Rutger Castricum gets a bad taste in his mouth from the scathing article that two Angela de Jong colleagues have written about his NPO. “They also belong to the Belgians!”
The AD has written a really scathing piece about the NPO, in which it is revealed, among other things, that the boss Frederieke Leeflang is quite hypocritical with her mega Matthijs fine of 50,000 euros. But it also contains spicy statements from Jeroen Pauw, whose Op1 is being keelhauled: “The NPO is a maze of opinions, lies and half-facts!”
Startling
Rutger Castricum, presenter at PowNed, is now a passionate advocate of the NPO and is therefore angry with Angela de Jong’s colleagues Dennis Jansen and Gudo Tienhooven. “I don’t think it’s that surprising. I have to say, I read that entire article from the AD and I thought it was an accumulation of what we all already knew.”
It’s suspicious timing, he says at the table Today Inside. “It is an attack on public broadcasting at a time when the VVD is calling for 400 million in cuts. I think it’s quite something. I must honestly say that it also touches my heart.”
Own skin
Wilfred Genee thinks Rutger is very colorful. “You’re from the public broadcaster, right, aren’t you? Not yet a Talpa star?”
Rutger: “Yes, that’s right. I’m from the public broadcaster, but it’s not to save my own skin. Although…”
Wilfred: “Yes, four children, a mortgage. I don’t want to be difficult, but…”
Rutger: “Yes, they should stay away from that, that’s right. No, but I think that everyone with a journalistic heart should also have a heart for public broadcasting.”
The Belgians
Johan Derksen thinks Rutger is going too far. Now you’re going to keep trotting.”
Rutger: “Well, Johan, if you look at SBS, we have this program there. The public broadcaster is jealous of a VI-like program, but after that there is not much in terms of journalism at SBS. RTL will be taken over by the Belgians if it is approved. Then we in the Netherlands will be at the mercy of the Belgians. Then we need the NPO more than ever.”
Wilfred critical
Wilfred is not very impressed with the NPO. He says: “Name a few good programs from the NPO. No kidding. There is no good late night talk show, there is no good early evening talk show, no one watches Nieuwsuur anymore.”
Rutger then points to documentaries. “It is important that this should remain.”
Nasty aftertaste
Finally: why, according to Rutger, is it suspicious that the AD comes up with this damning article during this formation? He says: “I think that if you read the AD article – which coincidentally is also from the Belgians, right – you get a bad taste. Then I think: everything adds up.”
In other words: Rutger suggests that the reporting is controlled by AD parent DPG Media, which wants to take over RTL Nederland and in that sense benefits from a smaller NPO.