End of media lies!

I originally wanted to address this text to journalists, the media, and especially editors-in-chief. But in the end, its tone was such that I would have to just scream and curse in a high-pitched voice, and that would have been ridiculous.
I won't call for the last real, solid journalists and ask them to, FOR GOD'S SAKE, finally start doing their job and, perhaps, verify data from multiple sources and, most importantly, think.
So I would rather appeal to my fellow citizens to see what today's media reality looks like.

I had no idea that the day I finished writing my text „"I blame and sue the media!"“ I will come across a real solo carp by chance, who unfortunately will only confirm my words and, what's worse, on a completely crazy global scale.

By chance yesterday, I saw an article from the E15 portal, which I had read as one of the latest news items.
https://www.e15.cz/koronahelpdesk-e15/svedove-imunitu-vuci-koronaviru-neziskali-druha-vlna-epidemie-se-zemi-nevyhne-1375359
The article describes how a second wave is beginning to rage in Sweden, how deaths are "climbing to a hundred a day" and follows with WEDNESDAY'S figure of 96 deaths, on which the entire article is "baked".

Sample from article E15

And the number 96 is absolutely crucial for what follows.

Because I occasionally follow the numbers from abroad and know that Sweden is doing "relatively" well right now and deaths there are still in the single digits or smaller dozens, I was quite surprised.
So I first looked at Worldmeter https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/sweden/
to which the authors themselves refer in the article and here the official number of 11 deaths is given for Wednesday 18.11., which is also completely corresponds to the graph and its earlier development. (This number will be further refined over the next 14 days – see below). So I became more interested in how they arrived at the number 96.

Wordometer and ourworldindata.org - data as of 11/18/2020
I know that Sweden unfortunately reports and verifies death data with a 14-day delay, which makes the statement that someone knew the number 96 EXACTLY the next day, which even Swedish epidemiologists don't know yet, all the more strange to me. Otherwise, of course, it would have been published.
On this graph, https://adamaltmejd.se/covid/ which I managed to find, it is beautiful to see how the data is being refined with a 14-day delay and the latest data actually corresponds to ONLY 11 reported deaths for Wednesday, November 18th.
Even after the forecast of the final count (see the dashed line graph), the numbers MAY LIKELY range between 30 and 40 as of November 18. But that is NOT certain and, most importantly, it is 2x-3x less than the article claimed.

Sweden – Death data – 14-day calculations and predictions (as of November 18, 2020)

So I started looking into where this data came from and it was at this point that my jaw dropped.
This is probably a report from the world-renowned Reuters agency – not a tabloid:
https://lta.reuters.com/article/idUSL8N2GS43Y

Sample from Reuters report 11/18/2020

Portals and servers simply copied it with CTRL+C and CTRL+V - without any basic verification, and the stupider ones, like E15, wrote an article based on it and used a grandiose headline.
What's even worse, the Czech News Agency (ČTK) also accepted it without verification!

Selection from Czech media
https://eurozpravy.cz/zahranicni/eu/ve-svedsku-zemrelo-nejvic-lidi-s-covidem-za-tri-mesice.8f67cbe4/ (19.11. after notification, corrected and denied that the report came from ČTK – which is perhaps even more serious, that it was sent out by another renowned press agency.)
https://dennikn.sk/minuta/2148637/
https://www.seznamzpravy.cz/clanek/rousky-a-otevrena-okna-lanovek-svycarsko-zachranuje-lyzarskou-sezonu-129982
https://www.novinky.cz/koronavirus/clanek/on-line-v-cesku-se-denni-narusty-nakazenych-snizuji-v-utery-pribylo-4246-pripadu-40342481

And of course, a number of foreign servers - again pure COPY and PASTE
https://twitter.com/BNODesk/status/1329141575956434944
https://www.metro.us/sweden-registers-96-new/
https://nationalpost.com/pmn/health-pmn/sweden-registers-96-new-daily-covid-19-deaths-highest-for-months
https://kelofm.com/2020/11/18/sweden-registers-96-new-daily-covid-19-deaths-highest-for-months/
https://news.trust.org/item/20201118121521-4pqu0

And I could go on like this - Google "Sweden 96 deaths in the last 24 hours" and you will see for yourself the horror of dozens of articles.

I took the trouble to find the original text, even including a statement from Sweden's chief epidemiologist, Anders Tegnell:
https://omni.se/tegnell-dagens-dodsfall-utspridda-over-lang-tid/a/we39jn
https://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/a/yRl9vR/fhm-96-nya-dodsfall-med-covid-19
He confirms that 96 deaths actually entered the system on Wednesday, November 18, but it was precisely the reporting that took a bit longer this time...
So the shocking data of 96 deaths is actually the SUMMARY figure of deaths added from October 30th to today's date - which is an average of about 5 deaths per day...

I sat in front of the monitor and couldn't believe my eyes.

This is what the media really does, and unfortunately not only the Czech media – this is how they handle sensitive data and numbers that influence public opinion and literally tens of millions of lives around the world. People's opinions and fears.
The numbers that cause countries to close down and people to fear death – the numbers that make reality and the basis for the "truth" of other theories that build their defense on it…

This is not just a "typo" or some banal mistake, this is, in my opinion, the tip of the iceberg, the work of the media. How completely without any responsibility they spread information that may have the character of alarmist news, without verifying its veracity in any way. And I ask with horror how many similar reports still create our reality of fear...?

This is something that everyone who is subject to the current illusion of fear should see, to understand how the media today informs and bends reality.
I think that it is probably impossible to find greater proof of complete amateurism and completely uncovered spreading of lies (untruths, if you will). Because, at a time when every word really needs to be weighed carefully, this is really over the top.
I also think that the media should be fully responsible for such actions, because we have valid media and press laws.
And the dissemination of such untruths by reputable agencies, in my opinion, is highly dangerous to society.

I'm afraid that journalists will soon reverse their reporting course, people will start to wonder if this is really just a coincidence and the media's incompetence, or someone's intention, and then they will really take to the streets, and I'm afraid it won't end well...

(Images of article pages are included as proof of status as of November 19.)

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Update 20.11.
The first affected media outlets spoke out.
Get an idea of their self-reflection for yourself. One of the emails from EuroZprávy.cz:

Good day,
The editorial staff would appreciate it if dissatisfied readers finally started using the contact forms or email addresses listed on their websites 🙂 The effort to point out mistakes through public lynching, without directly notifying the editorial staff, is not an effort to change or improve the quality of reporting, but only to massage one's own ego.

Best regards
Lukas Kňazovicky
(Editor-in-chief of the EuroZprávy.cz portal)
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Based on my findings, CTK edited the original report.
But you would search in vain for the words "error", "falsehood" or "apology" in the text, even though the message has been read by tens and perhaps hundreds of thousands of people.

Good day,
ČTK corrected the aforementioned report and sent the corrected text, which can be found in the attachment, to subscribers in the same way as the original information.
(ČTK text correction)

Best regards,
Jan Vavrusak
Editor-in-Chief of the Czech Press Agency
—————————————————————————-

Update 21.11.
I asked ČTK if they had also informed Reuters to correct the error, but I still haven't received a response from them.

On most servers, not only did they not respond to calls for correction, but the false and alarming message is still on the servers!

If anyone has the strength, it would be worth pushing the media to take responsibility, which they have by law – i.e. by suing for spreading false and alarming news, by submitting a complaint to the media council, or to the Czech News Agency!