Merel Ek returned to the tube yesterday evening, nine days after the sewer ratrel broke out. “Yes, we are moving forward steadily. There was a short recess, so the stench has lifted.”
Journalist Merel Ek was the center of a huge political riot last week. She was ambushed with a rotating camera by Gideon van Meijeren, Member of Parliament for Forum for Democracy. He was out for revenge after a critical interview with Merel and decided to throw her in front of the bus with a movie called Sewer Rats Unmasked.
stench raised
Nine days later, so yesterday evening, Merel has returned to the media. She sat on her trusty stool in Today Inside. “Merel Ek is back! There she is again! And how is sewer journalism going in The Hague at the moment?” Wilfred Genee asked her.
Merel: “Excellent. Yes, we are moving steadily. There was a short recess, so the stench has lifted.”
‘riot and on’
It was quite a shock for Merel to be so under fire from the Forum for Democracy supporters. Wilfred: “Johan just said: everyone should experience it every now and then.”
Merel: “Just a little riot and then on again. Yes, no, that’s why.”
Johan Derksen: “Yes, at the next riot – which will undoubtedly come, especially if you keep coming here – you will deal with it differently, but the first time is just a shock. But it is very good, you are very young, you have only been active there for six months and everyone knows you now.”
Status enhancing
Merel: “That is clear, yes.”
Johan: “And it raises your status.”
Merel: “Is that so?”
Criticism of Rob
Rob Goossens, TV journalist for RTL Boulevard, thinks that Merel, her colleagues and politicians have made this riot much too big. “By making it so big, the totally hopeless action suddenly gained weight that it didn’t have at all,” he writes this week in Veronica Superguide.
“In addition,” he continues. “Journalists, especially parliamentary ones, are empowered people who chose to challenge power for a reason. Treating me like a bird that has fallen out of the nest is not only too much honor for Van Meijeren. It is also an insult to the profession.”
