This invention would have changed the world…
On its website, the “Tagesschau” on Friday presented a supposed technology sensation: a “television that generates energy instead of consuming it”.
The TV is powered by radio waves, so it doesn’t need a power cable. And not only that: “Even if the television is off, other things can be supplied with electricity through it”. Then the TV turns into a “microsonic device that generates energy”.
The reporter from the ARD studio in Johannesburg advertised her contribution on Twitter with the words: “No cable, no extra radiation, no emissions, no consumption of raw materials. Sounds like part of the solution to the energy crisis.”
The problem: It sounds too good to be true – and it is.
Maxwell Chikumbutso, the alleged inventor, who has his say in detail in the Tagesschau article, is no stranger: years ago he presented an electric car that allegedly does not need to be charged because it is powered by magnetic waves and radio frequencies one website even put it up for sale for $499. The AP news agency and other fact-checkers exposed the “sensation” as fake news.
Didn’t the Tagesschau author know that? And didn’t anyone else in the Tagesschau editorial team take notice of the “scientific sensation” before it went online? BILD asked the NDR, but did not receive a statement at short notice.
In the post, Maxwell Chikumbutso explains: “The TV uses, in a way, free, renewable and green energy. No emissions, no consumption, no raw materials. It uses the radio waves and transforms them.”
But the “Tagesschau” author not only sounds convinced of the invention – she even takes over the story that she only didn’t catch on because she came from Africa. The miracle TV could solve so many problems around the world if the inventor would only make himself heard, the Tagesschau wants to make you believe.
The “Deutsche Welle” (also under public law, but not financed by the broadcasting license fee, but by taxes) also took over the contribution and moderated it with the words: “This is a great idea that is already being implemented. But she hasn’t caught on yet. The inventor complains that this also has to do with a large portion of racism.”
In her contribution, the author regrets: “The invention could set a precedent, but little attention is paid to innovations from southern Africa”. Chikumbutso’s “ideas could be a big hit. And yet in large parts of Europe he is not even listened to,” writes the author.
Chikumbutso wants to “make its cordless television (…) accessible to the rural population” in Africa. And further: “Scientists from Europe have not yet checked his invention. However, Maxwell believes that it would also be attractive for the western world, for example for Germany.”
And Chikumbutso invented something else: “Street lighting that is no longer powered by solar power but by radio waves – another invention of Chikumbutso. They are already glowing in Mexico and North America.”
Researchers from the USA have confirmed that the invention actually works, the “Tagesschau” lets the supposed inventor say in the article. “He spent a long time tinkering, combining materials that are available locally in Zimbabwe and having researchers from the USA test everything. They would have confirmed that it actually works.”
Hours after her contribution went online and there was already a lot of ridicule and criticism, the Tagesschau author admits on Twitter: “Despite all my inquiries, I have not been able to get in touch with scientists from the USA who, according to Maxwell Chikumbutso, have examined his alleged invention and should have verified. He wants to have developed that, he claims. That’s how I should have phrased it in the tweet.”
The post was no longer available on the Tagesschau website late Friday evening. The NDR explained: “After publication, we received criticism of the text, which we passed on to the author. The author is reviewing the information and has asked us to take the article offline. We have complied with this request.” The text comes “from a standard offer from the ARD radio correspondents.”
The author of the article comes from SWR, the institution of all people who will now provide the new ARD boss Kai Gniffke.