Peter van der Vorst cannot easily get away with attracting Matthijs van Nieuwkerk. Not only Angela de Jong is angry, but some other leaders also express criticism.
Patience apparently ran out for Matthijs van Nieuwkerk and Peter van der Vorst: the report into misconduct at the public broadcaster keeps being postponed and the gentlemen would like to work together. His four-year RTL contract has been signed and all, but now there are some grumblings: shouldn’t RTL-Peter have waited until January?
Impatient Peter
Martin van Rijn, the chairman of the investigative committee that is conducting the investigation into Matthijs’ misconduct at DWDD, believes that RTL should have waited. He currently expects his report to be published at the end of January, but that is by no means certain: the results of his research are postponed every now and then.
It is a strange decision for Peter, Martin thinks. “The switch is a decision that is up to RTL,” he says NOS. “The committee wonders why the results of the investigation were not awaited. Especially now that it has been announced that the report will be published soon.”
Mariëtte critical
Mariëtte Hamer, the government commissioner for sexual misconduct, calls it painful that RTL is doing business with Matthijs before the Van Rijn committee has completed its work.
She says: “The fact that the report is not awaited is painful for all reporters who have gathered the courage to share their experiences. And I fear it will further reduce the willingness to report.”
No message
Peter doesn’t really care. If RTL News asks him if he is not afraid that some guests do not want to join Matthijs yet, he responds with a laugh. “An unsympathetic smile,” Angela de Jong calls it in her mind AD column. Cynical: “That idea is of course unthinkable.”
It comes unexpectedly for Angela. “I’m disappointed with that from Peter van der Vorst, the boss of RTL. He is the man who had the balls to take The Voice of Holland off the air at Tim Hofman’s first question. And that intervention in De Villa, when things happened there that went too far for him.”
No decency
Apparently Peter has complete confidence that nothing harmful will come out of that investigation, but according to Angela he should have acted differently. “This time he doesn’t even have the decency to wait for the Van Rijn committee’s investigation.”
Defensible, according to Peter himself. He says to it A.D: “First the results would come before the summer, then after the summer. That became September, October, November, early December, mid-December. In the meantime we had come a long way with our agreements. Matthijs was also in discussions with other parties.”
To establish
Peter wanted to capture Matthijs. “At one point we had a deal with each other and we wanted to be transparent about it. That does not detract from the importance of the research and the people who participated in it.”
Matthijs himself will break the radio silence tonight at – how could it be otherwise after his contract signing – RTL Boulevard.