What the Danish and European media misunderstand (and misrepresent) about America, and vice versa. And other stuff.
Europe’s given up on America, according to an article today from Berlingske: Europeans Turn Their Backs on America after Trump, and Denmark Stands Out on a Decisive Point, Kristian Mouritzen, Berlingske.dk, February 11 The subhead spells it out pretty plainly: “Europeans simply do not trust that the new president of the United States, Joe Biden,…
I don’t know how I overlooked this early December opinion piece in Berlingske: it’s hard to think of a headline more appropriate for this blog: Stop the Americanization of Danish Culture, Jacob Mchangama, Berlingske.dk, 7 December I should remind non-Danish readers that “Amerikanske tilstande” translates literally as “American conditions.” The phrase has a long pedigree…
The headline is the story: Two years ago Denmark had 900 inpatients during the worst flu epidemic in a long time, but the system didn’t collapse, Signe Stoumann Fosgrau, Berlingske.dk, 18 December Remarkable! Not the information itself, but the fact that we’re first hearing this from the press a full nine months into the pandemic….
A Sunday article from Berlingske (under their AOK rubric) appears to have come straight from the Democratic National Committee (which, insofar as it’s just a recap of a Washington Post article, it sort of did): Trump Burrowed in and Was Like “a Crazy King George”: “I won, I won, I won”, Stine Hansen, Berlingske.dk, 29…
A Monday editorial from Berlingske Tidende (with a Pierre Collignon byline), coupled with a tweet from David Trads on the same day, offer an excellent case study in the establishment media’s continued acceleration toward irrelevance. The editorial is entitled “Trump og Hitler har ikke noget at gøre i dansk politik.” Sounds reasonable enough. Saying that…
America has, for better or worse, a two party political system. Other parties exist, and some are even quite strong in individual states (consider Senator Bernie Sanders’s socialist following in Vermont), but at the national level American politics is binary: Democrat and Republican. There hasn’t been a president from any other party since Millard Fillmore…
His name is Anthony Bobulinski. I conducted the following searches between 12:15 and 12:27 today, October 28. On Berlingske.dk: On B.T.: On Information.dk: On taxpayer-funded DR.dk: On Politiken.dk: On TV2News.dk And yet, on Google: In case it’s hard to read: that’s 174,000 results in about a quarter of a second. In the news tab of…
There’s a particular kind of “think piece” in American journalism that blossoms in the run-up to every federal election. As a young man I thought they were the misguided efforts of well-intentioned people; as a less young man I now realize they’re just liberals trying to trick conservatives into supporting liberal ideas and candidates. This…
It has to be said over and over and over again: Amy Coney Barrett is going to be confirmed as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. The Constitution gives the president the power to nominate her, and it gives the Senate the power to approve her nomination. The president has nominated her and…
I was reading Berlingske’s preview of tonight’s debate between President Trump and Joe Biden (I’m a glutton for punishment), and it was about what I’d expected. At one point in the article, however, author Mikkel Danielsen notes that maybe the attacks predicted from Trump could be an advantage to Biden. “[Det] mener flere amerikanske analytikere,”…
Be careful browsing Berlingske today, because they’ve got a steaming pile of rancid shit on their homepage. “Hvis man vil forstå, hvorfor Louisville i Kentucky lige nu er ved at koge over af raseri,” writes Mikkel Danielsen, “må man forstå, hvad der skete lidt over midnat på Springfield Drive 13. marts.” He’s writing about the…
Once again it’s newsworthy that America’s status in the world is declining under a Republican president. Berlingske shares the news: Siden årtusindeskiftet har analysecentret Pew Resarch Center målt, hvordan udlandet ser på USA. Og aldrig før har meningsmålingerne været så negative som nu. Pew Research elaborates: ”By wide margins, people in Germany, France, Great Britain and Italy…
An honest assessment that deserves acknowledgment. From my own American experience in theatre, radio, and publishing, the kind of self-awareness shown here by Peter Aalbæk is not something often encountered in the creative class. I’ll never forget my literary agent—a very nice guy—advising me before we embarked on a series of meetings with publishers, “Don’t…
There’s a lot I object to in this Berlingske article (“Er der lys i mørket? Europæerne håber på, at den transatlantiske tåge letter, hvis Biden og Harris vinder præsidentvalget”) on Europe’s fervent hope for a Biden victory in November. The article can be summed up succinctly in a single sentence: “Many European heads of state…
“Don’t speak ill of the dead” used to be a thing. So did “Black lives matter.” Not at Berlingske, however. Not anymore, at least: “Kendt Trump-støtte fornægtede farligheden i coronavirus. Så slog den ham ihjel.” The “så” is a nice touch: is it the adverbial form meaning “then,” or is it being used as a…
Another day ending in -y, another Danish media “explainer” piece to help ensure the perpetual befuddlement of Denmark on all things American. This time it’s my old employer, the ostensibly “borgerlig” Berlingske. “FBI, coronavirus og kongresmedlemmer: Sådan vokser konspirationsteorierne i USA.” It caught my eye because I thought someone at Berlingske was on the ball. …
