John van den Heuvel is starting to become the Natacha Harlequin of RTL Boulevard with his partisan commentary on the Marco Borsato case, says TV critic Victor Vlam. “This can’t happen anymore!”
Marco Borsato has been smeared by John van den Heuvel for four years. The crime journalist from De Telegraaf and RTL Boulevard plays a remarkable role in the indecent case against the singer. He has been saying from the beginning that Marco is guilty of fornication, and now it appears why: he is very much in the camp of his alleged victim A.
Clear and ready
It gives a bad taste that John appears to have tipped this lady off about filing a report against Marco, and that, once she had done so, he made a big deal about it in De Telegraaf. What is actually John’s interest?
One thing is certain: it is dubious and also harmful to both De Telegraaf and RTL Boulevard that he is still allowed to comment on this case from both media as an independent interpreter, while it has become crystal clear that he is in the camp of Marco’s opponent. Aren’t the media committing a huge journalistic blunder?
Away from the animals
Also yesterday John went into the RTL Boulevardstudio full on the organ again. He was asked about his opinion about the fact that Peter Plasman, the lawyer of the alleged victim, was at Pauw & De Wit the evening before.
John: “It’s really terrifying what that girl in particular has had to deal with. If you have the courage as a 15-year-old to file a complaint against a well-known singer – that takes courage – and if you are then bashed like that by some parties, then I think it is only logical that the girl’s lawyer should try to refute that to some extent.”
That’s already not right. The alleged victim is currently 26 years old and filed a report four years ago for something that allegedly happened at the age of 15.
‘This can’t happen anymore!’
TV critic Victor Vlam believes that RTL Boulevard should intervene. “He simply can no longer provide independent information about this process because of what happened last week. The allegation is actually very specific, namely that he coached the victim in filing a report,” he says in the podcast Victor Indicates TV.
“For example, he said to her: ‘You have to say penis, because otherwise it might not be clear enough.’ He denies that he coached her, but acknowledges that he advised her about filing a report. That point is not disputed. The problem is that his role in that entire process is part of the proceedings.”
Just like Natasha
You can no longer interpret it independently, says Victor. “You have become part of the process. You can then be interviewed as a biased person, just like a lawyer is also interviewed by Boulevard, but you cannot stand at the Boulevard desk as an independent expert. That is simply not realistic.”
That is simply not possible, Victor continues. “That is a situation that is comparable to that of Natacha Harlequin of Shownieuws, who actually became part of Ali B’s legal team. Then you cannot sit independently at that desk. (…) That applies to De Telegraaf and that of course applies to Boulevard.”
What does Telegraaf say?
NPO Radio 1 DJ Mischa Blok explains on her radio show to Kamran Ullah, the editor-in-chief of De Telegraaf. “Can John van den Heuvel still write Marco Borsato stories?”
Kamran: “No, because that lawsuit is currently ongoing, so at the moment it is up to Saskia Belleman as our court reporter to make stories about it. If it is more about Marco Borsato’s private domain, then it is more up to Evert Santegoeds or Jordi Versteegden who follow the entertainment side.”
Principle
It is “complicated,” Kamran said. “More generally, it is undesirable for journalists to coach people. John van den Heuvel also categorically denies that it happened in this case. That was also the reason for us to send a summons to Mr. Van Koppen who conducted the investigation and this was stated in his report.”
Kamran puts no restrictions on John. “In addition to being a journalist, John is also a columnist and he enjoys a great deal of freedom in his column. He decides which subject he wants to expose, but at this stage it makes more sense for our court reporter and our entertainment reporters to write about this case.”