As a presenter of RTL Boulevard, Luuk Ikink belongs to the camp of the traditional show media. What does he think of the newcomers to the business, the juice channels? “I always have to laugh about it.”
Juice channels such as Life of Yvonne, Gossip Talk and Juice Channel have shaken up the media landscape quite a bit. How does Luuk Ikink, the presenter of RTL Boulevard look at it? “Yes, gosh, an enrichment for journalism is perhaps a big word, but I do like to watch it,” he says in the Playboy†
Vague gossip
Where Yvonne Coldeweijer mostly focuses on the bigger A-stars, many other juice channels are also busy with reality stars. “Often it’s about reality stars that I’m not interested in at all, but sometimes there is something nice in between,” says Luuk.
The journalistic quality is sometimes a bit counter-intuitive, he thinks. “I always have to laugh at the firmness with which they bring some vague gossip. Juice channels are the tabloids of our time.”
gossip magazines
Does Luuk think gossip magazines such as Privé and Story are on the decline? “You see that the real tabloids bring just a little too much news about older stars, while the target group between twenty and forty also likes to hear news about YouTubers or candidates from Temptation Island – just to name a few.”
You won’t find that kind of news in Privé. “That’s where the juice channels came in handy.”
bird’s eye view
Traditional media are often accused of sitting on the laps of celebrities too much. What about Luke? Does he have many friends in showbiz? “No, not terribly much.”
“I have some very nice colleagues at RTL Boulevard, both in front of the scenes and behind the scenes, but most of my friends are not in the business at all. It is useful in itself that you are not in the showbiz world yourself, because then you can look at it from a bird’s eye view.”