Alexia (20) who gets into the car of the popular singer Antoon, on the front page of magazine Private. Amalia (21) at the Oktoberfest in Munich with the arm of a German tech entrepreneur around her, on the front page of the German magazine Bunte.
Is it newsworthy or does it only satisfy the curiosity? Does it say something about the monarchy or is it an infringement of the private life of the princesses?
During a visit to Fontys in Tilburg, at the HBO course Journalism, Student Yessin de Koning asks a question about it on Thursday afternoon. Willem-Alexander is there to underline the importance of journalism, last year he visited local broadcasters, the birthday boy Brabants Dagblad And he opened the new building of publisher DPG.
Yessin says: “There was a little movement about a message in the Private. ” He asks the king: “Are you going to start a lawsuit?”
On Wednesday evening it was also about this in all talk shows. The question there or Private – And also Bunte – the media code had violated. That rule of conduct was drawn up in 2005 by the King and the Government Information Service, and assumes that photographers leave the Oranges alone in private time. In exchange, they can photograph the family a few times a year. Anyone who does not adhere to that – unilaterally prepared – media code can be excluded from those photo sessions.
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Caroline van Monaco in swimwear
But it is actually more relevant whether a réchter would find whether the magazines have violated the privacy of the princesses. In addition, a decision of the European Court of Human Rights from 2004 is looked at, in a case filed by Caroline van Hannover, princess of Monaco. She was photographed in swimwear. The Court then ruled that it does not result from publicity that you are outlaws. Private images are only permissible if they are newsworthy.
Each medium makes its own assessment. In 2020, for example, a photo of King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima was seen as a socially relevant in addition to a Greek restaurant owner by most Dutch media. After all, the coronar rules wrote before you had to keep distance. A photo this summer of the king in one Rotterdam shoarma restaurantwhere he ordered the famous hair salon, newspapers and television programs were not shown – although images on social media were circulating. Then the consideration was clear that this was a private visit.
Privé finds the photo ‘just news’
Evert Santegoeds, editor -in -chief of Privatethinks the photo of Alexia and Antoon (real name Valentijn Verkerk) is “just news”, because it is “the reserve queen”, he said in the podcast on Wednesday Strictly private by De Telegraaf. Alexia is second in line for the throne, Amalia first.
Santegoed’s doubted about publishing for a week, but “the Netherlands asked,” he said. He received the photo of a third who spotted the princess on a terrace around the corner of Noordeinde Palace on Prinsjesdag. There was “not located in bushes, not racing behind it”. And, he said, “If it is what will be historical images.”
Willem-Alexander finds, he said earlier, that his daughters should be able to make mistakes out of sight of everyone. That means that they must be able to have a private life as much as possible. He previously sued successfully media, among other things when photos of Amalia (then 9 years old) appeared on a hockey field.
In his dating years, he himself was also annoyed by the way in which media wrote about girlfriends and girlfriends, and thought that his privacy was so violated. The crown prince at the time found his love life only a public affair if he were to leave-then it was about the future of the monarchy, and he would have to ask permission for a marriage from the States General.
King Willem-Alexander during his visit to the Journalism course at Fontys Hogeschool.
Photo Koen van Weel / ANP
Check
And Willem-Alexander believes that journalists are too easy to accept things about him and his family. If he had been a journalist himself, he would have been an investigative journalist, he says. The king is mainly the one who asks questions all afternoon. For example, he wants to know from a group of students how they certainly know if a source is reliable when fact checking. “One source is not a source,” one of them replies.
But to the question of Yessin whether he is going to court, the king does not answer. He does say: “Freedom of the press and freedom of expression are so important to expose abuses in society. They then abuse them to violate someone’s privacy and earn money, they are too important for that.”
Neither does he answer the question at the end of the visit De Telegraaf Whether he still finds the media code of this time. After all, it was drawn up when the princesses were minors and many fewer people continuously had a camera in his pocket. Now they are all three adults – Amalia is also increasingly going along with official visits – and dating. When he is asked what he thinks of his possible future son -in -law, the king turns around. That is the answer with which journalists and future journalists have to do it.
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