Bert Huisjes will step down as editor-in-chief and director of Omroep WNL with immediate effect, but ‘temporarily’. He announced this on Wednesday in an internal email to the editors. After an extensive story in the A.Din which 25 (former) colleagues of Huisjes paint a picture of a culture of fear at WNL, says the former journalist The Telegraph and the A.D to await an independent factual investigation.
“Following recent events, I will temporarily step aside as editor-in-chief of WNL, to make room for an independent investigation into facts and circumstances surrounding accusations concerning WNL and my performance,” Huisjes writes in his email. “Mistakes were made by me and the broadcaster in the construction of WNL, it could and should have been done differently. This has caused people to get into trouble – I deeply regret that. The criticism has touched me and I take it seriously.”
According to it A.Dstory, there was a culture of fear at the ‘happy right-wing’ broadcaster for years under Huisjes’ leadership. The report by the Van Rijn committee published last month already identified these problems: 94 percent of WNL employees experienced bullying behavior, and 29 percent gave the working atmosphere a 5 or lower. Several prominent presenters, including Eva Jinek, Leonie ter Braak and Merel Westrik, told their story by name.
The WNL supervisory board then stood firmly behind Huisjes, to the dismay of Mariëtte Hamer (PvdA), government commissioner for sexual misconduct, among others. Only then did council chairman Loek Hermans disapprove of the behavior Huisjes is accused of, and emphasized that everyone within WNL must feel safe. Huisjes says that he has decided to step aside in consultation with the supervisory board.