The image of the public order
For the NPO, 2022 will end in thick fog: Frans Klein – director of TVprogramming – will be at home as long as it is unclear whether he should haveintervened when employees of The world moves on suffered under the erraticregime of Matthijs van Nieuwkerk. The dissatisfaction with Klein’s power stylehas existed for some time, but this autumn was reinforced by VPRO’s researchprogramme Argos which showed the lack of transparency in decision-makingabout who or what can be heard and seen on radio and television.
It doesn’t help to see the NPO as an organization where every TV maker gets afair chance. Or are we just allergic to strong captains in our country?
Has John de Mol’s best before date passed?
Are those hundred Dutch people actually still locked up in that house à la BigBrother, hoping to be able to go home with a million euros after a year? Ayear of your life did not become a permanent fixture at the coffee machine in2022, just like many other new programs by John de Mol, such as Song at firstsight with Wendy van Dijk. The year was already derailed for De Mol inJanuary due to the revelations about transgressive behavior at The Voice ofHolland. The laughter about the unworldly way in which De Mol initiallyreacted – especially the victims have to change their behavior by takingaction – may also lead him to ask the question: do my antennas still work?
And another: the sun king of Omroep MAX
‘Jan Slagter visits Volendam in tribute to The Cats’ is a telling headlineabove a program announcement by Omroep MAX this month, one that fits thehashtag perfectly how can I make this about me? It seems more and more oftenas if the director of the successful senior broadcaster would rather invest inhis own image than in innovative program concepts. One day the word ‘milking’will be dropped, when a new series of All of Holland bakes , Thinking ofHolland , Priceless or Bed & Breakfast. We fear the day when we hearourselves think for the first time: no, not André van Duin again?
The next media scandal
Yes, that is of course watching coffee grounds. But it feels like Kefah Allushnext to his program The chest also a series The Cabinet can make: what isstill on the shelf of Dutch celebrities and other broadcasters that they mightdo better to confess on their own? Then of course they have to realize thatcertain behavior is not acceptable, even though they got away with it foryears. It is clear that ‘ordinary’ employees are increasingly aware of whetherthe behavior of their managers is normal or not. The exceptional media worldis also just an ordinary industry.
Woke is here to stay? Is that old versus young? Or the Randstad against therest of the Netherlands?
That will be an interesting time in the future. Public broadcasting iscertainly not hesitant in showing empathy, interest and a willingness tochange towards fellow human beings who no longer care about traditionalpatterns of behaviour, sexuality or lifestyle. Think of programs like He,she, them , Dorst farm , Sex Angels , The Climate Explorer. But whatabout the pace at which society is changing: are broadcasters following orleading – too much – the dance? And above all: will they continue to succeedin presenting the viewer with a Netherlands that is recognizable to everyone?
Renate van der Bass
Fallen star: Matthijs van Nieuwkerk
“Eating meat, flying, Matthijs van Nieuwkerk… you are no longer allowed totalk about that,” said Erik Dijkstra and Frank Evenblij recently in theirtaboos program You can ‘t do anything at all anymore (BNNVARA). Oops,seriously. But what the Volkskrant dug up in November, it really was: dozensof employees of TV Monument The world moves on had turned sick under thereign of terror of this star presenter and his editor-in-chief. Neitherbroadcaster nor NPO had intervened. Since then he has left BNNVARA and theprograms Top 2000 a gogo , Chansons! and Matthews continues. Formercolleagues suddenly have to take a stand about him, and gossip magazine_Story_ put him on the cover as a ‘recluse’ unshaven. The dehumanization of aman who made excellent programs can also cross borders.
Biggest star: Tim Hofman
Another (temporary) recluse, but this time due to a fierce flu: Tim Hofman wasrecently ‘delirious’ at home for a week, and ‘could hardly breathe’, hetweeted. Physically he collapsed for a while, but career-wise this yearcouldn’t be better. The activist journalist saw six years of work for theonline BNNVARA channel BOOS (899,000 subscribers) come to a climax with thebroadcast BOOS: This is The Voice, about sexually transgressive behavior atthe RTL talent show. Ten million viewers, The Voice of the tube, declarationsagainst Marco Borsato, Ali B and Jeroen Rietbergen, Silver Nipkow disc won,the Televizier-Ster in the impact category. The ‘virtue duel’ with ArjenLubach in De Avondshow summed it all up.
Dull star: Linda de Mol
She bears no guilt herself and yet this year little was left of the picturetube queen. Tragic. Linda de Mol ‘swears on both her children’ that she knewnothing about the abuse scandal The Voice she wrote in her LINDA-editorial. But with her brother previously in charge of the program, ex-boyfriend in the dock and cousin accused of other wrongdoing, the cloudsaround her were too dark for herself to shine through. She used to embody theTV gold: van Love Letters and Million Hunt until Goofy Women. This yearshe expressed her feelings of revenge in the played talk show less sublimely_Five live_ (Videoland), by a character based on AD critic Angela de Jongwith a studio lamp. The audience wants De Mol back, and gave a standingovation at her cautious return Million Hunt (SBS6).
Candlelight: Johan Derksen
The Gray Mustache also had a turbulent year. “Candlegate,” remember? JohanDerksen defended Johnny de Mol (unproven accused of drugging and abusing awoman) with a story in Inside today (SBS6) with which he wanted to make itclear that we have all experienced wild times. For example, he had once – andhe was deeply ashamed of this – put a thousand-hour candle between the legs of’a drunken lady’. Viewers angry, advertisers walked away, Talpa ‘did not backup’, the Public Prosecution Service started an investigation. “I cut down”,Derksen pranced, and Inside today would stop completely. After two weeks ofsilence, the program was back. The golden trio Genee, Van der Gijp and Derksenbecame the cork on which SBS6 floats and the popular World Cup variant TheOrange Winter proved once again that Derksen and his talking buddies fill anundeniable space in the media landscape.
Rising stars
Many others played themselves in the spotlight, albeit less boisterous. Onedid something exceptionally heroic, like On 1 host Natasja Gibbs as acontestant Camp of Koningsbrugge. She endured the commando rigors sotenaciously and so deeply in the process that the leadership had to ask her togive up. The other settled permanently in the TV firmament with an interviewin Summer guests and a program where all masks go off: Raven van Dorst met_Dorst farm_. There were also surprises. VPRO’s children’s series continue tobring new worlds to life. In Zenith II Josephine Arendsen showed how manysubtle facial expressions she already mastered. And she’s only sixteen.
Mike Bos
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