A German magazine has been slammed for claiming to have conducted a world exclusive interview with stricken Formula 1 legend Michael Schumacher – but the 'quotes' it contains are completely made up.
Schumacher has been out of the public eye since the horror skiing accident he suffered more than nine years ago. After being placed in and then later woken from a medically induced coma, the seven-time world champion was sent home to be cared for by his wife and an army of carers, while secrecy continues to shroud the details of his condition.
The front cover of a copy of Die Aktuelle, dated April 15th, 2023, features a photo of Schumacher smiling broadly. And in the teaser headline underneath the publication is selling the issue by claiming it is "the first interview" with the former Ferrari and Mercedes racer.
But the actual 'article' is not what it initially seems. Questions are immediately raised about the "world sensation" interview on that same front page, which features another tagline: "It sounds deceptively real".
Reading the beginning of the article, you might believe that it is a genuine interview. It opens: "Talk to him once. Ask him how he's really doing. And finally got answers almost 10 years after his tragic skiing accident.
"No meagre, nebulous half-sentences from friends. But answers from him! By Michael Schumacher, 54! Here it is — the incredible interview! With redeeming answers to the most burning questions that the whole world has been asking for so long."
At the end of the article, which features no byline and contains 'quotes' relating to Schumacher's injuries and his family life, there is an admission of the true nature of the piece. It concludes: "Did Michael Schumacher really say everything himself? The interview was online. On a page that has to do with artificial intelligence, or AI for short."
Whatever the publication was hoping to gain from running the piece, it did not go down well with Boris Rosenkranz, an expert on the German media. In a comment piece titled "Too stupid to be true", he tears into the magazine for its "remarkable cheek" in producing such an insensitive piece of content.
He wrote: "Of course there are a lot of question marks in the 'Die Aktuelle' text – also, as usual, for legal protection. You can hide behind it, but you can't hide the calculation – to give the readership the feeling that Michael Schumacher might be talking about his physical condition."
