The Finnish journalist admits in his autobiography that he partly authored articles

An award-winning Finnish newspaper reporter admitted after his retirement that he had partly authored a number of stories. 68-year-old Matej Kosila admitted in his memoirs. As a result, hundreds of his articles were removed from the Internet.

The journalist worked for the national newspaper Amulehti for decades and has won numerous awards for his work. His autobiography was published last week, in which he wrote that he used the word “fiction” in three articles.

This includes an essay in which he describes a conversation with a Finnish poet, which now appears to have never happened. The biography states that Kosela saw her but did not dare to speak.

“If a story is repeated long enough, you begin to believe it yourself, and it almost becomes true,” the journalist wrote in his autobiography. He believes his readers realized it was a fictional event.

Things also went wrong in the travel story series, in an episode set in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent. He was there with a photographer who took pictures of passing cars. Kosela described conversations with people in cars in the report, but it turns out it was all made up.

Aamulehti has now decided to remove 551 articles from her former employee To delete. The three articles Kosela mentions in his book are still available online, but have been edited and annotated.

The editor-in-chief said, apologizing to the reader: “This has no place in journalism. The public has the right to obtain honest information.” According to the newspaper, “provable fabrications” were found in several stories.

What is true and what is not can always be determined, because some of the people interviewed have died. The editor-in-chief also says that no indications of inaccuracy were found in news articles or stories about “important social issues.”

Kosela himself believes he has a clear conscience. v. Finnish Public Broadcasting Corporation YLE He says he used verbal images such as exaggeration. He himself believes that about seven of his stories contain fiction.