After her failed adventure at Shownieuws, Marije Knevel is back at SBS 6, but as a guest in the right-wing TV news News of the Day. “The bus driver from Harderwijk doesn’t want her!”
A few years after her failed Shownieuws adventure, Marije Knevel is back on the air at SBS 6, but as an expert in the right-wing TV news News of the Day. She made her appearance at some item last Wednesday social mediatogether with Sander de Kramer. But does the viewer of the program want her?
Delicate balance
Media critic Victor Vlam doesn’t think so. She does not fit well with the right-wing profile of the section, he says in the podcast The Communicados. “It’s a delicate balance that you have to find there. If you are too right-wing, it quickly becomes too niche: 150,000 people watch Ongehoord Nieuws, which is simply not enough for the eve of SBS 6.”
“But if you are not sufficiently right-wing, then you are not distinctive enough and you do not give people a reason to zap away to, for example, EenVandaag on NPO 1 at the same time.”
Left-wing guys
It is not the case that only right-wing topics should be included, Victor emphasizes. “There will also occasionally be left-oriented guests and topics discussed and that is perfectly fine. The only comment I have is whether Marije Knevel and Sander de Kramer are good guests for that program? I don’t think so.”
“They were there on Wednesday for a topic about Facebook and fact checkers. They thought it was a very bad thing that those fact checkers had been abolished. They were actually rehashing the discussion that had taken place at Bar Laat the night before. I think that just doesn’t really fit that program.”
Bus driver
It is not about Marije’s ‘left-wing opinion’, according to Victor. “It shouldn’t become a church either, so the debate in the program is actually very good, I would highly recommend that. But the problem is: I’m wondering whether the traditional Telegraaf reader who watches this program is waiting for Marije Knevel? You know…”
“That bus driver from Harderwijk, he thinks: well, that Marije Knevel, I want to know everything about her. I don’t think so actually. Marije is an influencer from Amsterdam who acts very woke in programs. I don’t know whether she really fits in with the traditional target group of De Telegraaf and the same applies especially to Sander de Kramer.”
Wilders criticism
You have to have people who fit in with SBS 6, he continues. “What you actually want is for there to be people with different points of view who are also liked by the target group. Job Knoester at VI regularly criticizes Geert Wilders, but is ultimately appreciated by the target group, the supporters of that program.”
“This way you get an interesting programme. Ultimately you need people who have a connection with that target group there. I think that is wise.”