Astrid Joosten states that Tim Hofman and other journalistic colleagues at her broadcaster BNNVARA feel quite embarrassed by the scandal surrounding De Wereld Draait Door.
BNNVARA is a broadcaster that attaches great importance to investigative journalism, but in the meantime one of the biggest scandals in the media world has taken place in their midst. And there was supposedly no one who saw the drama of DWDD. Tim Hofman, who sent The Voice to the TV graveyard, also says he knew nothing.
In the shirt
According to Astrid Joosten, her journalistic colleagues at the broadcaster feel quite insulted. “It’s such a shame. It is also very harmful to BNNVARA. We make programs with critical journalists, investigative programs such as Zembla and Tim with BOOS. They now also feel a bit in their shirt,” she says in Op1.
Why does Tim feel embarrassed? “You have to imagine: you make your own investigative journalism program and you call a company where something is going on. Then you say: ‘Hello, this is BNNVARA.’ And then you think: they are now going to laugh on the other end of the line.”
Very strange
It will be a difficult time for BNNVARA, Astrid thinks. “So it’s all very bad. We all hope that the investigation will be done very quickly, that the colleagues who are sad will soon feel well again and that measures will be taken. I have every confidence in that.”
She continues: “The Volkskrant article is very embarrassing, but we are also very happy with it, because everything is now above water and now we can act and improve.”
‘I was ashamed’
How did Astrid read the Volkskrant revelations about Matthijs? “It was a much bigger article than I ever imagined. It was a much more comprehensive article than we all imagined. Speaking for myself, the emotions I read it with were bewilderment, anger, and shame. I was ashamed of the company we work for.”
There was a meeting at BNNVARA. “We questioned the management very critically and they were also very open and willing to answer. There was also room for people who had emotions. (…) Our director is fairly new. I think Suzanne Kunzeler has been with us for over six months and has had nothing to do with De Wereld Draait Door.”
Character
What does she think of Matthijs’ misconduct? “First of all, it must already be in your character, of course. One person handles stress and pressure in this way and the other handles it differently. At a certain point, I think something crept in of being very quickly irritated when something is not going well or not to your liking.”
“It’s probably also the nervousness of: if it doesn’t go well, I’m going to leave. And then people start snapping. No matter how it originated: at a certain point colleagues did go to managers with complaints and nothing was ever done about it. Then Matthijs thinks: I can go ahead, because it is considered normal.”
