德国《明镜周刊》深陷假新闻丑闻：媒体时代我该相信谁？

德国《明镜周刊》深陷假新闻丑闻：媒体时代我该相信谁？

"There can be no higher law in journalism than to tell the truth and shame the devil."

“新闻界的最高法则应是阐明真相、揭露丑恶。”

——沃尔特·李普曼（Walter Lippmann）—

2018年12月18日，在距离圣诞节仅一个礼拜之际，一向以严谨精细著称的德国媒体界在年尾的喜悦中经受了一次史无前例的“重磅袭击”：

德国精英媒体品牌《明镜周刊》爆出新闻造假事件，明星记者雷洛蒂乌斯（Claas Relotius）因至少在14篇新闻报道中涉嫌捏造事实和造假被宣布解雇。

该事件曝光后，舆论哗然，德国新闻界为之震惊。

以《明镜周刊》自己的话来说，此次事件为杂志创刊“70年以来的低点”，对周刊的声誉和形象构成了史无前例的沉重打击，使杂志社陷入70年来最为严重的信誉危机。

An award-winning journalist for the German news weekly Der Spiegel made up sources and details in his stories for years, the magazine revealed on Wednesday, calling it a "low point" in its history.

受骗的不仅是读者，还有众多德国知名媒体。这位“高产”记者在去年入职《明镜周刊》前，曾作为自由撰稿人为多家主流媒体供稿，包括《法兰克福汇报》、《德国金融时报》、《南德意志报》、《世界报》等。

顾不上围观《明镜周刊》丑闻的各大媒体，此刻正人人自危。

"Claas Relotius, a reporter and editor, falsified his articles on a grand scale and even invented characters, deceiving both readers and his colleagues," the magazine, one of the world's most respected German-language news outlets, said in an article exposing the long-running deception.

然而，颇为讽刺的是，这位年仅33岁的明星记者在二十多天前，因一则叙利亚男童的报导刚刚被授予德国年度记者奖。除此之外，他还是2017年“欧洲新闻奖”及2014年“CNN年度记者”获奖者，可谓是德国媒体界“一颗冉冉上升的新星”。

Relotius, 33, wrote some 60 articles for Der Spiegel from 2011 and garnered a number of awards for his work, including the European Press Prize and CNN Journalist of the Year.

“这一代新闻人的偶像”

创刊于1947年、周发行量近百万、一直以来因调查报道而为人称道的《明镜周刊》曾骄傲地称赞雷洛蒂乌斯为“这一代新闻人的偶像”。

然而，四天前，这位“偶像”被《明镜周刊》重新定义了——“既不是一名记者也不是一位新闻人。”

Once hailed as "a journalistic idol of his generation," by Der Spiegel, the magazine last Thursday called Relotius "neither a reporter nor a journalist."

将雷洛蒂乌斯推下“神坛”的是12月3日凌晨3点05分的一封邮件。

发邮件的人名叫“Janet”，在美国亚利桑那州美墨边境的一个部队负责新闻工作。她在邮件中质疑雷洛蒂乌斯于11月在《明镜周刊》发表的报道《Jaegers Grenze》：雷洛蒂乌斯从未到访过她所在的部队，是如何写出这样一篇文章的？

The falsification came to light in the form of an email, in which a woman named Jan, short for Janet, who was doing media work for a vigilante group in the U.S. state Arizona cast doubt over a report on her group titled "Jaegers Grenze." In the email, she asked Relotius how he managed to write about her group without even stopping by for an interview.

Janet并非是唯一一个对雷洛蒂乌斯的报道产生怀疑的人。雷洛蒂乌斯之所以没能像以往一样蒙混众人眼球是因为这篇名为《Jaegers Grenze》的报道是由他和另一位同事共同完成的，而这位名为莫雷诺（Juan Moreno）的记者，就是揭发他造假的另一位作者。

这位在《明镜周刊》已工作超过十年的“老”记者经过调查，最终找到了雷洛蒂乌斯笔下的两名“消息来源”，而这两位所谓的“采访对象”，均称他们从未见过雷洛蒂乌斯。

除此之外，雷洛蒂乌斯还声称在当地的小镇上曾看到一幅 “墨西哥人不得进入”的手绘标语，而事实上标语根本不存在。

Janet wasn't the only one who found things strange. The report "Jaegers Grenze" was co-written by Relotius and another long-time Spiegel contributor, Juan Moreno, who sounded the alarm while collecting facts, but initially received pushback from editors and colleagues who refused to believe Relotius could have faked his articles.

然而，当时没有人相信才华横溢的雷洛蒂乌斯会造假。

《明镜周刊》在给读者的道歉信中写道：“在三到四周的时间里，莫雷诺经历了地狱般的煎熬，因为他的同事和上级起初不愿相信他的指控。”该杂志称，当初还有人认为这是莫雷诺的诡计，而雷洛蒂乌斯才是受害者。

“雷洛蒂乌斯巧妙地挡住了所有的指控，回避了莫雷诺所有经过充分研究的证据……直到有一天，他最终因为害怕被发现而无法入睡。”

“我只是害怕失败”

雷洛蒂乌斯在上周被一名资深编辑质问后，最终自首，承认有14篇文章造假，但《明镜周刊》表示这个数字可能还会上升。

在对《明镜周刊》供词中，雷洛蒂乌斯坦承：“我只是害怕失败。我越成功，我不想失败的压力就越大。”

Questioned about his motives, Relotius explained: "It was fear of failure."

"The pressure of not being allowed to fail only grew as I became more successful," he added.

19日，雷洛蒂乌斯曾供稿的《世界报》发推文痛心地说：“他滥用了他的才华。”

Die Welt, one of the well-known outlets that Relotius had previously worked for tweeted on Wednesday: "He abused his talent."

然而读者却在推文下面嘲讽道：他是个被新闻媒体耽误的小说家。

Twitter had very little compassion, with a user writing, "He has no talent as a journalist. He would have had talent as a novelist."

20日，雷洛蒂乌斯辞去职位，表示对自己的行为感到后悔和惭愧。报道援引他的话说：“我病了，需要帮助。”

The reporter resigned after admitting to the scam on Thursday and was quoted as saying "I am sick and I need to get help."

22日，《明镜周刊》在其最新一期杂志封面上赫然写下——“如实报道”。

Der Spiegel published a 23-page special report on Saturday, writing on its latest magazine cover page the words "Tell it like it is," an allusion to the publication's motto by its founder Rudolf Augstein that also hangs at the entrance of its headquarters in Hamburg.

In the 23-page special report, Der Spiegel said the deceit was the worst thing that can happen to an editorial team. It also apologized for the mistake and promised to do everything to boost its credibility again.

而事情并未就此告一段落。23日，据BBC报道称，雷洛蒂乌斯恐将面临私自挪用慈善公款的指控，而他本人尚未对此作出回应。

The story didn't end there. According to the BBC, Relotius could now face embezzlement charges as Der Spiegel is filing a criminal complaint, alleging he solicited donations for Syrian orphans from readers with proceeds going to his personal account.

“新闻界的最高法则”

令人遗憾的是，“新闻造假”本身并非什么“新闻”，一些享誉世界的知名新闻媒体均有过诸如此类的污点。

However, "journalistic fabrication" itself isn't news anymore.

2003年5月11日，《纽约时报》刊登了一篇题为《辞职的时报记者留下的一长串欺骗行为》的文章，揭露该报27岁记者杰森·布莱尔（Jayson Blair）编造独家新闻的事实。

“7个月里，这名年轻的记者自称游遍了全美国，写了73篇稿件，但其中有36篇都是杜撰的。”

此事一出，一时间全球媒体哗然。该事件几乎成为《纽约时报》创刊152周年以来的最大丑闻。

New York Times staff reporter Jayson Blair resigned in 2003 after committing frequent acts of journalistic fraud while covering significant news events. According to an investigation by Times journalists, out of 73 articles Blair had written, at least 36 of them were found with problems.

In an article published by the newspaper following this "major scandal," it said "the widespread fabrication and plagiarism represent a profound betrayal of trust and a low point in the 152-year history of the newspaper."

1981年4月13日，美国《华盛顿邮报》记者珍妮特·库克（Janet Cooke）因调查性报道《吉米的世界》获得当年“普利策专稿写作奖”。然而，这篇报道8岁黑人孩子吉米吸毒的文章纯属凭空捏造——“并没有吉米这个人”，库克在事后承认道。

Janet Cooke, a former Washington Post reporter who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1981 for the article "Jimmy's World" later became the only person to date to have returned the prize after admitting she had fabricated the story.

在一些人挖空心思地为博眼球而捏造事实的时候，有一些人，却为了报道真相而丢掉了性命。

While some people are fabricating stories for glory, others are risking their lives for truth.

据非盈利组织“保护记者委员会”最新数据，截至2018年12月，今年全球共有53名记者因工作丧生，其中34名死于报复性杀害，死亡率比2017年的47例高了13个百分点。

According to a recent report by the Committee to Protect Journalists, as of December 2018, the number of journalists killed worldwide has risen to 53, including 34 of them who died in retaliation killings.