The ratings hit Today Inside is made by a team that does not excel in diversity. According to Johan Derksen, there is a ‘white editorial team’. “Is that why I refuse it?!”
Diversity is a big theme in the media world. The public broadcaster in particular pays attention to this, but RTL is also working hard on it. For example, RTL Boulevard was ‘too white’ for a long time, but recently colored experts have also joined the desk. And what about the diversity in the editorial office of Today Inside?
White editorial
Rutger Castricum asks Johan Derksen in his TV program Including Rutger† “It is also said that the editors are far too white. Do you have a white editorial team?”
Johan then: “Yes, we have a white editorial staff, yes. I’m not naming my editors, but I should have refused to cooperate on principle [omdat er een witte redactie zit]† Well…”
‘Do not complain’
According to Johan, the diverse community should not complain so much. “Look, we shouldn’t tinker with opportunities in life. You have to seize and create opportunities in life. If I analyze myself: the talent doesn’t come out of my trouser legs in large chunks.”
Johan himself was not part of the large group, he emphasizes. “If you are born from the village of Heteren in the Betuwe, you don’t grow up as a child thinking: I will become a very famous television star at a talk show table with Wilfred Genee. Everyone has equal opportunities in this country.”
“Stop it!”
Rutger: “What color do you have?”
Johan: “Yeah, man, just stop now. If you work hard, you will come a long way. And not immediately those excuses of: ‘I am black’, or: ‘I am Muslim.’ I think that’s a very cheap excuse. I have never heard the cry at RTL and at Talpa where I am now: ‘We will not take that one, because it is black or it is Muslim.’ Never. It doesn’t occur to anyone. They have told themselves that.”
Arie and Sunny
There are many people who claim otherwise, but Johan doesn’t give a damn about that. “I will continue to say exactly what I think as long as I sit here. And whether Arie Boomsma or Mrs. Sunny Bergman care about that; I hate it. I wish them every success.”