Bjørn Benkow
Bjørn Leo Benkow (13 February 1940 – 17 February 2010[1]) was a Norwegian journalist who became infamous for notoriously faking interviews with celebrities. Among the persons Benkow claimed to have interviewed are Bill Gates, Michael Schumacher, Oprah Winfrey and Margaret Thatcher, all of them denying that the interviews took place.[2] Benkow claimed that he interviewed Michael Schumacher in his home in Switzlerland and Bill Gates on a plane to Munich, among other things. In reality, he fabricated the interviews in his own home. He sold his fabricated interviews to several Scandinavian newspapers.
There was suspicion he had fabricated an interview with Margaret Thatcher already in 1992, Thatcher denying that an alleged interview took place. In the summer of 2006, it was revealed that Benkow had fabricated several interviews. After spokespersons for several of the celebrities had denied that such interviews took place, Benkow admitted to having fabricated the interviews.
His uncle was the politician Jo Benkow.[3]
References
- ↑ "Aguiden - Personalia". Aguiden.no. Retrieved 2010-08-03.
- ↑ Admits to fiction - Aftenposten.no Archived August 9, 2006, at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ Juksemaker'n - portrettet - Dagbladet.no