FT reporter McCrum on being harassed for his Wirecard coverage

Financial Times reporter David McCrum talks about what it was like to be harassed after his investigative stories into Wirecard, which this week

McCrum said, “You have a sense of the Financial Times as a reputed organisation. And you’re very publicly being called a criminal. I was sort of used to it when the company had done it, because the company had done it for years.

“But when you suddenly find yourself facing an actual criminal investigation in Germany, with regulators where the company which you’re writing about seems to have certainly the ear of these people, that was – there were some moments where it was quite stressful. You do at times start to think that you’re going a little bit mad.

“Because obviously you become paranoid. If you constantly think your emails are going to be hacked, or if you think people are following you. There was a period where I started to double back when I was going to meet people, or you would get on a Tube carriage, and jump off again, which seems ridiculous.

“And it seemed ridiculous at the time. We were very conscious that there was active surveillance going on. So you start to doubt yourself. And when you try and explain this to anyone as well, like yes, I’m trying to report on the company. And all this crazy stuff is happening.”

To listen, to here.