By: Michael Tarm, Associated Press Writer (AP) An Estonian journalist who claimed to have interviewed financier George Soros, film director Milos Forman, and other famous people admitted to fabricating the stories.
The bogus interviews by 21-year-old Argo Riistan, including with Czech writer Milan Kundera and English playwright Tom Stoppard, appeared in several publications in the former Soviet republic of 1.4 million residents from 2000 to 2003.
The fabrications came to light after Riistan offered the Soros interview to the local
Sirp weekly last month. Its editors checked with Soros' office, wondering how the young man managed to get access to such a prominent person. They were told the interview never took place.
Sirp broke the story about the phony Soros interview in its new edition this week, after which Riistan was widely quoted as admitting a string of fabrications -- including one-on-one discussions with English novelists Ian McEwan, Alex Garland, and Martin Amis that never happened.
"When my fear subsided, I understood that the only option was to fess up," Thursday's
Postimees newspaper, which itself had published some of the interviews, quoted him as saying.
Riistan wasn't immediately available for comment to The Associated Press.
The editor of the
Eesti Ekspress weekly, which ran several of Riistan's fake interviews, apologized to its readers for unwittingly playing a part in the deception. Tiina Kaalep said her paper had been "naive" and that "the written word had been devalued" by Riistan's actions.
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