First, it is about two journalists, who bring to the public information, that they both know is not correct. This is against the “rules of good press practise” in Denmark (Danish: Vejledende Regler for God Presseskik), which means, that they both have broken the professional ethical rules.

Second, they have misinformed the public, which is clearly against the law of media responsability (Danish: medieansvarsloven) paragraph 34 p. 1 among others.

Third, the attack was on Wikipedia, a public and free information source. Important here is the fact, that the organization behind TV2 releases an alternative product in this area (Lademanns leksikon), which means, that they have a direct economical interest in making the competitive Wikipedia stand forward as unreliable.

It means, that three parties may be accused for criminal activities:
1) the journalists themselves,
2) the responsable board of the television station,
3) Egmont, the compagny behind TV2 Go Morgen programme.

To claim that this was just for fun could be compared with a person, who rob a bank and – when court – claims: “it was just for fun and to prove that it might happen”. No judge would accept such an explanation.

The other side of this is off-course, that – if not condemmed – it sets a new standard where lies might be accepted as “good journalism”.

The final outcome of this affair will be quite interesting.

See you next Thursday at Twestival!

@ferrogate