Spiegel—and the German media world writ large—is still reeling from German journalism's biggest scandal in its modern history: Claas Relotius, a 33-year-old
Spiegel writer who was long the envy of his peers, fabricated part or all of many of his biggest stories. His perfectly crafted articles from the United States and elsewhere were, it has become clear, literally too good to be true.
Jamie Kirchik: Germany's leading magazine published falsehoods about American life
The Relotius incident has prompted self-reflection among German journalists:
Spiegel is considered the gold standard among media organizations here, with a prestige that extends far beyond Germany and a supposedly airtight fact-checking department. One of Europe's leading news magazines and known for its investigative journalism,
Spiegel also translates many of its articles into English to reach a broader international audience.