I wrote previously about why I don’t trust the Dutch press, de Gelderlander, CNN and Reuters.

I got some feedback on my last article about the Dutch press, that I did not exactly pick the best newspapers. That feedback is right. Metro is a free newspaper mostly read in public transport (hence the name) and NU is a quick and dirty news headlines website. However, I am maintaining my stance that it is in fact nearly ALL the Dutch press that simply cannot be trusted anymore these days. In this article I will show why, by picking some other newspapers that are generally regarded as high(er) quality.

Notice how in the screenshot below I highlighted the term ‘Coronagolf’, which translates to Corona Wave. All these papers are insisting there is/was a Corona Wave happening when simply, there was none. I am showing positive test results here, but in my previous article I also showed deaths and Intensive Care admissions. There is no wave. In none of these statistics. If your newspaper is telling you something is happening which is simply not true, shouldn’t you be upset?

Also, I was challenged whether this kind or reporting qualifies as propaganda.

Oxford Languages defines propaganda as:

information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote a political cause or point of view.

Oxford Languages through Google Search

Cambridge dictionary defines it as

information, ideas, opinions, or images, often only giving one part of an argument, that are broadcast, published, or in some other way spread with the intention of influencing people’s opinions

Cambridge dictionary

I think this is exactly what the Dutch press are doing. They are trying to convince the public there is an issue when really there is none. And they are using one-sided and frankly simply false information. There is no Corona Wave. Any one can see for themselves looking at the charts that there is no wave visible there. Yet they maintain there is one in all their headlines. And this serves a clear political purpose. To provide support for the government policy regarding e.g. vaccines and measures like the health pass (Corona toegangsbewijs).

The death statistics (imho the most important and reliable metric to determine severity of a public health crisis) are showing completely normal numbers for almost two years already. In one and a half years, the Netherlands have seen about 7000 deaths WITH Corona. That is less than 5000 per year! That is a completely NORMAL number that we have had every year for as long as we have been measuring. Old people have to die of something and every year a significant percentage of them die of flu-like illnesses. Only the last 3 years have we started to act like those deaths are unexpected or abnormal. They are not. In 2020 we had about double the deaths compared to normal years, but for both 2021 and 2022 the numbers are clearly indicating the crisis is over. Still, the media tries to tell us different, This is imho textbook PROPAGANDA.

Sources:

_{https://www.trouw.nl/nieuws/nieuwe-coronagolf-is-een-feit-maar-maatregelen-zijn-vooral-vrijblijvend~b545de9d/
https://www.volkskrant.nl/nieuws-achtergrond/aantal-positieve-coronatests-daalt-licht-coronagolf-lijkt-te-stagneren~bdf8d3b4/
https://www.ad.nl/binnenland/rivm-coronagolf-zwelt-aan-met-meer-positieve-testen-en-meer-ziekenhuisopnames~a2de568c/}