A Danish newspaper apologized last month to its readers for not questioning the government’s data and narratives more throughout the first two years of the pandemic.
The Ekstra Bladet, founded in 1904, said it should’ve done more due diligence in examining the government’s data and conclusions before reporting them.
“For almost two years, we—the press and the population—have been almost hypnotically preoccupied with the authorities’ daily coronatal,” wrote Bladet journalist Brian Weichardt. “The constant mental alertness has worn out tremendously on all of us. That is why we—the press—must also take stock of our own efforts. And we have failed.”
Weichardt suggested the newspaper should’ve asked more questions about how public health officials were tabulating data.
“We have not been vigilant enough at the garden gate when the authorities were required to answer what it actually meant that people are hospitalized with corona and not because of corona. Because it makes a difference. A big difference. Exactly, the official hospitalization numbers have been shown to be 27 percent higher than the actual figure for how many there are in the hospital, simply because they have corona. We only know that now,” he wrote.
“Of course, it is first and foremost the authorities who are responsible for informing the population correctly, accurately and honestly. The figures for how many are sick and died of corona should, for obvious reasons, have been published long ago…”