NPO broadcasters want to stop journalistic collaboration with Ongehoord Nederland

Several NPO broadcasters no longer want to work or talk with broadcaster Ongehoord Nederland in the field of journalism, WNL editor-in-chief Bert Huisjes said on Wednesday in the NPO Radio 1 program Spraakmakers. He said he speaks on behalf of several broadcasters, including KRO-NCRV, MAX, and WNL. “We are still discussing it, but a majority is emerging,” Huisjes said.

The position emerged in a consultation between most NPO broadcasters’ heads of journalism, something that happens on a regular basis. “We no longer want to talk about journalism with Ongehoord because what they do is not journalism,” Huijses said. “They make a pamphlet-like program that uses structures we recognize from journalism. But the interviewers are Twitter agitators like Raisa Blommestijn, without any journalistic experience or background.”

The broadcasters also disapprove of the fact that Ongehoord Nieuws rarely features a rebuttal. “Someone for whom parliament turns the microphone off can spill everything at Ongehoord in a kind of journalistic setting,” said Huisjes. He seemed to refer to Forum voor Democratie leader Thierry Baudet. He was denied the floor during the Budget Debate in parliament because he made suggestive comments about Finance Minister Sigrid Kaag and the British university she attended. The day after, Baudet was a guest at Ongehoord Nieuws. “Onegehoord Nieuws does not pursue any journalistic goals. Its sole purpose is to extend the vote of Forum voor Democratie.”

According to Huisjes, journalistic consultation with Ongehoord chair Arnold Karskens “has already completely derailed once and ended in screaming.” The WNL chief editor stressed that the NPO’s journalistic consultation is not about Ogehoord Nederland’s broadcasting license. “As far as I am concerned, they should be removed from the system. But it is now about a different discussion: they are no journalistic companies and must not call the program that.”

The NPO previously fined Ongehoord Nederland after an investigation by the Ombudsman into complaints that the broadcaster spreads incorrect and unreliable information, that the journalists did not ask enough critical questions, and that the guests mainly came from the right of the political spectrum. That violates the NPO’s Journalistic Code, according to the complaints. The Ombudsman ruled the complaints to be largely well-founded. The Ombudsman launched a new inquiry after receiving a record number of complaints about a much-discussed item on Ongehoord Nieuws showing videos of black people beating up white people without any context.

Huisjes is not the first editor-in-chief of an NPO broadcaster to publicly criticize Ongehoord Nederland. KRO-NCRV director Peter Kuipers and Omroep MAX boss Jan Slagter previously said that Ongehoord should be removed from the Dutch public broadcasting system. So far, responsible State Secretary GUnray Uslu has left the decision with the NPO.

Arnold Karskens and Ongehoord Nederland could not be reached for comment on Wednesday morning.