Comment by weinzierl | Hacker News Reader

Comment by weinzierl | Hacker News Reader

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I couldn't agree more. During daytime in Germany they had the top three slots on their front page covered with stories about Relotius. "Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste" taken by heart.

I only read half of the top story which has more than 6500 words. Most of it is written in a style as if it was breaking news about Relotius and not about DER SPIEGEL. They are almost self-congratulatory that they caught a fraudster.

Where there is a hint of self-criticism they don't fail to shrug it off with lame excuses:

> DER SPIEGEL will appoint a commission [...] to avoid that this will happen again. It cannot be avoided, even with the best of intentions. Journalism is, like everything else, to borrow a word from Heinrich von Kleist, subject to the "frailness of the world". And the human being who is engaged in journalism will always be and remain fallible. [1]

Yes, the "frailness of the world" is to blame. Got it.

[1] http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/gesellschaft/fall-claas-relotiu...

> DER SPIEGEL wird eine Kommission berufen [...] um Wiederholungsfälle zu vermeiden. Ausschließen lassen sie sich, auch bei bestem Willen, nicht. Der Journalismus unterliegt, wie alles, um ein Wort von Heinrich von Kleist zu leihen, der "Gebrechlichkeit der Welt". Und auch der Mensch, der Journalismus treibt, wird immer fehlbar sein und bleiben.

My interpretation is that the Spiegel chiefs want to make an example out of Relotius, to send a message to other journalists, that they must stick to the facts, or they will suffer the same fate. I don't think Class Relotius will be writing for any serious magazines or newspapers in the coming years. He may leave journalism and find another use for his talent as a writer. How can a newspaper or magazine ensure the veracity of its writers? Losing your career if you are found to lie seems like a good strategy.

> Yes, the "frailness of the world" is to blame. Got it.

People are flawed. Der Spiegel could send pairs on every assignment, but the problem would still exist. What do you suggest they should do to prevent this happening in future?

A single fabricated story that slips thorough can be a people are flawed problem. 60 stories from a fraudster, discovered by a colleague who investigated on his own money, got no support from superiors and had to fear for his job. That, is an organizational problem.

> What do you suggest they should do to prevent this happening in future?

First step would be to admit that they have an institutional problem. Blaming a single individual and the "frailness of the world" is not a step in the right direction to prevent this from happening in the future.

It seems they could have handled the doubts of Juan Moreno better. That is an institutional problem that can be improved upon.

Re. Class Relotius: It would be meaningless if der Spiegel were to print "we have an institutional problem, and we will fix it" without identifying what the problem and remedy is. A single bad actor falsifying stories, who is then almost-immediately fired and publically shamed by dem Spiegel, who then start an investigation, whose results will be made public, isn't indicative of any larger organizantional problems. I'm not aware of any way they can stop this happening. They have a team of fact-checkers, but there is only so much they can do. If there is an obvious solution, then criticism of the Spiegel's handling of the situation is warranted. Otherwise not.

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