It is wise that Martijn Krabbé in addition to his interview in LINDA. does not also want to give a TV interview about his illness, says media critic Victor Vlam. “That could come across wrong.”
Martijn Krabbé has given a major interview to LINDA. in which he revealed that his lung cancer has spread and that he will never get better. Although the RTL 4 presenter asks for peace and privacy, RTL Boulevard called him immediately after the interview to ask if he would also like to repeat some quotes on screen for their TV program.
Logical choice
Martijn didn’t feel like doing that and media critic Victor Vlam understands that all too well. “Yes, I think that is a logical choice. If you do it on screen, all attention goes to what people see, and every terminal cancer patient just doesn’t look fit,” he says in the podcast The Communicados.
“He is someone who is very overweight from the drug dexamethasone. That is a stronger form of prednisone. He weighs 250 pounds, he says, but that’s not the only problem. He sometimes has trouble finding the right words, he will look tired, he will be slower than in the past and that alone can really frighten a viewer.”
Better in writing
All in all, it is much better that Martijn did this in a magazine, says Victor. “You pay attention to that on image and if you do it in writing, you get more attention for the message and that is actually what happened. There is more attention for what he has to say and the lessons he wants to give to people.”
Does he think it is out of place that RTL Boulevard called him? “I think it is very understandable that Boulevard asks him if he wants to say that on camera – that is in a sense their job – but of course he is not going to do that. You want to give such an interview once and you don’t want to have to tell the same story in ten other places.”
Scream for attention
Giving multiple interviews on the same subject is also awkward from a PR perspective, Victor thinks. “He probably doesn’t like that himself, but at a certain point it is also something that will be criticized, because then people will say: ‘It’s a cry for attention’ if you say that at five different times.”
“Then it loses a bit of its dignity. You just have to give a good interview once, tell everything there and that is what he did with this interview. What I say: I think it was very successful.”