Omroep Brabant can continue to report news about major accidents, explosions, shootings and fires after April 1. A plan by the minister, in which 112 reports were no longer visible to the media, has been adjusted.
Reports about all kinds of incidents are received by the editors via the so-called press alert. This is a system in which the police, ambulance services and fire brigade send us journalists a signal if they are on their way to something big or if something has happened. Dilan Yesilgöz, the Minister of Justice and Security, wanted to turn off that press alert from April.
According to the State Attorney, press alerts are in violation of privacy laws and regulations. That is the conclusion after a legal review that was carried out at the request of Ambulancezorg Nederland.
Professional secrecy
After protests from various media, including Omroep Brabant, an interim solution was chosen. Journalists will continue to receive reports for the time being when the police and fire brigade are deployed. As of April 1, the media will no longer be notified if an ambulance is deployed, because this would jeopardize medical confidentiality.
It still needs to be investigated whether it is legally permitted to pass on a report if the police are deployed. In the meantime, the minister will allow this. This is a temporary authorization of which she also reports to the Dutch Data Protection Authority, which is necessary in such cases.
Omroep Brabant editor-in-chief Renzo Veenstra is happy with the decision: “Although it is a temporary solution, I am very happy that the press alert will not end. As regional media, we cannot do without it. The abolition was an unfortunate decision. I have high hopes that there will be a permanent solution.”