According to the program’s political expert, Thomas van Groningen, the talk show Op1 is facing a huge problem. He notices that politicians are less and less willing to take a seat.
Politics is one of the pillars of the talk show Op1, but how can you keep that going when fewer and fewer politicians want to come to the table? It is a problem that the editors are currently struggling with, says political reporter Thomas van Groningen in Ruud de Wild’s program on NPO Radio 2.
Politicians don’t want to be in Op1
According to Thomas, it is directly related to the hardening of social media. “We see that politicians are increasingly bothered by threats. This is really a peak. I have to say that we also notice it ourselves,” he says.
How does he notice that? “I then work at the talk show Op1 and when we ask politicians, it often happens that I get a conversation like: ‘Yes, I don’t know if I should do it. I don’t know if I should come, because then I’ll get all that shit all over me again.’”
Fear of reactions
According to Thomas, politicians are more and more afraid of the reactions to their TV appearances. “So that does hinder politicians from speaking out and actually saying what they think, because they are afraid that this will trigger all kinds of social reactions, which may include threats.”
Was that just as bad at Today Inside, where Thomas was the political analyst in the past? “That audience is slightly different in the game, but the reactions to Op1 from viewers are just as intense. It doesn’t matter where in the media you say something about politics.”
Bucket of shit
Does Thomas himself also suffer from this hardening? “I myself sometimes get a bad message, but politicians themselves always get a bucket of shit over them and it doesn’t matter where they are. And that includes threats.”
Often these threats cannot be taken seriously. “But yes, there may also be people who are serious about it. It is scary when you are threatened and we really notice that politicians are weighed down by it.”