Also all episodes of disaster flight seen with growing astonishment? ThenI’m sure you’re just as stunned as anyone I talk to about it. Overwhelmed bythe power of good drama. Because the KRO-NCRV series about the plane crash inthe Bijlmer – thirty years ago on Tuesday – gives this ‘old’ story a brandnew, current dimension. It is right that the jury of the Golden Calves lastweekend disaster flight has rewarded.
There is also criticism. Terrorism expert Beatrice de Graaf stated on Twitterthat she doesn’t like faction: mixing fact and fiction. But as long as I seethat the king of facts Vincent Dekker is behind the end result, I am happy forthose who are still frustrated that, partly thanks to disaster flight thedisastrous aftermath of the disaster is once again in all the media.
The real Vincent Dekker
The series is much more than just good drama. He puts his finger on a fewpainful places in our society. That becomes extra clear for those who alsowatch on NPO2 on Wednesday disaster flight , the documentary. It has beenavailable online for a few days and contains conversations with the realVincent Dekker, the real Rob van Gijzel (great narrator) and others involvedin the question: what cargo was the crashed El Al-Boeing transporting?Unfortunately, the real then ministers Hanja Maij-Weggen and AnnemarieJorritsma and the real Henk Wolleswinkel of the Aviation Inspectorate did notwant to cooperate. However, some rebuttal comes from Henk Pruis, a formerresearcher at the Rijksluchtvaartdienst. Prussia does not agree with therather one-sided media attention for the depleted uranium in the crashedplane. Which by the way becomes clearer on the extensive website of KRO-NCRVthan in the documentary itself.
It is especially poignant to see that a democratic instrument that is sorespected and in principle feared, such as a parliamentary inquiry, becomes asham when MPs do not have the right input or the skills of interrogation. Andthe outcome of their findings is politically weighted. For example, thegovernment parties adopted the recommendations of the Vliegramp Bijlmermeerinquiry committee, but not the conclusions. Because then heads would have hadto roll and Purple II wanted to continue.
Civil servants out of the closet
“Politics at its ugliest what happened there,” said investigative journalistJoost Oranje, currently coordinator at news hour and NOS News. He arguesthat civil servants should be able to come out of the closet. Since the’oekaze of Kok’ in 1998, the possibilities of the civil service to communicateopenly have been too limited for a healthy dynamic between journalism, civilservants and politics. How bizarre in fact.
Curious, by the way, what Maureen Sarucco, the former director of public orderand safety of the municipality of Amsterdam who defended the integrity of itspeople like a lion, thinks of the scene – in the series – in which she bitesjournalist Dekker: “I hope you don’t created a monster that is unstoppable,Mr. Dekker. If trust in the government, the experts, the policymakers isdestroyed, then a society falls apart. I hope it doesn’t get that far.”
Don ‘t shoot the messenger, I think. But otherwise: anyone who looks aroundthese days will agree with her conclusion.
Renate van der Bas and Maaike Bos write columns about television five times aweek.
Also read:
Thriller series about the Bijlmer disaster mixes fact and fiction. ‘Itwasn’t a conspiracy, but definitely a cover-up’
Trouw journalist Vincent Dekker got stuck in the Bijlmer disaster thirtyyears ago. Actor Thomas Höppener plays him in the thriller series DisasterFlight. ” Still no lessons have been learned from that accident.”