BERLIN — He told the story of a Syrian boy who believed he had helped start the country’s civil war with a prank. Claas Relotius, a star writer at Der Spiegel, Germany’s most respected newsmagazine, won many awards for his reporting on the most important stories of the day. Der Spiegel fired Mr. Relotius and published a lengthy apology to its readers this week. “Spiegelgate,” as it has been dubbed on social media, is one of Germany’s biggest postwar journalism scandals, potentially spanning seven years and many dozens of articles. Coming at a moment when public trust in journalism is already low, it could hardly have arrived at a worse time.

Source: New York Times December 20, 2018 23:03 UTC