Last September, the Dutch Media Authority imposed a fine of 40,000 euros on aspiring broadcaster Ongehoord Nederland (ON) due to a conflict of interest, and the appearance thereof. This appears to have been published on Thursday report of the Commissioner’s office. According to the regulators, the broadcaster may also have violated its own editorial statute. ON itself announced the news of the fine in September.
The appearance of a conflict of interest most likely concerns the appointment of the daughter of former business director Reinette Klever at ON. She was appointed to manage “part of the financial administration”, wrote weblog GeenStijl last year. The Commission states that the business director “has (co)decided at various times […] appointment, remuneration and promotion” of the family member. This has created at least the appearance of a conflict of interest, the report states.
Although the names of those involved have been anonymized in the report, the job descriptions of those involved correspond to the careers of Klever and her daughter. ON never mentioned the family connection, saying it was because the risk of a conflict of interest was assessed internally as low.
Klever left ON in 2024 because she became Minister of Foreign Trade and Development Aid in the Schoof cabinet. In 2011 and 2012 she was already in the Senate on behalf of the PVV, and between 2012 and 2017 in the House of Representatives.
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Local politician and presenter
In the second case, according to the Commissioner, there is certainly a conflict of interest. Presenter Tom de Nooijer is, the report states, also chairman of the local party Christelijk Verbond Oldebroek (CVO). His name has also been anonymized.
ON also assumed a low risk of conflict of interest in De Nooijer’s dual function, because De Nooijer operated in a small municipality of approximately 24,000 inhabitants. The broadcaster also reported De Nooijer’s appointment to the NPO.
However, according to the Commissariat, De Nooijer used his position as presenter to express his own political position. For example, the presenter is said to have raised a topic “in which he is directly involved as a municipal councilor in Oldebroek.” As a presenter, De Nooijer spoke about the municipality’s housing regulations and the rules for status holders. The editorial statute of Ongehoord Nederland also states that employees may at most become members of a political party. It is not allowed to hold political office.
N-word
Ongehoord Nederland, an aspiring broadcaster since January 2022, broadcasts the controversial opinion program twice a week Unheard News out. For example, in its founding year, ON broadcast random images of black youth abusing white people. According to ON, these were racist black people, but there was no evidence of this.
Presenter Raisa Blommestijn also used the n-word several times. Politician Filip Dewinter of the radical right-wing party Vlaams Belang was also interviewed about the xenophobic concept of ‘repopulation’. The Commission did not act at the time because it said it did not want to sit in the judge’s seat.
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