Poul Madsen, the chief editor of the tabloid newspaper Ekstra Bladet, has officially apologised to the Danish public for publishing several articles written by sports journalist Michael Qureshi that used quotes from fake sources.

Shocked by his insolence
Qureshi was fired last Friday and the newspaper has already removed five of his articles from circulation.

“Ekstra Bladet has been shocked by the scope and depth of the case and that a journalist can call himself a journalist and then go invent his sources,” stated Madsen.

Ekstra Bladet is currently in the process of reviewing all 787 Qureshi’s articles that he wrote during the one year he was employed.

Articles taken down
The tabloid has also taken down 14 articles purchased in 2010 and 2011 from the now-closed Dutch sports bureau Hakkie-Tikkie Media, which have been linked to Qureshi.

Similarly, Berlingske Media have taken down 23 articles that Qureshi wrote for BT and Berlingske, when he worked for the newspapers between the years of 2002 and 2014.

Meanwhile, Madsen has promised to get to the bottom of the case and called on all Danish media to check the questionable work of Hakkie-Tikkie Media.