Jack van Gelder was the subject of at least two reports of transgressive behavior to the external confidential advisers of the NOS. The presenter himself stated this on Thursday in the SBS6 talk show HLF8. Van Gelder made the reports public because they would be reflected in an upcoming article by de Volkskrant. His statements came on the day that the editor-in-chief of NOS Sport announced her departure due to years of transgressive behavior at her editorial office.
Van Gelder, who has been active at NOS Sport for decades, spoke of a case where a fellow presenter called him in 2011 when he was in the bath. “She then asked if I wanted to be her mentor. And then I would have made the comment: if you come and sit with me in the bath, fine.” According to Van Gelder, it was a misplaced joke and he apologized to the woman in question via a personal Twitter message. According to him, they have also been accepted. It is not yet clear whether the stories as Van Gelder sketches them are correct. The women in question have not yet responded publicly to Van Gelder’s version.
In another case, Van Gelder is said to have called a female colleague “whore or other words” after a heated discussion in 2012 about who would go to the European Football Championship in Poland and Ukraine on behalf of NOS Sport. According to Van Gelder, “we all say something on a whim sometimes”.
Dismissal editor-in-chief
On Thursday, the editors-in-chief of NOS Sport stated that they would step down in phases because of the cases of transgressive behavior at the editorial office. Over the past two months, two external confidential advisers have mapped out reports from employees. The resulting report led the NOS management to “penetrating insights”.
The report highlights several cases of transgressive behaviour, including bullying, sexual harassment, discrimination and verbal assault. The findings “touch” the NOS and “force” the organization “to action”, according to the management. To enable a cultural change, the NOS management is calling in an external consultancy, among other things. The goal is a “safer and more social working environment”.
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