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Good on Der Spiegel for bringing this into the light. This happens in journalism and the best thing we can do is encourage this kind of truthfulness on the part

Good on Der Spiegel for bringing this into the light. This happens in journalism and the best thing we can do is encourage this kind of truthfulness on the part of Der Spiegel. The last thing we want to do is punish Der Spiegel for coming out with this information as it would only disincentivize them and other newspapers from doing so in the future.

danso 8y ago
It's impossible to imagine Der Spiegel or any mainstream publication not doing a thorough explanation (and investigation) into allegations this egregious. Even in today's reality of eviscerated local journalism budgets, regional/local outlets still finance and publish investigations when a journalist has confessed to being a fabricator or plagiarist. For example, last month, the Houston Chronicle hired an outside journalist to review 744 stories spanning 4 years after a reporter resigned in response to allegations: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/local/article/Following-investigation-Houston-Chronicle-13375132.php https://www.houstonchronicle.com/local/article/Following-inv...
rv-de 8y ago
I think they just realized that this will surface sooner or later anyway and it will be very, very humiliating and embarrassing when this happens on a rivaling outlet like sueddeutsche.de. This guy was able to do his thing for way too long - this says a lot about how "careful" journalism is produced there.
- IfOnlyYouKnew 8y ago
  Why not just assume good faith for a change? It's also more plausible: both the guy and the publisher would have had an interest in keeping this secret, giving the prospect far better chances than you're suggesting. Their coverage today was also about as extensive as, say, 9/11. They could easily gotten ahead of it by releasing just one story, somewhere below the fold. They also published at noon, their busiest time of the day (people checking the news during their break). On a Wednesday. Release it Friday or Saturday evening (i. e. "Take out the trash day") and far fewer people will see it.
  - justtopost 8y ago
    It is literally their core job to gather data/stories, fact check and publish things. To get one or more wrong is not inexcusable, but its close. They published at noon because its a big story that geta them clicks, and was crafted to put them in a better light than 'massive lack of basic oversight and fact checking' which sounds bad, because it is.

danso 8y ago

It's impossible to imagine Der Spiegel or any mainstream publication not doing a thorough explanation (and investigation) into allegations this egregious. Even in today's reality of eviscerated local journalism budgets, regional/local outlets still finance and publish investigations when a journalist has confessed to being a fabricator or plagiarist. For example, last month, the Houston Chronicle hired an outside journalist to review 744 stories spanning 4 years after a reporter resigned in response to allegations: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/local/article/Following-investigation-Houston-Chronicle-13375132.php https://www.houstonchronicle.com/local/article/Following-inv...

rv-de 8y ago

I think they just realized that this will surface sooner or later anyway and it will be very, very humiliating and embarrassing when this happens on a rivaling outlet like sueddeutsche.de. This guy was able to do his thing for way too long - this says a lot about how "careful" journalism is produced there.

IfOnlyYouKnew 8y ago
Why not just assume good faith for a change? It's also more plausible: both the guy and the publisher would have had an interest in keeping this secret, giving the prospect far better chances than you're suggesting. Their coverage today was also about as extensive as, say, 9/11. They could easily gotten ahead of it by releasing just one story, somewhere below the fold. They also published at noon, their busiest time of the day (people checking the news during their break). On a Wednesday. Release it Friday or Saturday evening (i. e. "Take out the trash day") and far fewer people will see it.
- justtopost 8y ago
  It is literally their core job to gather data/stories, fact check and publish things. To get one or more wrong is not inexcusable, but its close. They published at noon because its a big story that geta them clicks, and was crafted to put them in a better light than 'massive lack of basic oversight and fact checking' which sounds bad, because it is.