Reporter Named “CNN International’s Journalist of the Year” Fired for Fabricating Stories

Audio By Carbonatix

German magazine Der Spiegel has fired one of its top journalists after it discovered he had simply made up more than a dozen stories in recent years “on a grand scale,” including an article in which he mocked President Trump supporters in a small Minnesota town.

The Washington Examiner reports Claas Relotius, who was CNN International's Journalist of the Year, was fired after a colleague raised suspicions about his reporting.

One of his made up stories described a small town in Minnesota which supported Trump.

Relotius told stories of residents that were later found to be false or he simply made up people.

Relotius, who was hired by Der Speigel in 2011 and received several awards from CNN for his work said after his firing, "I'm sick and I need to get help.”

Corrie O'Connor