ABSTRACT
The fraud scandal around former Spiegel reporter Claas Relotius prompted a lively and—to some extent—outraged discussion among journalists and the broader public. This discussion raises questions with regard to the responsibility of literary journalists, which—in their quintessence—relate to the opportunities as well as the boundaries of narrative presentation in the pursuit of truthful journalistic coverage. On the basis of a content analysis of the public discourse surrounding the Relotius case, this chapter sheds light on the causes and the consequences of the fraud, demonstrating that the newsroom is co-responsible for the scandal. In fact, stylistic devices of fiction have a long tradition in German-language literary journalism and, in many cases, are an effective and well-established means to invigorate the truthfulness of journalistic texts—also at the Spiegel. In the case of Relotius, however, a bundle of individual, organizational, and professional context factors created a scenario in which an undisputable misuse of such stylistic devices remained undiscovered for a long time. The chapter reflects on the empirical findings from an ethical perspective and highlights possible measures for journalistic quality management.
