Elodie Verweij, the political reporter known for the late talk show on RTL 4, will receive 200 euros from the controversial Bert Huisjes broadcaster WNL. “That’s a bit crazy.”
Bert Huisjes is under heavy fire as broadcaster of WNL for bullying, intimidation, manipulative behavior and pregnancy discrimination. But there is also criticism of the ‘messy situation’. Roos Barneveld, radio editor between 2016 and 2018, spoke in the A.D of ‘no payment of overtime and irregular hours allowance’.
Elodie recognizes it
How much money did Roos miss? “I missed out on about 5,000 euros, but I didn’t dare go after it. I thought: I will soon have Bert against me. What are the consequences?”
Elodie Verweij, the political reporter for the AD who is known for the late talk shows on RTL 4, talks in Renze on Sunday that she recognizes the stories about Bert Huisjes. “Yes, I recognize it all. The difficult thing is: for me it was my very first journalistic job, so Bert also gave you a lot of opportunities.”
Double hat
According to Elodie, Bert was not pleasant to deal with. “Perhaps the biggest problem was: it was both the boss who gave you those opportunities and the boss who was not called Bertlusconi and Angry Bert for nothing. Quite spicy. I think that the double cap was perhaps the biggest problem, also because the checks and balances were simply missing.”
“You didn’t have someone who just said: ‘Bert, act normal for a moment.’ There was also no manager on the editorial floor who could occasionally straighten things out, which gave Bert a lot of power.”
No-no
Did Elodie never say anything about it? “I was a no-no, so you don’t necessarily have the seniority to say: ‘Hey, this far and no further.’ I don’t have a big anecdote about: ‘What he did to me!’, but I think it’s great that people stood up.”
Elodie hasn’t spoken to Bert lately. “I have not had any contact with him recently about this.”
200 euros
Elodie also recognizes the stories about unpaid amounts. “You don’t deserve anything at WNL. Maybe that’s different now, but when I first started there I didn’t earn that much. I had to wait eleven months for declarations and I did the calculations today: I think I still get 200 euros or something.”
Host Renze Klamer thinks it is a shame that Bert is not accountable. “He hasn’t joined anywhere yet. I invited him, but he doesn’t get anywhere.”