Mart Smeets is disappointed in Matthijs van Nieuwkerk now that the Volkskrant has exposed him as a broadcaster. The sports presenter cannot reach it with his cap. “I just didn’t know what I was reading.”
Matthijs van Nieuwkerk hardly has any friends left now that his misconduct behind the scenes of De Wereld Draait Door has come out. Mart Smeets is now also involved in the discussion and he is not lenient. He finds it unprecedented that the presenter has misbehaved in such a way and that BNNVARA has not intervened at any time.
Martin stunned
Mart had also known for months that an article about Matthijs was coming, so he was prepared for it. “I didn’t know what I was reading,” he says Financial Daily. “I have been a guest in DWDD quite often, but never got an inch of this.”
Many people have failed, he says. “My first thought was: the Vara leadership knew it and did nothing all that time. Very strange, and seriously to be blamed.”
Annoying tone
According to Mart himself, he has never shouted at editors. “My tone has sometimes been annoying. But I have never done or experienced things that I read about in the Volkskrant last weekend. No yelling or anything.”
He concludes: “There has never been a chief or colleague who acted that way against me. Never. On the contrary: if there was something, it was rarely if ever said. I have always found that the social weak side of Studio Sport: not daring to tell each other the truth.”
Interview
The FD interview with Mart Smeets:
