Reporter Gep Leeflang (58) van the Stentor won De Tegel. That is the most important journalistic prize in the Netherlands. Leeflang won with his story about backroom politics in municipalities in the ‘Regional/Local’ category. “Love you government, but now: openness!”, he said in his acceptance speech.
The Stentor journalist is often regarded as a ‘trick in the fur’. In this capacity, he was seen at the beginning of this month in the Zembla documentary The Peking Ducks of Gelderland, about the Tomassen Duck-To duck slaughterhouse in Ermelo. “I see that as a journalistic nickname.”
Regarding his story about backroom politics in Dutch municipalities, in which Leeflang exposed the lack of administrative transparency: “It is very important to continue to critically monitor governments. They are legally obliged to be open, and only in exceptional cases may they deviate from this during meetings.”
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The research by research platform Investico into roadside fraud by farmers, written in collaboration with the Stentor and a number of other regional newspapers, was also rewarded with De Tegel on Monday evening.
The series of articles highlighted farmers who are expanding their agricultural land in order to receive more European subsidies. The financial benefit for farmers can amount to hundreds of euros per hectare. The series of articles was awarded in the CBS Data category.
The Stentor journalist Niek Megens co-wrote the article about Erna Kruitwagen who accidentally discovered that farmers use her pasture to obtain subsidies and manure space.
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Tags: Stentor reporter Gep Leeflang wins prestigious journalism prize Domestic
