Pieter Omtzigt has indeed become angry after his TV interview with Khalid Kasem, the NRC claims. “He became emotional, raised his voice and seemed unwilling to listen.”
It is clear that Khalid Kasem really wants to profile himself now that his survival as a talk show host hangs in the balance due to the arrival of Eva Jinek. He had a major interview with Pieter Omtzigt last week on the day he presented his election programme, but according to many viewers it was rather rude.
Raised voice
How did that happen behind the scenes afterwards? After all, Omtzigt has already gone on a rampage behind the scenes of the former talk show HLF8. Political reporter Sam Hagens was there at the time and states that this time, with Khalid & Sophie, nothing was wrong at all. But according to the NRC, that is not true.
According to NRC Omtzigt has exploded at Khalid & Sophie. “Attendees saw how he argued with editors, became emotional, raised his voice and seemed not to want to listen. He strode away in anger.”
Pain point
The sore point according to the newspaper? Khalid opened the interview by making a lot of fuss about the fact that Omtzigt, like the other party leaders, was not alone at the table. He came with the man who wrote his election manifesto: Eddy van Hijum. The politician had made that demand and the talk show had gone along with it.
The NRC writes: “After the broadcast, Omtzigt was angry that he had to answer for it live. Omtzigt did not seem to know that someone from his team had already heard from the editors that morning that Kasem would mention NSC’s demand during the broadcast.”
Cynical
Media expert Victor Vlam understands that Omtzigt was angry about that, he says in the podcast The Communicados. Especially since Khalid suggested that the politician apparently cannot handle it alone. “What I found weak about it is that that is the most cynical interpretation imaginable of why he took someone with him.”
Nonsense, says Victor: “Is there really anyone who believes that Pieter Omtzigt cannot handle the content? I think that is a very strange accusation. I think even the biggest critics of Pieter Omtzigt would recognize that he is someone who knows a lot about the content, so I thought it was a cynical and also crazy interpretation, to be very honest.”
According to him, the reason is that Omtzigt also wants his colleagues in the spotlight. “And that worked immediately, because Van Hijum was immediately a guest at Op1 last Friday.”
Very blunt
According to viewers, Khalid was rude by brutally cutting Omtzigt off when he wanted to talk about his most important theme: better governance. “Yes, he looks very angry at that moment,” says fellow media expert Lars Duursma. “I also thought: maybe he was promised that it was about it. I suspect he was indeed promised.”
According to Victor, it is clear that Khalid chose ‘the biggest left-wing objections’ to Omtzigt’s positions: minimum wage and asylum. “That means that they had no time for good governance, something that PvdA-GroenLinks voters may also agree with Omtzigt to some extent. They didn’t spend too much time on that.”
Not well served
Khalid can of course make that choice, Victor continues. “That is the journalistic freedom you have. But viewers may also feel that they have not been well served by the interview, because it is not about the things it should have been about.”
From a campaign perspective, Khalid & Sophie was not the best choice on the day that Omtzigt presented its program, Victor concludes. “I think that it is not yet sufficiently clear to many campaign teams that it is really a left-oriented talk show. There is nothing wrong with that, it also fits in with our public system, but you have to take it into account.”