Tom Kummer: From Media Scandal to Literary Processing

Summary

Tom Kummer, former journalist and current author, discusses in a radio interview his role in one of the largest media scandals in the German-speaking world 25 years ago. At that time, he published fabricated interviews with Hollywood stars in renowned magazines such as the Süddeutsche Zeitung and the Tagesanzeiger. His new book "Freiwürfe" literarily addresses the true story of Kim Jong-un, who attended a Swiss boarding school as a boy. Kummer reflects on the boundaries between fiction and journalism, the mechanisms of disinformation, and the difference between his humanizing fabrications and today's malicious fake news.

People

• Tom Kummer
• Kim Jong-un
• Sharon Stone
• Tom Hanks
• Bruce Willis
• Mike Tyson
• Giordano Bruno

Topics

• Fabricated interviews and media scandal
• Boundaries between fiction and journalism
• New Journalism and literary journalism
• Fake news and disinformation
• Kim Jong-un in Switzerland
• Media ethics and crisis of trust
• Processing the past through literature

Detailed Summary

Tom Kummer became famous and notorious about 25 years ago because he published fabricated interviews with Hollywood stars in leading German-language magazines over a period of years. In the conversation, he emphasizes that this label of "liar" still clings to him today, although he believes that a more careful reading of his works is now more possible through changed media understanding.

His new book "Freiwürfe" is based on a true historical event: The North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un actually attended a Swiss boarding school. Kummer created a fictional story around this reality, focusing on the relationship between a Bern basketball coach named Frank and the young Kim (called "Kimu" in the novel). The author explores the moral and psychological gray zones of this constellation: How might a Swiss education have influenced a later dictator? Could he have been "stopped"?

Kummer explains his creative process: He researches intensively, reads international reporting, and then develops a literary emotional landscape of the characters from this factual basis. He emphasizes that he does not simply ignore facts, but rather connects them with a subjective, interpretive layer. This was also the principle of his journalistic work: He wrote in the style of "New Journalism" or "literary journalism," a genre that was experimental and deliberately boundary-crossing at the time.

The decision for journalism rather than pure literature was also an economic one: At 25 years old in Berlin, without financial means, it offered the opportunity to earn money quickly as a journalist and be published. Literature alone brings significant income for few people. The journalism of that era was experimental and wanted to explore its limits. Kummer explains that his fabricated interviews were limited to Hollywood stars – figures already protected by a "PR curtain" and whose image was constructed anyway. He did not interview politicians or influential public figures.

When asked whether financial and editorial validation led to an "addiction," Kummer responds honestly: It flattered him that his texts appeared in prestigious publications and were celebrated. He had deliberately woven fictional markers into his interviews – the stars constantly spoke about reality, forgery, and image. He assumed that his editors-in-chief knew what they were printing. But in retrospect, it was a moral failing that he did not explicitly tell them what he was doing.

When the deception was exposed after about ten years, two of his clients lost their positions – a shock that Kummer regrets. However, both later had successful careers. The real consequence was a loss of trust among readers toward journalistic products.

Kummer quotes Giordano Bruno with the phrase "Se non è vero, è ben trovato" (If it is not true, it is well invented) – the idea that fabricated representations sometimes contain a deeper truth than sober facts. Indeed, the agents of the stars often showed enthusiasm for his portraits because they fulfilled a longing for a better, more humane world.

The crucial difference today: Fake news is short, pithy, divisive, and aggressive. It wants to do evil. Kummer's old texts were 20 pages long, nuanced, empathetic, and showed a desire for a better world. In the 1990s, Kummer expressed the vision that journalism should not only describe how the world is, but how it could be. Today he distances himself decisively from this demand, as it seems naive in a world with malicious disinformation campaigns and wars.

He describes a feeling of naivety of that era: As artists and progressive intellectuals, one thought one could explore boundaries, experiment with language, be anarchistic – without seeing the coming dangers. One consumed freedom instead of using it responsibly.

When asked whether he would write such fabricated interviews again today, Kummer answers: They would have had to be declared as what they were – literature, not journalism. The boundary between these two genres must be clearly drawn.

Key Statements

• Kummer's fabricated interviews with Hollywood stars in the 1990s were a deliberate boundary crossing between journalism and literature, which was celebrated at the time as experimental "New Journalism."

• His new book "Freiwürfe" literarily addresses the true story of Kim Jong-un in a Swiss boarding school and explores questions of guilt, morality, and processing the past.

• Financial incentives and editorial validation played a role, but the difference between his humanizing fabrications and today's malicious fake news is fundamental.

• Kummer decidedly distances himself from his 1990s vision that journalism should blur boundaries between fiction and truth – in light of disinformation and wars, this is irresponsible today.

• The mechanisms that caused his fabricated interviews to be believed are comparable to those of fake news: people want confirmation of their worldview and hope for better worlds.

• In retrospect, Kummer should have clearly declared his work as literature, not journalism – an ethical boundary-drawing that he now considers essential.

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