Award-winning reporter at Germany’s respected Der Spiegel, and CNN 2014 journalist of the year is forced to admit he MADE UP stories - including a Colin Kaepernick interview - for years

• Claas Relotius, 33, was caught out after a colleague raised suspicions
• He was found to have falsified 14 of 60 articles that appeared in the magazine
• He also wrote for taz, Welt and the Frankfurter Allgemeine's Sunday edition

Germany's respected news weekly Der Spiegel stunned the media world on Wednesday by revealing that one of its award-winning reporters had for years falsified stories.

 

Claas Relotius 'made up stories and invented protagonists' in at least 14 out of 60 articles that appeared in the magazine's print and online editions, Spiegel wrote, warning that other outlets could also be affected.

Relotius, 33, resigned after admitting to the scam. He had written for the magazine for seven years and won numerous awards for his investigative journalism, including CNN Journalist of the Year in 2014.

Claas Relotius, 33, resigned from Der Spiegel after admitting falsifying stories. He won numerous awards for his investigative journalism, including CNN Journalist of the Year in 2014

Earlier this month, he was named German Reporter of the Year for a story about a young Syrian boy.

The cheating came to light after a colleague who worked with him on a story along the US-Mexican border raised suspicions about some of the details in Relotius's reporting.

The colleague eventually tracked down two alleged sources quoted extensively by Relotius in the article, which was published in November. Both said they had never met Relotius.

His dishonesty was uncovered by his colleague Juan Moreno after he worked together with Relotius on the story 'Jaegers Grenze' (pictured)

Relotius had also lied about seeing a hand-painted sign that read 'Mexicans Keep Out', a subsequent investigation found.

Other fraudulent stories included one about a Yemeni prisoner in Guantanamo Bay, and one about NFL star Colin Kaepernick.