About 400 cases of abusive workplace behavior in Dutch creative sector reported in 2022

MORES, the reporting center for transgressive behavior in the cultural and creative sector, has so far this year received a total of 389 reports about abuse in the entire cultural sector, said MORES board member Amber de Vente on Monday. The number of registered reports in 2021 was just over 50 in total, marking a near seven-fold increase in one year’s time.

The number of reports rose sharply after the announcement of the major NPO investigation into the culture of fear and bullying in the media world. The incidents involve both television and radio programs, but also other parts of the cultural sector. The filed reports initially cross the desk of confidential advisors assigned by MORES. De Vente insisted that they do not automatically share those reports with commercial broadcasters or NPO, the organization overseeing public broadcasting in the Netherlands.

Those filing reports go directly through the MORES hotline, and are later contacted by a confidential advisor, she explained. "They listen and tell the reporters what the possible scenarios are. But it what happens with their report is always their own choice. We as a board are completely independent of this and are never aware of the reporters’ personal information.”

MORES previously stated that the journalism that shed a light on the culture of fear by the leaders of award-winning television program De Wereld Draait Door (DWDD) was part of the reason that a large stream of stories about the culture of fear in the workplace within the media sector began to surface.

The NPO has announced a major investigation into the misconduct behind the scenes of DWDD. MORES has an advisory role in this study. RTL said it has not recently received any reports about misconduct. Talpa was not willing to say whether concrete action has been taken after all the revelations about DWDD.

Talpa itself was also embroiled in scandal recently due to unaddressed complaints about sexual misconduct allegations and bullying behavior behind the scenes of The Voice of Holland. Separate from DWDD, NPO broadcaster NOS was also recently in the news because of transgressive behavior at NOS Sport which complainants say went unaddressed for about 15 years.