British broadcaster Sky News breathlessly reported on the COVID death of “anti-vax” Olympic gold medallist Szilveszter Csollany, before admitting later in the article that he was vaccinated.
Well, this is awkward.
The 51-year-old Hungarian, who was the 2000 Sydney Olympics rings champion, had been hospitalised since December with the illness, a stay which included weeks on a ventilator.
Citing Hungarian media outlet Blikk, Sky News reported that Csollany had “expressed anti-vaccination views on social media.”
This led the news outlet to headline the article ‘Anti-vax’ Olympic gold medallist dies of COVID’, clearly suggesting that the athlete had decided not to get the vaccine and that this contributed to his death.
However, in the 3rd paragraph of the story, it is acknowledged that “the six-time World Championship medallist had been vaccinated to allow him to continue to work as a gymnastics coach.”
Sky News decided not to include this pretty crucial fact in either the headline or on their front page, which merely stated ‘anti-vax Olympic gold medalist dies of coronavirus’, again suggesting his failure to get vaccinated was a factor in his death.
This is by no means the first time that Sky News, which has vehemently lobbied for lockdown restrictions in its coverage since the start of the pandemic, has published wildly misleading claims.
As we previously highlighted, the broadcaster claimed that the notion of climate lockdowns was a fake news conspiracy theory invented by COVID-19 deniers even as India was simultaneously announcing a climate lockdown.
Back in November, Sky News reported that COVID hospitalizations were “14 times higher” than at the same time the previous year, despite this being demonstrably false.