Word: wallraff
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Only it is not the President's adviser at all, but an imposter--West Germany's "undesirable journalist," an avowed socialist sympathizer, Gunter Wallraff. Spinola is the victim of an elaborate hoax, perpetrated over the course of many months, during which Wallraff. Spinola is the victim of an elaborate hoax, perpetrated over the course of many months, during which Wallraff has carefully recorded and photographed evidence of the General's subversive activities. And now, ignorant of his undoing, Spinola himself is about to deliver his own coup degrace, revealing the most incriminating information...
...Gunter Wallraff's brand of muckraking goes one step beyond that of America's most celebrated jounalists, Woodward and Bernstein. Rather than inducing government employees to lead to the press, Wallraff becomes an employee himself, and then writes about his experiences, exposing the graft, deception and mistreatment he encounters along the way. His technique requires few accessories--false identification, perhaps, a varied wardrobe, change of moustache and glasses--for the most part, though, his own resourcefulness time and again enables him to escape from tight situations...
...twenty to four the President still had not arrived. General Spinola had finished his meal, and was anxious to meet the President. Wallraff could only stall for time: he had only learned of Spinola's visit the day before, and had not yet succeeded in finding a 'President' to greet him. The previous night he had approached several friends--a lawyer, a doctor, a publisher, a member of the Bundestag, a vicar and several professional actors--but none would agree to play the role. Now, despite frequent and frantic telephone calls, Wallraff could not find a suitable President. At four...
...Though Wallraff's lean, ascetic face has appeared on each of his six books and many magazine pieces, he undertakes no mysterious disguises. All he usually does is get a haircut, suitable clothes and new frames for his glasses. For the Bild Zeitung caper, he also shaved off his mustache, adopted the name of Hans Esser and passed a pre-employment writing test at the paper. Once hired, he had to turn out credibly trashy articles. He also had to socialize heavily with fellow reporters and pretend to share their views to prevent detection. His account of the experience...
Springer Verlag, which owns twelve other German publications, attacked Wallraff in a sulfurous rebuttal: "He is a man who lies and falsifies stories in order to obtain material for his books." Springer went to court charging 14 specific instances of factual error. It is hardly Wallraff's first encounter with the law. He has been prosecuted twice for impersonating government and corporate employees, but the charges were dismissed. On ten other occasions, Wallraff's victims have won injunctions requiring that unsubstantiated allegations be deleted from his writings. Of the Springer petition for injunction, which may be decided this...