News item | 09-09-2022 | 15:15
An independent advisory board will draw up criteria for how broadcasters can enter and leave the public system. State Secretary Uslu (Culture and Media) announced this temporary board in June 2022 and has now asked Pieter van Geel as chairman. The advisory board will present its proposal in July 2023.
We have a unique broadcasting system in the Netherlands. This is due to the so-called ‘external pluriformity’, which means that public broadcasting consists of different broadcasters, each of which is rooted in society in its own way. In order to keep public broadcasting meaningful and recognisable, a different way of assessing whether a broadcaster can enter the system, and in which case a broadcaster can leave, is needed. The advisory board will advise on this.
In doing so, the Commission looks at how national broadcasters can be assessed on the general goals of public broadcasting, such as maintaining social affiliation, quality and pluralism (that different beliefs and opinions are reflected in the media).
Intended members of the advisory board
Pieter van Geel is the intended chairman. He was State Secretary for Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment from 2002 to 2007. The other candidates are:
- Irene Costera Meijer, professor of journalism at the Free University;
- Yoeri Albrecht, general and artistic director of cultural center De Balie in Amsterdam;
- Marleen Slot, film producer and entrepreneur;
- Enaam Ahmed Ali, business manager at Rabobank and the Dutch UN Women’s Representative 2022.
Widely supported advice
State Secretary Uslu has asked the advisory board to involve all relevant parties in its task: not only stakeholders such as the Council for Culture, the NPO, the Media Authority and the broadcasters, but also, for example, makers, creative professionals and the business community. And also to include insights from science and abroad. The advisory board must also take into account the wishes and needs of (potential) media users, including young people.
Need for new criteria
The current admission criteria for new broadcasters is less and less in line with today’s world. Aspiring broadcasters now have to demonstrate their social affiliation mainly through membership numbers and must represent a social movement. But membership numbers have been declining for years. It is also complicated to test whether a broadcaster represents a social movement. Broadcasters do join, but one never leaves the system. This makes it difficult to test whether the public broadcaster is representative of Dutch society. It can also lead to an increasingly difficult order to manage.