Minister Robbert Dijkgraaf (Education, Culture and Science) finds it painful to hear what was going on behind the scenes at The world goes on. He will let this site know after the end of the Council of Ministers. Dijkgraaf regularly sat at the table with Matthijs van Nieuwkerk in the program.
“I am very sorry to hear that there was an unsafe environment and that people suffered serious damage from it,” said Minister Robbert Dijkgraaf. “I think we were all shocked by it, but I also think it’s good that the State Secretary has said strong things about this and is also in talks with the public broadcaster.” According to Dijkgraaf, that conversation is important to “have it everywhere to create a safe environment.” in politics or at universities. The point in these conversations is not only that we do not want to create these situations, but also that we make it clear that there are places where you can report, that people are aware of these kinds of situations and that action is being taken.”
Dijkgraaf also mentions that he himself never noticed anything about the unsafe environment. He finds it painful to hear that he sat at the table with a program where things did not go well behind the scenes. “I think we all find it painful, including from the cabinet, to see that there are unsafe situations in all kinds of places in society. I think it’s good that we’re having a conversation about this now. We are also actively encouraging that conversation from the cabinet.”
When asked, Dijkgraaf says that he was a little more distant from the editors of DWDD when he prepared his science lectures, which he spent “an entire year” working on “with my own team.” Earlier this week, the minister did not want to respond to questions about the matter.
Culture of fear
DWDD came under fire this week after an article in the Volkrant about the culture of fear behind the scenes of the talk show. The newspaper spoke with more than seventy former employees of the program. According to those involved, Van Nieuwkerk had extreme outbursts of anger, in which employees were ‘shouted at, humiliated and intimidated’ in front of others at a distance of centimeters. It caused stress, a feeling of insecurity and in dozens of people even burnouts and other serious psychological complaints, according to the newspaper. The top of broadcaster BNNVara was repeatedly warned, but would not have intervened.
On Monday afternoon, the NPO announced an independent investigation into the work culture at DWDD. It will be investigated what signals about abuses there have been and what happened to those signals. At the end of this week, the NPO will inform the State Secretary how the approach to the entire process will be organized. In any case, the research must be completed before the end of the first quarter of 2023 and then there must also be an action plan with concrete steps. BNNVara and Van Nieuwkerk no longer work together.
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