Dutch and Belgian media cut ties with journalist over suspect stories
Peter Blasic accused of plagiarism and citing untraceable sources
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Your support makes all the difference.A freelance reporter accused of plagiarising other publications and citing sources who could not be traced, has had his articles pulled by Dutch and Belgian media outlets.
Peter Blasic cited sources in his stories for Nieuwe Revu, that the magazine said it had been unable to track down. The publication said it was withdrawing 27 articles written by the journalist who worked for them as a general news reporter.
Another Dutch magazine, HP/De Tijd, said seven of around 300 articles by Mr Blasic published on its website between 2014 and 2017 were “copied in whole or in part” from the EUobserver website without crediting the site.
The website Knack.be said it published six articles by Mr Blasic.
“Our own investigations show that Blasic never spoke to certain sources he cites in the articles and appears to have invented a number of anonymous witnesses,” Knack.be said. “Our website made a mistake. We should have seen through this fraudster.”
Mr Blasic is yet to comment on the allegations made against him.
The statements followed publication this week by Amsterdam weekly De Groene Amsterdammer of a report outlining a string of suspect stories by Mr Blasic in Dutch and Belgian media.
The revelations come a month after German weekly Der Spiegel revealed one of its star reporters, Claas Relotius, had left the publcation after committing journalistic fraud “on a grand scale”.
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