The stars of Shownieuws are guilty of journalistic corruption and mainly serve their own interests, says opinion wrecking ball Victor Vlam. “I think that’s really bad.”
The Shownieuws program is notorious for the double hats that almost all experts at the desk wear. If another person completely stands up for some celebrity, you can be sure that they will be sitting at that star’s kitchen table during the weekend. Or that free tickets for some concert are at stake.
Huge in-crowd
Victor Vlam, who himself spent a blue Monday working for the show section, is feeling nauseous. He mainly points out the way in which Marco Borsato has been defended at all times. And now that he is actually being prosecuted by the Public Prosecution Service? “Then they switch to the line: ‘Yes, but it is terrible for Marco Borsato’s children.’”
So flashy, he says in his podcast The Communicados. “The fact that they constantly take the side of Marco Borsato’s children is another witness to that enormous in-crowd and ‘let’s treat the stars well’. I was wondering why those people do that. What is the reason that they do this kind of thing?”
Parties in Gooi
Victor gives the answer himself. “I think they do it because it is just a lot more fun to attend all kinds of parties in the Gooi. Many of those people do not necessarily have a journalistic background, but they are people who are especially good with many other famous people.”
He continues: “And if you come to Gordon’s next party, to name just one person, there is a good chance that there will be someone there who you could have criticized in Shownieuws. And yes, that is a bit of an uncomfortable conversation there. So those people are especially full of praise for all the stars, because they later encounter those people at social events.”
Corruption
Huh? But isn’t that journalistically responsible? No, says Victor. “That’s actually just natural journalistic corruption, because ultimately: your loyalty should be to the audience of the program and not to their self-interest. It now lies in their self-interest. They want to have a good time at parties, but yes, that is what prevails.”
He continues: “I really think that is journalistic corruption. I think that’s really bad. That’s really what’s ruining the program. This must indeed be different. How can such a culture arise? Because no one thinks of this. No one has come up with the idea of: let’s be positive about all kinds of stars that are under fire.”
System rot
How could this have come about? “Where this ultimately went wrong is that John de Mol started using these types of programs to get a kind of propaganda vehicle for his productions. So Avastars and Peter Gillis had to be spoken about very positively. And that creates a kind of systemic rot.”
He continues: “If it is suddenly seen by the big boss as nothing more than propaganda, then you will see it that way yourself.”
Scratch my back
Those Shownieuws stars are now actually acting on it, says Victor. He points to the Glennis Grace propaganda by Ronald Molendijk. “And if you are Roland Molendijk and you do that on your own, it doesn’t have much effect. So then you will also encourage other people at the table to do so.”
How? “Then you say: ‘Hey, you know, if you are also nice about Glennis Grace, then I won’t criticize your boyfriend next time.’ So it’s just an ‘I scratch your back, you scratch my back’ principle, which is just very prevalent at the table. And it ensures that the viewer is constantly duped there.”