Partly due to his “extreme rages” Matthijs van Nieuwkerk helped The worldgoes on for a culture of fear that made many employees sick. This writes deVolkskrant Saturday in a long reconstruction for which the newspaper spoke toseventy former employees. More than fifty of them endorse the presenter’sconclusion of ‘structural transgressive behaviour’. As a result, severalsuffered a burnout, anxiety attacks, or other serious psychologicalcomplaints, in some cases lasting.
According to de Volkskrant, the complaints about the abuses at the talk show,which was on television from 2005 to 2020, were long known to the managementof broadcaster BNNVARA, but they did not intervene because the daily TVprogram was so successful. The ‘hard’ editorial culture simply belonged to thehigh level, according to Frans Klein, the then broadcasting director who isnow TV director of the entire public broadcaster. Most editors, officially theexecutives for the program, did not intervene either, or were themselvesguilty of misconduct, such as Dieuwke Wynia, as the reconstruction shows.
Comments
Van Nieuwkerk did not want to cooperate with the article, but did stipulatewith de Volkskrant that he could post a reaction next to it by way ofrebuttal. In it he writes: “I am very sorry that we have apparently not beenable to give everyone a safe and pleasant feeling and that it has even madecolleagues sick.” But: “At the same time, this article is also a draconiancaricature of fifteen years of DWDD. […] I am now conveniently folded backinto an Eternal Tantrum. And I didn’t think that was me.” He also praises his“daily program full of zest for life, optimism and imagination.”
Broadcaster BNNVARA, that DWDD produced, says in a response that themanagement has had discussions with former editors. “A number of (former)colleagues indicate in no uncertain terms that their boundaries have beencrossed. We are shocked by that and it is very dear to us.” BNNVARAacknowledges that the pressure to perform was high within the editorial staffof the program and that the response was not timely. “The editors andpresenter should have been called to account for their behavior. The fact thatthis did not happen at the time is painful for the (former) colleagues who areaffected.”
State Secretary Gunay Uslu (Culture and Media, D66) said in a response that“the described behavior is unacceptable in all situations”. And success isnever an excuse for unacceptable behavior. Uslu states that publicbroadcasting must guarantee a safe workplace, which is why she has asked NPOchairman Frederieke Leeflang to conduct an investigation. She also wants anaction plan “with concrete steps to prevent this in the future and to changethis behavior”.
Thomas Bruning, secretary of the Dutch Association of Journalists (NVJ), saysto ANP news agency that “temporary and mediocre freelance contracts” were thebasis for not daring to report abuses. According to Bruning, the troubles atDWDD are an example of the unsafe work culture that prevails in Hilversum.
The succes
The success of DWDD made Van Nieuwkerk (Amsterdam, 1960) one of Hilversum’smost important TV makers. Before he came to television, he was editor-in-chiefof the Amsterdam newspaper The parole. He now makes the music programs_Chansons! , _Top 2000 à Go-Go and the Saturday night show MatthijsContinues. In response to the news, broadcaster NTR has decided to cancel therecordings of Saturday night’s Top 2000 Quiz.
The Volkskrant article about the culture of fear contrasts with the manypraises that have appeared in the press about DWDD so far. The program paid alot of attention to culture and could give artists or TV makers an importantboost. Former TV critic for NRC Arjen Fortuin called DWDD: “one of themonuments of Dutch TV history, and by far the most influential program of thetwenty-first century.” According to him, the success lay largely with VanNieuwkerk: “The program is unthinkable without his ambition to get the mostout of every broadcast day, his journalistic instinct, the ability to presentat a killer pace, and his desire to admire.”
That misconduct and abuse of power, such as that at DWDD, is seen asnewsworthy ‘transgressive behaviour’, is fairly recent. Since the MeToomovement, sexual misconduct has become more exposed, and in its wake otherforms of workplace misconduct. Earlier, for example, publisher Mai Spijkerswas discredited because of this. Actress Maryam Hassouni recently published arevealing book about racism, sexism, and transgressive behavior in thetelevision and film industry.