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  • February 2020
  • Case
  • HBS Case Collection

Fake News at DER SPIEGEL (A)

By: Aiyesha Dey, Jonas Heese and Tonia Labruyere
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:21
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Abstract

The case discusses the strategy of DER SPIEGEL, the leading news magazine in Germany, in the aftermath of the discovery of a fake reporting scandal. It had come to light that one of DER SPIEGEL’s own reporters had falsified and made up entire articles for years, despite DER SPIEGEL’s large fact-checking departments. New editor-in-chief Steffen Klusmann and an internal investigation commission had set to work to discover the problems within DER SPIEGEL that made this failure possible and had come up with a series of recommendations for improvement. At the heart of the investigation was the question whether the scandal was the result of one bad apple or whether DER SPIEGEL had systematic failures in its control systems.

Keywords

Scandal; Management Control Systems; Corporate Governance; Crisis Management; Communication Strategy; Journalism and News Industry; Germany

Citation

Dey, Aiyesha, Jonas Heese, and Tonia Labruyere. "Fake News at DER SPIEGEL (A)." Harvard Business School Case 120-001, February 2020.
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About The Authors

Aiyesha Dey

Accounting and Management
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Jonas Heese

Accounting and Management
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Related Work

    • February 2020
    • Faculty Research

    Fake News at DER SPIEGEL (B): The Commission’s Recommendations

    By: Aiyesha Dey, Jonas Heese and Tonia Labruyere
    • February 2020
    • Faculty Research

    Fake News at DER SPIEGEL (C): Organizational Changes

    By: Aiyesha Dey, Jonas Heese and Tonia Labruyere
    • February 2020
    • Faculty Research

    Fake News at DER SPIEGEL (A), (B) and (C)

    By: Aiyesha Dey and Jonas Heese
Related Work
  • Fake News at DER SPIEGEL (B): The Commission’s Recommendations By: Aiyesha Dey, Jonas Heese and Tonia Labruyere
  • Fake News at DER SPIEGEL (C): Organizational Changes By: Aiyesha Dey, Jonas Heese and Tonia Labruyere
  • Fake News at DER SPIEGEL (A), (B) and (C) By: Aiyesha Dey and Jonas Heese
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