Wietze de Jager has most likely received a huge slap on the fingers from Radio 538 after he demanded 78 weeks of parental leave live on the radio. He is completely backtracking.
After nine months of morning show, Wietze de Jager comes to the conclusion that this job for Radio 538 is very difficult to combine with his family life. He told Monday that he is entitled to 78 weeks of parental leave. “Then my supervisor will probably say (starts screaming, ed.): ‘NOOO!!!’ And then you say, ‘Yes, I’m entitled to it.’”
‘Was for the discussion!!!’
Well, a few days later Wietze sings a little lower. Now he suddenly states at RTL Boulevard that it was all intended to start a social discussion. “I found it interesting to hear all the different opinions from the listeners. I thought it was a compliment that it frightened me.”
And his boss Talpa says: “Wietze loves his family and his work and how to combine that is sometimes a challenge. He was curious how the listeners of the morning show dealt with this and therefore started the conversation. Something that has worked: various media reports about it and Wietze and Klaas have discussed the pros and cons with listeners.”
‘They just lie’
Gosh, that suddenly all sounds very different. Talpa: “Wietze himself thinks parental leave is a fantastic option, but given his work, he has no intention of taking advantage of it himself. Above all, he hopes that everyone can and should make the right decision for themselves. He will continue to present the morning show in full with great pleasure.”
What a bunch of liars, says media expert Rob Goossens. “Nobody really believes that last part. When you hear what he said about it, you know: it was really about himself. Now he suddenly says: nah, but I didn’t really mean it, so it was a kind of fake sharing joys and sorrows?”
Finger tapped
Wietze has simply been rapped on the fingers, Bridget Maasland also thinks. “If you want to throw up such a discussion, you can do it without being a direct object yourself. That you throw it up like: I want to work one day less.”
Johan Derksen in Today Inside: “John de Mol must have called him, I think.”
And Patrick Kicken again in Boulevard: “I think they are panicked internally at 538. I know that he has also been scolded and reprimanded by his immediate boss.”
poser
Incidentally, Bridget thinks Wietze is a bit of a poser. Wietze knew it too of course [hoe zwaar het zou worden]. He has done radio before, also in the morning, and he has had those children for longer, so in principle he should have known when he signed this contract that this was going to be a tough time.”
Rob thinks Wietze has blundered. “That you think that you can bind the listeners to you by telling such a story, while everyone is like: you can be very happy with that place, with the salary you have there and the prestige that you get with it … That’s a total miss.”
