Angela de Jong was once tempted to drink coffee with the Hilversum TV bobos, but she no longer does. “I don’t want to drink with those people at all.”
Of all columnists, Angela de Jong is the most feared in Hilversum. As the AD’s flagship, it can make a significant impact on public opinion about TV channels and TV stars. The owners at the Mediapark are therefore trying hard to placate her and once she accepted such a request to tighten ties, she says on NPO Radio 1.
Angela doesn’t want to drink
Angela now wants nothing to do with it. “I’m not drinking with people, I’m not going to drink coffee. Well, the bobos sometimes want to drink coffee. I’ve done a round of them all at their office. Very transparent. And I sat there for an hour and a half. And I kept thinking: yes, what good is this for me?”
You don’t get anywhere with it, says Angela. “I’ve been to all three channel bosses, so I’m talking about Peter van der Vorst, Frans Klein, when he was with the NPO, and John de Mol. (…) It’s all very nice to hear that they think I’m ‘great’, but it doesn’t help because if you perform poorly, I will still write that you perform poorly.”
How are you?
How does such a meeting with John or Peter go? “Well, from: ‘Great columns. Yes, of course I can’t say that in public, but we always agree with you.’ You know, they are always very good at that and you just have to filter that. I mean it’s always about what you are, never who you are and they always need something from you.”
She continues: “It is always meant to placate you a bit more kindly and to get you in a certain direction. That you then write less sharply about it or that you understand what those ideas are behind it. And yes, I think they are all nice people, but that does not mean that I am suddenly cheering at everything they do.”
No more round
Angela will no longer do a coffee round or a drink round. “Sometimes they want another coffee. I really learned from that whole round: I really enjoy hearing what you have in store and it may not be copied yet, but they will tell you that.”
She continues: “Then I always think: what’s in it for me? Go with my colleagues who write about the news, just have a nice coffee with them and not with me. Just let me watch television.”
Friendships
Angela doesn’t make friends at the Mediapark either. “I prefer not to choose that in the television world, I have to tell you. I generally don’t think that’s the nicest of people.”
According to her, it remains with courtesies. “If you want to know something from someone, you text them to ask. And sometimes when you hear that someone’s mother has died, or something memorable has happened, you sometimes send someone an app, but it really stops there.”