his texts were a pleasure
Posted: Tue Feb 04, 2025 3:30 am
Only if you do it well, and Relotius - a brief bow here - did it better than most others. Not least for this reason, to read.
These atmospheric passages were part of the singapore rcs data reading experience and they didn't turn the story in one direction or the other. If they had been surrounded by pure facts and true quotes, I could honestly have lived with the fact that Claas Relotius had just made them up.
I know that this contradicts the pure doctrine of journalism, that one should not do this. And I would never think of doing it myself. But I am a pragmatist. If the man from Hamburg had stuck to the facts, these tricks would only have helped him feel even closer to the text and its protagonists. And no one would have been really harmed.
But of course you are not allowed to say that.
These atmospheric passages were part of the singapore rcs data reading experience and they didn't turn the story in one direction or the other. If they had been surrounded by pure facts and true quotes, I could honestly have lived with the fact that Claas Relotius had just made them up.
I know that this contradicts the pure doctrine of journalism, that one should not do this. And I would never think of doing it myself. But I am a pragmatist. If the man from Hamburg had stuck to the facts, these tricks would only have helped him feel even closer to the text and its protagonists. And no one would have been really harmed.
But of course you are not allowed to say that.