The Netherlands: Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS) - Sander Zurhake

Grigor

Senior Member (Voting Rights)
Copied from the News from the Netherlands thread

A must-see interview by investigative journalist @dave30th with NOS journalist Sander Zurhake about his recent publication concerning CBT/GET in children with ME, long COVID, and IACC/PAIS more broadly.

How patients and their loved ones are sometimes coerced into these treatments, and how — if you notice or know these treatments are harmful and refuse them — you could even be accused of child abuse.

Zurhake explains how the process unfolded and how much resistance he and the NOS editorial team faced from The Dutch Association of Pediatrics (NVK).

How they tried to convince them that what the NOS was about to publish was disinformation, citing outdated and flawed studies in an attempt to discredit the story. Quite intimidating from an association of medical doctors of course.

However, this went against the judgment of, for example, the NICE guidelines, the IOM report, and — to some extent — the 2018 report by the Dutch Health Council.
Zurhake says this:

“So, I said, we have a lot of important institutes like the Institute of Medicine from the US and NICE from Great Britain, and even our own health care council the same in 2018. Like I said: hey, we are not the ones that should explain ourselves. It's the other way around.”

Definitely worth watching.

Please share!!

 
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Good interview, and good for Dutch patients to have somebody like Zurhake on the case. :thumbup:
Absolutely. The NOS is considered the most reputable news source in the Netherlands. He also has a black belt in jiu-jitsu — I told him he deserves one in journalism too. Pretty fearless. Just like @dave30th, by the way. It’s thanks to his work that other journalists, like Sander, now dare to speak up and grab the bull by the horns.
 
The most important take-away for advocating purposes is probably that they do not want a debate.

I really wish we had more journalists like Zurhake. And less of the people that cover science without any actual understanding of it..
They do love rigged ones, though. Just like they love talking to journalists, as long as the interview is explicitly meant to be nothing but friendly softballs, preferably just glowing flattery. Any platform is good for them, as long as that platform is meant to be deferential and approves of every claim they make. Outside of that they crumble, because they never face any actual criticism. They work in tightly insulated bubbles where nothing ever gets challenged.

A real debate? Factual and challenging? Or even worse a tough interview? Never seen it happen. Their media presence is as controlled as any two-bit dictator. It's been one of their key to success.
 
One of the reasons we made the separate thread is that we are really looking forward to more from Sander. It is so encouraging to see smart people look at the evidence for CBT and GET in ME/CFS and say 'there's a problem here'.
 
One of the reasons we made the separate thread is that we are really looking forward to more from Sander. It is so encouraging to see smart people look at the evidence for CBT and GET in ME/CFS and say 'there's a problem here'.
Thanks. I'm sure there will be more reporting. The NOS is normally not a long read reporter, but he always manages to add some good bits.

The title should be NOS. It's now spelled NOH.
 
Thank you @dave30th and @Grigor for bringing this to my attention. What Zurhake has done in the Netherlands gives us, who are in similar situations, both hope and tools to resist!

In Sweden, we received national guidelines for "post-infectious conditions" that include CBT/GET in the fall of 2024 and these are now being implemented for use in training for healthcare professionals. In parallel, the Fatigue Study is testing Hans Knoop's treatment program for fatigue regardless of its cause. He himself is involved in the study as a clinical advisor. Very problematic if you ask me, and I can't help but wonder if his attempt to sell his method in Sweden is connected to the upcoming update of the guidelines in the Netherlands...

I've written about this on the blog if anyone is interested in reading (auto-translated)
Link: Brave journalists in the Netherlands give hope!
 
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