Prime Minister Mark Rutte finds the drift outside that Matthijs van Nieuwkerk has shown on the editorial board of DWDD quite recognizable. “All the great intendants have outbursts like this.”
Mark Rutte chatted with his good friend Jort Kelder about the controversy that has arisen around Matthijs van Nieuwkerk. The prime minister of our country was curious about what exactly happened at the editorial office of De Wereld Draait Door and what the consequences are. “What about that Van Nieuwkerk?”
Public execution
According to Jort, it is a great shame how Matthijs has been put in the trash. The presenter even states that his TV colleague was murdered. “I really think that is the biggest public execution since Johan and Cornelis de Witt. 1672, the Disaster Year”, he now adds in the NPO 3 program ‘Those aren’t jokes‘.
Jort thinks it is being blown up too much. “I knew that Matthijs could be a bit moody and sometimes a door slammed shut after the broadcast when the editors were addressed, but what you read in de Volkskrant… Yes, but well, that is of course a summary of fifteen years of setbacks for some.”
What does Ruth think?
Prime Minister Rutte has also been affected by the controversy. Jort: “I briefly discussed it with Rutte. He called me about it and said: ‘What about that Van Nieuwkerk?’ Because he had been there, of course. Well, let’s talk about it.”
What does Ruth think of it? “He said: ‘Yes, yes, yes, but well, all the great intendants in art, in the… They also have this kind of outburst of anger. In fact, I’ve had it many times myself.’ That is common knowledge. Rutte sometimes has a tantrum.”
Even
There is one big difference, says Rutte. “He says: ‘The difference is of course: make it right, then come back and say: ‘Wow, sorry, I shouldn’t have done that.’ Then I think you’re even again.’”
Jort wonders whether Matthijs should have shown more reflection. “I don’t know if Matthijs has done that often enough, but it does not alter the fact that… That trophy cabinet is not so full for nothing.”
Hypersensitive
Jort does believe that many young broadcasters are hypersensitive these days. “You can also see in those broadcasting conflicts that those people in their twenties are so sensitive.”
He continues: “They’ve been raised by their parents on nothing but praise and medal awards and then there’s a performance review and someone says, ‘Yeah, but that wasn’t very good.’ And then come the tears and the burnout the day after. That is the society we are now in.”
