The media has been full of it in recent days: the explosion of channels full of school gossip, often named after Gossip Girl. However, Talitha Muusse mainly points to Life of Yvonne.
The fifteen-year-old series Gossip Girl, in which an anonymous blogger brings gossip about an elite school in New York, is suddenly a hit on Netflix again. It seems no coincidence that channels full of school gossip have suddenly sprung up in recent weeks. “The profiles often name themselves after Gossip Girl,” says de Volkskrant.
Method-Coldeweijer
De Volkskrant reports in its headline However, it is not the Gossip Girl series or the Netflix platform that is to blame for this news, but juice queen Yvonne Coldeweijer. ‘How the Coldeweijer method is introduced into the digital schoolyard’, it sounds.
Journalist Marieke Kuypers thinks that is indecent. She writes down X: “Ridiculous article that points to Yvonne Coldeweijer without good reason as a cause for students gossiping online. As if she single-handedly invented the phenomenon of ‘gossip’ and as if this hasn’t been happening on every social media platform for years.”
Not news
School gossip existed long before Life of Yvonne existed, Marieke emphasizes. A long time ago this was also possible via Hyves or MSN. “Instead of blaming Yvonne Coldewijer, you could also ask schools why they still don’t know how to deal with this. This is not new.”
She continues: “And ‘coldeweijer method’? Ironically, this is exactly what the media accuses Yvonne of (quite often rightly), namely slandering people without good evidence or ethical consideration. Pure on vibes she is portrayed here as an evil influence.”
To file a complaint
Yvonne would have a good chance if she filed a complaint against De Volkskrant, Marieke thinks. “How did this get through the editors? This is really not right for journalism and if Yvonne Coldeweijer knocks on the door of the Journalism Council, I think she has a very good case.”
She continues: “Yvonne Coldeweijer in the title, photo and the article itself as inspiration, but in the meantime the gossiping students do not call Coldeweijer but Gossip Girl. A TV series from 2007.”
Talitha disagrees
Talitha Muusse, who once tried to lure Yvonne into a trap after which the whole action blew up in her own face because she ignored all journalistic rules, disagrees with Marieke’s account.
Yvonne does see the new addition to SBS 6 as a co-instigator: “There are a lot of app groups and accounts that spread ‘juice’ about children and teenagers and thus cause a lot of damage. With her juice channel she encourages the behavior of gossiping and spies, etc. Of course there is a connection, she has made this phenomenon ‘popular’.”