Mediahuis (journalist Peter Vandermeersch)
Peter Vandermeersch “Press and Democracy” posts (Mediahuis)
Withdrawn · 19 March 2026
SectorMedia
CountryNetherlands
Document typeJournalism blog posts
ConsequenceWithdrawn
What was fabricated
In 15 of 53 blog posts, quotes were attributed to named individuals and to publications where they could not be found; seven named individuals confirmed they never made the statements — dozens of fabricated quotes in total.
What happened as a result
Mediahuis removed eight articles from independent.ie and suspended Vandermeersch from his fellow role; he admitted relying on ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google Notebook and “put words in people's mouths.”
Sources
- https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2026/03/19/mediahuis-suspends-top-journalist-after-admission-of-using-false-ai-material/
- https://www.euronews.com/next/2026/03/23/senior-european-journalist-suspended-for-publishing-ai-generated-quotes
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