a><\/p>\nDer Spiegel, one of Germany\u2019s top news outlets, just said goodbye to one of their blue ribbon reporters and suspended two editors, after a shocking investigation. Claas Relotius, a top reporter who\u2019s won multiple awards, has been revealed as fraud who \u201cinvented\u201d stories in at least 14 of his 60 published\u00a0Der Spiegel<\/em> articles. In the aftermath, two editors are now also facing the chopping block.<\/span><\/p>\n Claas Relotius is not the first member of the establishment media to have conjured up a story; there is a laundry list of mainstream media puppets who\u2019ve taken the news into their own hands. The New York Times, U.S.A. Today, CNN and countless other organizations have been called out for their peddling of false information.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe New York Times had\u00a0Jayson Blair<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, who faked dozens of articles and interviews over the years. U.S.A. Today had\u00a0Jack Kelley<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, who made up sensational stories about events he had not witnessed and places he had not seen. In both cases, the editors were forced to resign,\u201d Josef Joffe writes for\u00a0Politico<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n CNN has even admitted to promoting fake data about guns<\/strong><\/span><\/a> and refusing to correct mistaken comments. In just 2018 alone, there were multiple incidents of the media purposely spreading phony stories to promote their agenda<\/strong><\/span><\/a>. Indeed, fake news is an unfortunately common phenomenon \u2014 and it is increasingly obvious that even the most highly regarded media outlets are not immune to this fact.<\/span><\/p>\n Claas Relotius may have won Germany\u2019s esteemed\u00a0Reporterpreis\u00a0<\/em>award four times, but the fact that he \u201cinvented\u201d no fewer than 14 of his published articles is what people are going to remember him by. While a small number of people had grown suspect of Relotius\u2019s work over the years, it was his hit piece on a small Minnesota town that put the nail in his professional coffin. As\u00a0Politico<\/em> reports:<\/span><\/p>\n In This Small Town\u201d \u2014\u00a0a 7,300-word story about Fergus Falls, where \u201cpeople pray for Donald Trump on Sundays,\u201d confirmed what we all \u201cknow.\u201d It was a tableau of \u201cred-neck\u201d America \u2014\u00a0a gun-toting, intolerant, anti-immigrant and irrationally religious nation.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n The\u00a0fact-checking work of two Fergus Falls citizens<\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0revealed this to be a fabrication. Not only does Relotius\u2019 starring character, city administrator Andrew Bremseth, not carry a Beretta 9mm to work, he doesn\u2019t even own one.\u00a0Neither does the town have a sign that reads \u201cMexicans stay out.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n The residents concluded that Relotius\u2019s \u201creport\u201d was nothing more than an attempt at capitalizing on \u201can ugly and exaggerated stereotype.\u201d The news of this scandal ultimately uncovered the fact that\u00a0Der Spiegel<\/em>\u2018s top writer had fabricated the details of over a dozen stories. He has since resigned, according to reports.<\/span><\/p>\n In the wake of Relotius\u2019s fake news snafu, the contracts of two senior editors have also been suspended.\u00a0Ullrich Fichtner, an editor in chief, and Matthias Geyer, a chief editor, will be on suspension until the publication\u2019s internal investigation has been completed. Whether or not the two will continue their employment with\u00a0Der Spiegel<\/em> after this shocking scandal remains undetermined.<\/span><\/p>\n The German magazine has often prided itself on having the best fact-checkers in the business, but as we\u2019ve seen time and time again, even fact-checkers are not infallible<\/a><\/strong><\/span>. The mainstream media has been inundated with fake news, hoaxes and phony data \u2014 but the truth always comes out eventually.<\/span><\/p>\n See more coverage of the media\u2019s lies at Faked.news<\/strong><\/span>.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Sources for this article include:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Politico.eu<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\nAward-winning journalist found to be a fraud<\/h2>\n