Right-wing broadcaster responds to criticisms of racism from NPO
Broadcaster Ongehoord Nederland responded to criticisms of its broadcast on Thursday by saying it has "nothing to do with racism, discrimination or incitement to violence." The Dutch Foundation for Public Broadcasting (NPO) believes ON crossed a line with the item, which depicted people of color beating up white people accompanied by a controversial voiceover.
"According to the NPO, 'the limits of racist or discriminatory statements' were reached," ON said. "According to the board of ON!, this is not the case and is never the intention."
The broadcaster said it did not want to offend anyone with the item, which shows a compilation of images of unknown people of color beating white people in unknown places. "We have nothing to do with racism, discrimination or incitement to violence and as a broadcaster we distance ourselves from this."
According to presenter Raïsa Blommestijn, the program wanted to show "a less exposed aspect of racism on social media." She says she has since received "numerous [death] threats and fantasies of violence."
In the program, Blommestijn used language that is often considered racist, describing “blanken die door negers in elkaar worden geslagen,” which loosely translates to “whites who were beaten up by blacks.” The outdated term "blanken" refers to people who are without color, while "neger" can be likened to the English word "Negro."
Rabin Baldewsingh, the National Coordinator Against Discrimination and Racism, said the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science failed in its supervision of ON. "The agreement was that the ministry would monitor the state of affairs regarding Ongehoord Nederland. That was a condition for the aspiring status of Ongehoord Nederland within the system. It is a very bad thing that that did not happen. There were already all kinds of signals that Ongehoord Netherlands did not adhere to the rules of the game."
The NPO wants the Media Authority to judge whether the media law has been violated. The ministry has continuously announced in recent months that it will not supervise ON's programs. The ombudsman launched an investigation into the broadcaster after complaints from viewers.
The NPO received "many" complaints about the item on Friday. Chairman of the board Frederieke Leeflang has asked the Ombudsman of the NPO to handle these complaints "with priority."
The broadcasters that are part of the NPO collectively condemned the item. They believe that the video "proclaims a false, racist message through language and images that we collectively qualify as unjournalistic, unethical and contrary to the core values of the NPO. This is unworthy of the platform of the public broadcaster," they said in a joint statement. They are of the opinion that "when racist ideas are spread under the cloak of journalism," freedom of expression reaches a limit.
The statement is signed by NTR, VPRO, ZWART, AVROTROS, PowNed, KRO-NCRV, HUMAN, MAX, EO, WNL and BNNVARA. The broadcasters say they speak on behalf of "all makers" in Hilversum.
Reporting by ANP and NL Times