Art Rooijakkers and Wierd Duk seriously clashed during the live broadcast of News of the Day. The presenter is irritable and snaps at desk chair Wierd: “This is not a speech!”
The new right-wing SBS 6 newscast News of the Day mainly revolves around the conservative opinion makers at the desk. These experts, largely from Telegraaf house, are led by Malou Petter and Art Rooijakkers. However, he does not seem to be well received by viewers and colleagues because he would be far too woke for a conservative program.
Serious collision
Is there any friction between Art and his colleagues? It sure seems like it. Already last night, during episode four, there was a serious clash between Art and desk chair Wierd Duk. At one point the Telegraaf journalist talks about the media, which, according to him, consistently tries to exclude conservative opinions.
Wierd then speaks to Art about how he describes the party leader of the German AfD. “I mean: the fact that you announce Alice Weidel as a right-wing radical while I would say populist-right, for example, is already a sign of how that frame functions,” he sneers in the broadcast on SBS 6.
Fan out
When Wierd talks about ‘a huge scandal of child abuse by Pakistani Muslim gangs’ in England, Art abruptly cuts him off: “Now we are going to broaden the subject very much. I still want to bring it back to Elon Musk and to Germany, before we start to fan out completely.”
Although both Wierd and Raymond Mens then try to speak, Art tries to get above that. “One moment Raymond, one moment Wierd. What I’m talking about now is Germany. The question was: how special is this?”
‘No speech!’
Raymond is also irritated. “I just want to respond first, Art, sorry…”
Art: “One moment, Raymond. I want to know first…”
Wierd is pissed: “Yes, but wait a minute. We are guests here to speak to you, right?”
Art: “And that’s why I’m asking a question, right?”
Wierd: “Okay, and we now explain what Musk’s position is.”
Art: “It’s not a speech, so I would like to know who Alice Weidel is.”
Progressive
Later in the show, Wierd makes it clear that he thinks Art is far too progressive. When it comes to people with radical right-wing ideas in Germany, he says: “There are people walking around that you and I – especially you – would rather not have as neighbors,” says Wierd.
Art: “How do you know who I want as a neighbor, Wierd? How do you know that?”
Wierd: “Well, I notice that now.”
On fire
Hélène Hendriks finds it striking how Art behaves. “So, he was there for a moment on firehuh?”, she responds The Orange Winter.
Fidan Ekiz, Wierd’s ex-lover with whom she has a child, chuckles: “It’s not a speech, haha.”
Hélène: “There is a bit of fire in that program, isn’t that nice?”
Fidan: “It’s natural because they all start talking to each other at the same time. I thought: Raymond and Wierd are of course used to VI and this would be just fine there and we wouldn’t be surprised by it.”
Row
According to Fidan, Wierd is just as done with Art. “I asked Wierd van: ‘What happened there?’, and I got one short response: ‘Arguing.’ Then I thought: okay, that’s something different than being at VI.”
Hélène thinks that Wierd clearly had something different in mind than Art. “Wierd probably has a structure in mind, wants to talk about England, where a lot is also going on.”
Annoying jerk
It is striking how strongly the conservative viewers of the program react to Art. “Untenable this Art. He can’t do this. Johan already said that in advance. So Malou every day, Talpa,” one says X page from SBS 6.
Peter: “Irritating jerks, those Rooijakkers.”
Nic: “Art would be better off going to Bar Laat.”
And Wim: “I think Left Art has to make choices, otherwise this program will not have a long life. We already have enough left-wing biased talk shows.”
Fireworks
How does media expert Victor Vlam view this? He speaks up X of ‘fireworks’. “Wierd did not let himself be cut off by Art Rooijakkers. Unfortunately, this is very bad for the authority of Art. The result was an exciting episode. That’s positive. But if it happens too often, it is bad for the program.”
Art and Wierd just need to talk it out, says Victor. “Should Art Wierd have cut it off a bit more elegantly (not ‘no speech’)? Yes.”
Only fair
Should Art have let Wierd finish? “A little more flexibility would have been nice, but Wierd does not get unlimited space in the newspaper either. A little speed in the program makes it more accessible.”
Is Art the right choice for a conservative newscast? “Not my first choice either, but I’ll give him a chance. He doesn’t have to be right-wing, just fair.”