3 ms·

> Maybe journalists should go out on their own via Patreon etc.? The problem with that is that the person with the byline isn't the only one that matters. Edi

by ardy42 8y ago

> Maybe journalists should go out on their own via Patreon etc.? The problem with that is that the person with the byline isn't the only one that matters. Editorial oversight is equally important. You need the guy who's enthusiastically digging into a story and the guy who keeps his enthusiasm in check. I don't think those can be the same person.

martin_a 8y ago
We had quite a scandal with something like this over here in Germany some weeks ago. A young journalist named Relotius who worked for "Der Spiegel" was found to have his stories a little bit too perfect. He acknowledged that some parts of his stories were "beautified" by him to make them more appealing to the readers. So, while the core of a story might still be true, nobody really knows what happened and what was added by him. Nobody believes anything of these stories anymore after all. It totally blew his career up (he was formerly found to be one of the "rising stars" of German journalism and had already got some awards for his work) and the Spiegel also found himself under heavy criticism, although they already have a concept in place, where another editor always fact-checks the other editors work. So: Enthusiasm in journalists can go really wrong.
- probably_wrong 8y ago
  > He acknowledged that some parts of his stories were "beautified" by him to make them more appealing to the readers. I think you are underselling it. Quoting from Der Spiegel[1], "he included individuals in his stories who he had never met or spoken to, telling their stories or quoting them. (...) He also made up dialogue and quotes." [1] http://m.spiegel.de/international/the-relotius-case-answers-to-the-most-important-questions-a-1244653.html http://m.spiegel.de/international/the-relotius-case-answers-...
  - martin_a 8y ago
    Oh, I'm sorry. I read into the story when it was more about things like "there was no music playing, although I wrote there was music and I didn't meet XY at that exact day". Didn't deeply look into it afterwards anymore. Thanks for pointing me to this, will read into it again.
- pintxo 8y ago
  IMHO what made it worse for "Der Spiegel", is that they have a huge fact checking department [1], but still failed miserably. [1] https://digiday.com/media/inside-spiegels-70-person-fact-checking-team/ https://digiday.com/media/inside-spiegels-70-person-fact-che...

by ardy42 8y ago

martin_a 8y ago

We had quite a scandal with something like this over here in Germany some weeks ago. A young journalist named Relotius who worked for "Der Spiegel" was found to have his stories a little bit too perfect. He acknowledged that some parts of his stories were "beautified" by him to make them more appealing to the readers. So, while the core of a story might still be true, nobody really knows what happened and what was added by him. Nobody believes anything of these stories anymore after all. It totally blew his career up (he was formerly found to be one of the "rising stars" of German journalism and had already got some awards for his work) and the Spiegel also found himself under heavy criticism, although they already have a concept in place, where another editor always fact-checks the other editors work. So: Enthusiasm in journalists can go really wrong.

probably_wrong 8y ago
> He acknowledged that some parts of his stories were "beautified" by him to make them more appealing to the readers. I think you are underselling it. Quoting from Der Spiegel[1], "he included individuals in his stories who he had never met or spoken to, telling their stories or quoting them. (...) He also made up dialogue and quotes." [1] http://m.spiegel.de/international/the-relotius-case-answers-to-the-most-important-questions-a-1244653.html http://m.spiegel.de/international/the-relotius-case-answers-...
- martin_a 8y ago
  Oh, I'm sorry. I read into the story when it was more about things like "there was no music playing, although I wrote there was music and I didn't meet XY at that exact day". Didn't deeply look into it afterwards anymore. Thanks for pointing me to this, will read into it again.
pintxo 8y ago
IMHO what made it worse for "Der Spiegel", is that they have a huge fact checking department [1], but still failed miserably. [1] https://digiday.com/media/inside-spiegels-70-person-fact-checking-team/ https://digiday.com/media/inside-spiegels-70-person-fact-che...