Bild undermine journalistic standards by publishing made-up BVB salary list

As a general rule, it’s always better to take the tabloid’s reporting with a pinch of salt. On Friday, they stooped to a new low.

Die Gehaltsliste des #BVB – via Bild+ pic.twitter.com/7Laqqv033Y

— Austro-Borusse 👾 (@Tomcat1984Wien) July 26, 2019

This is Dortmund’s new salary list – who earns the most, who the least, Bild headlined in a post they put behind their paywall. They filled their paragraphs with factual-sounding numbers about transfer fees and salary figures before posting a list ranking Dortmund players’ earnings.

Only problem: Underneath the list they posted an asterisk in small print which read “*all salaries guessed”, undermining the premise of factual reporting and misleading the reader up until that point.

Selling fiction as non-fiction is unbecoming, embarrassing and further undermines a profession that is under attack as it is. It is yet another disservice by Bild, who would have been perfectly fine had they been transparent about their guesswork in the lede.